Tsegay 1:59.9 through 800m

Well, per Tsegay from her 2021 WR indoors (59 behind the pacer enroute to 3:53):

“The pace is my friend.”

theguardian.com

Laura Muir six seconds back as Gudaf Tsegay smashes 1500m world record

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/seaningle

The Ethiopian ran the 1500m in 3min 53.09sec to shatter record by more than two seconds while Muir finished second in a UK record time of 3:59.58

Open link

A big part of it is it wins her the race. She put 4 seconds on Chebet by 800m and the gap didn’t close from there. That fast early pace enabled Tsegay to burn out the 5000m world record holder.

She runs slower and drag everyone else like Chebet, Hailu and Bell with her who might become problems for her towards the end of the race. It’s obvious that she’s prioritizing the win over records.

How comes she is scared of using this tactic when Faith is in the race yet it could guarantee her at least a silver medal and if Faith was havinga bad day, she would win?

The only thing I can possibly give you is that it's rooted in winning the race first and foremost and the actual time second.

Look at how todays race went - for better or for worse absolutely nobody even bothered to challenge her. That pace absolutely splintered the field and kind of disrupted a more "typical", even-keeled DL style race. I would guess her mindset is that if anyone is even brave enough to come with me I will outlast them, and if they don't 30+ meters is really hard to make up unless I totally capitulate.

But from a time performance angle it's clearly madness because she might have been able to challenge the WR today or in the very least run a second faster. There is no way given what we now know even with events as short as the 800m, that this is the optimal way to run if you are chasing a time. What would be incredibly interesting is to see what a race with her and Kipyegon in it that went out in 1.59 would look like. I seriously doubt that Kipyegon would want to entertain that pace - but that might mean she's what, running without lights and a pacer 15-20m behind?

For that reason I don't know if I necessarily like that Tsegay can ask for that particular pace - especially when it comes to being given physical pacemakers. What happens is that the rest of the field basically run un-paced and it's at the behest of her. Like sure, if you want to run a suicidal opening 800, do it on your own accord, knock yourself out. But why do the rest of the field have to be disadvantaged that way? 50-50 on that one even though you can applaud her valor.

The same people who praise Pre for his insane frontrunning make fun of Tsegay. It's showmanship. She's an entertainer.

She isn't scared, its always been her tactic

In Eugene 2022 she opened with a 58, in Paris 2024 she did the same.

its just that its never a guarantee whether she will hold it up or not

She was with the pacers and on the lights, so is it really that crazy?

This woman wins and wins and Letsrun has nothing but bad things to say. She isn't required to run even pace, so why not just celebrate her unique style?

If a pacemaker is worth .75 (seems fair), her 2:00.4 (official split) is more like a 2:02.0. Then without pacer she slows to 62.7 effort on the 3rd lap as opposed to 61-hi for that second lap. Not ideal but not as egregious as it seems.

Sure, a "boy" outruns a woman at 800m and stops, while she keeps running for another 700m ...

Wins a win

I'm not sure she goes out there with plan of throwing down a 57 and 1:59.

On the other hand it's a great way to take a strength runner like Chebet out of their comfort zone.

She wins races and gets valuable experience for her body on dealing with sub 3:50 running.

Odd, but really no harm.

pacing with good drafting technique is worth at least 1 second per lap. a perfect hoover run of 329 is roughly 333 in a dogs breakfast race, which is why you have a lineup of 329,guys who really cant do much is a serious race..

Dude, this guy trolls the board with fantasies (outright lies) about the times he runs, that he coaches in college (he doesn't), etc etc. Don't engage.

This is correct. It's the playground aspect, which is never emphasized enough around here.

These runners know who bas been defeating them. They don't differentiate the distances nearly as much as observers do. Tsegay had defeated Chebet routinely early in her career. Recently it has been just the opposite. I believe it was 6 defeats in a row.

Now they're in the same race and the organizers place them side by side on the starting line. Gudaf Tsegay is going to embrace the tactic she believes is best to get rid of Chebet, who was undefeated on the track since September 2023, other than Kenyan trials when just jockeying to make the team.

The last runner to defeat Chebet on the track? Gudaf Tsegay at Eugene 2023, employing the same tactic over 5000.