Grant Fisher USAs tactics

A few things: The competition in the US is much better than galens time. Additionally, grant seems to prioritize the actual championship meets much more than the usa qualifiers. Thirdly, he has a good kick and clearly has worked on it, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone capable of outkicking the reigning olympic 1500m champ in a slow 5k.

In the super-shoe universe….

Three Americans are sub 12:50 this year, and a 4th at 7:24 for 2 miles. Plus 5+ guys 3:30 for 1500 who can be there in a tactical 5k. Those times don’t mean what you think they do.

I agree with everything else, but as far as Cole goes that’s my point. Why not go from 1000-1200 out?

I haven’t watched his interview tbf, maybe he explains

I don't think he is too worried about it-He got the qualifier and still a solid run doubling back-not like he was outkicked by Morgan MacDonald...

Interesting stat, another one to note however is he has been the top US finisher in every world/Olympic final he’s competed in save Chelimo medaling in the Tokyo 5K where he was ninth

He does say afterward that he was boxed in, trying to find a way out for a while until Nico made a move and that freed up some space to let loose...but later than he planned. He wanted to make moves at a 1k to go.

Yeah off-the-cuff he said he was too boxed at 1K to go to make his move. He was badly boxed throughout, but ripping Grant’s tactics when he beat Nico pretty definitively is a bit off to me. I think his 1,000 out move might’ve ended just as it did in the 10K.

I think all the guys who ran the 10K on Thursday evening were tired. They had less than three full days to recover. This the real reason they allowed the 5K pace to dawdle.

I feel like Fisher and Blanks are similar runners and both needed to push the pace in this one and basically couldn’t after the double back. I really thought one of those guys would have pushed from about 2k but the double obviously took its toll.

How is Young dissimilar to Fisher and Blanks? He was playing with fire by letting the pace go so slowly and only beat Hunter by .1 seconds for the last spot. I think Blanks had a bad day, but either Fisher or Young could have burned off the 13:00 guys without risking not making the team. The short rest after the 10, undoubtedly played a part in how the race played out.

Honestly I'd rather have Grant trying a bunch of different strategies at USAs, where he can afford to make small mistakes and still be on the team. It's good for him to find out exactly how good his kick is in a variety of different race situations. Much better than getting to Tokyo only to discover you need more than 600m to get away clean.

His tactics this year were strong through most of the 10k and 5k, good positioning in both races and no major mistakes. Young and Hocker made several "mistakes" this week, even though they were able to close fast enough to win the 10k and the 5k, respectively. Young was all over the place in the 5k, and Hocker nearly let himself get boxed in. If Young had hugged the rail in the last 100m of the 5k, Hocker could've been in real trouble. He might've still won it but it would've been much closer versus Grant.

Might've . . . but more likely Would've.

Grant told JG Thursday night after the 10 he didn't know why he his final gear over the last 100 wasn't there. Said sometimes it's there, sometimes not.

Now, after the 5, he admitted his legs were not feeling good going into the 10. Wasn't sure why, but mentioned a possible mistimed taper.

However, Grant said his legs were back feeling fine for the 5. And it showed, as his 52.88 close was the fastest last lap of his career in a national/global championship race, from NCAAs through USAs & Oly Trials thru WCs and Olympics. Only faster final 400s were a from Pac-12 1500 race several years back plus a couple of those sit-and-kick GST races this spring.

So, knowing this, if Grant had moved off the rail 3 or 4 laps out to get himself in position to blow the race open with a 57-58 at 1000 to go -- his stated plan -- pretty certain it works. Would have mentally decimated most of the field. Plus, no one's closing in 51-52 with that kind of move.

Regardless, great to see the real Grant Fisher, the one whom we remember from Paris.

Coach Scannell, if you're reading this, any comments on this weekend you're willing to share with the public would be fascinating to learn.

7:24 for 2 Miles? Dang man, that's pretty quick

from 1000 out Fisher is boxed very badly and isn't able to get out until something like 450 to go. difficult to anticipate that. Even backseat driving this with hindsight as our friend, what should he have done?

the only video i can find covers the first 3 minutes, and then the last 2 minutes, so Im not quite sure what the rest of it looked like.

Does a surge in the middle take out Hocker's legs? Is leaving with 1600 to go the move? But like the semis dictated Wiley's 800 strategy, Fisher getting burned at the end of the 10000 likely dictated his 5000 strategy.

It wouldn't be a championship 5k without the true 5k runners failing to work together to create an honest pace, so that the best 1500 meter runner wins. See 1) Hocker, Cole; 2) Houlihan, Shelby, and 3) (repeatedly) Ingebrigtsen, Jakob.

He prioritizes championship races because he does not bring down his volume down too much? His interview after Sunday's 5000m said a lot. He did taper. He does prioritize US titles. He is too robotic when it comes to races than bunch up. He was stuck for key parts of the 5 yesterday. You could see it. If the train decided to go on his right he would have had to work to latch on once an opening came. He admitted that he wanted to go with 1000m to go but he couldn't. He admitted he needs to anticipate this. He has been saying this much for a few years now though. There lacks a certain fluidity to his racing and he sticks to the rail too much. If he hasn't fixed it by now then he may never fix it, meaning he needs races to be quick and for racers to string out in single file.

The exception is Jakob, who is both the 1500m guy, but also the best 5K runner. See 7:17.

It's simple. Grant is the fastest in the US, just doesn't have the fastest kick. He definitely has a kick, just not faster than the likes of Nico, Hocker, even Wolfe. So during championship style races in the US he only has two choices; lead the whole way and make it fast or let somebody else take it and wait until the end to make a move. He usually chooses the safer option to guarantee a spot on the team, as if he lead the whole way he risks blowing up.

The world stage, however, is a different story. There are multiple sub-27 and even sub-26:50 guys from other countries that will make it an honest race. Grant can hang at that pace and doesn't have to be the sacrificial lamb pushing the pace for everyone else to sit on. That style of race suits him better, whereas a sit and kick race doesn't.

I don't think he cares about US titles nearly as much as global competition. If he wasn't feeling at the absolute top of his game this past weekend, much safer to set a goal of qualifying than to risk blowing up by taking it out too hard (Hoey, Nuguse, etc). I can't fault the athlete for the system we have. If he didn't run it like that, he might not have a chance at the Worlds podium.