This always makes me so nervous. Why didn’t they run a separate heat with the 2 pacemakers, Gressier, and maybe Abdullah?
Agree, those slower runners were fools. They are required to have at least a few (two?) other runners that complete the race for it to be a valid record, but they should have had a smaller heat with Grant and a few guys that could stay within 200 meters of 12:45 pace. Can't believe he had to pass a pack of nearly 10 guys in the last few laps.
They need to make it a rule that if you’re in a race with a world record attempt you have to move
When you have a lone guy getting lapped, they should move. But when you have a big pack like that, it becomes a coordination problem. If half of the guys move out to lane 2 and the other half stay in lane 1, then he has to go in lane 3, which is way worse. Better to have everyone just race in that situation.
Also, requiring people to move is usually a recipe for disaster. The guy who is getting lapped steps to the right too late and you have already started passing, so now you have to cut back inside? But he sees that you were going wide, so he tries to duck back inside right as you do as well?
I think the best thing the race director can tell athletes is "just hold the rail" and Grant will take one step around you. It is "longer" by a few cm/seconds but it does provide some psychological advantage to feel yourself blowing past people.
You don't want people trying to guess what to do. Just hold the rail and let me slip past.
Also, requiring people to move is usually a recipe for disaster. The guy who is getting lapped steps to the right too late and you have already started passing, so now you have to cut back inside? But he sees that you were going wide, so he tries to duck back inside right as you do as well?
I think the best thing the race director can tell athletes is "just hold the rail" and Grant will take one step around you. It is "longer" by a few cm/seconds but it does provide some psychological advantage to feel yourself blowing past people.
You don't want people trying to guess what to do. Just hold the rail and let me slip past.
They need to make it a rule that if you’re in a race with a world record attempt you have to move
Then he should go time trial if he doesn’t want traffic.
I think many of the old timers like me remember when not everybody was allowed to finish distance races—especially indoors. Conferences and meets had rules to prevent slower runners from getting in the way of the racing or needlessly adding traffic.
I was personally pulled at 3k of an indoor 5k as I wasn’t in the top ten of a conference indoor championship. The same year, I was forced off the track prior to being lapped by Jonah Koech in another indoor 5k (despite being on PR pace).
Women’s indoor races are typically the worst for lapped runners interfering with the racing, but last night was about as bad as I’ve ever seen. There’s no reason whatsoever for any elite distance race to allow for this kind of interference.
Meet officials should proactively pull people in any race that’s the fast heat, is a championship or invitational, and/or is a record attempt. These aren’t participation events.
There are posters here who don't know the past tense of "run" (ran/have run) or who think Jakob is "washed." Some who think "bi-carb is just as bad as doping." Or the one old guy thinks "doping doesn't work on Africans" and another guy only posts "songs about ..." threads. There is the "Nico Young Burn in Hell" guy and the "Rich in CA" guy as well.
So yes, I am not perfect, but I am not the "worst."
p.s. None of us know what the title of this thread was supposed to be, so rather than rag on me, just answer the question...
This post was edited 13 minutes after it was posted.
Also, to people who thinks having lapped runners on the track is a crime against humanity, listen to what Grant said at 5:05 in the video.
"It was actually nice to have someone to chase for a little bit and it turned out pretty well because I was not passing them on the curves, mostly just on the straights..."