Jonathan Gault has written an excellent analysis of the men's 10k final. 61 years after Billy Mills won US 10,000 gold in Tokyo, can Grant Fisher or Nico Young do it again in 2025?
As for Fisher's tactics, his coach Mike Scanell said the following, "The strategy that he used in Zurich will not be employed in Tokyo," Scannell said. "He’s a strength runner. So you can infer whatever you’d like out of that."
As for Young's fitness, here is what coach Mike Smith had to say, "He thrives off of good, consistent blocks of training," Smith told LetsRun.com. "I think the last block he had after USAs, he’s in phenomenal fitness."
Agreed, excellent article by Gault. I appreciate the coaching insights from Scannell and Smith. It's exciting that the conversation about male American distance runners at global championships has shifted from, "Can they medal?" to "Can they win?"
I also like the connection with Tokyo being the site of Billy Mills' Olympic victory. Hoping an American can come home from Tokyo with a 10k gold medal like Mills did in 1964!
Jonathan Gault has written an excellent analysis of the men's 10k final. 61 years after Billy Mills won US 10,000 gold in Tokyo, can Grant Fisher or Nico Young do it again in 2025?
As for Fisher's tactics, his coach Mike Scanell said the following, "The strategy that he used in Zurich will not be employed in Tokyo," Scannell said. "He’s a strength runner. So you can infer whatever you’d like out of that."
As for Young's fitness, here is what coach Mike Smith had to say, "He thrives off of good, consistent blocks of training," Smith told LetsRun.com. "I think the last block he had after USAs, he’s in phenomenal fitness."
Good article. Very exciting times for American distance running. Let’s not forget about Graham Blanks. He ran toe to toe with fisher and Nico in the 10k at usas. I think people forget he beat Nico in the Paris DL and regularly in the NCAAs. I would not be surprised to see him up front with the leaders at the end of this one. I do think an American can absolutely win this race.
Good article. Very exciting times for American distance running. Let’s not forget about Graham Blanks. He ran toe to toe with fisher and Nico in the 10k at usas. I think people forget he beat Nico in the Paris DL and regularly in the NCAAs. I would not be surprised to see him up front with the leaders at the end of this one. I do think an American can absolutely win this race.
Depends on how well he handles heat & humidity.
Temps around 85 deg F w/75% humidity projected for 9/14 @ 9:30pm Tokyo time race start -- essentially the same conditions @ Olympics 4 years ago.
Grant was fantastic in that one, finishing 5th, only 3 seconds out of gold. No one predicted he'd finish that high, being a rookie on the world scene. (Note: Grant's pr was 27:11 at the time.)
However, all 3 Ethiopians he will be facing Sunday night were in that race -- and two of them beat Grant. In a 27:43 race. Berega/winner & Aregawi/4th proved they could handle those conditions as well.
This race will not be fast, not until the end. Likely 14-flat or slower @ 5000. Polar opposite of Paris last year. Everyone who is good in heat & humidity will be there @ 8000. Based upon what Scannell revealed, expecting either a long push from Grant at this point or a hard burst from 1000 out.
In any case, Grant has shown many times over he's a terrific heat/humidity racer. That one of is super powers.
Expecting a burn-up between Aregawi, Barega, Grant, Nico for the podium spots.
Jonathan Gault has written an excellent analysis of the men's 10k final. 61 years after Billy Mills won US 10,000 gold in Tokyo, can Grant Fisher or Nico Young do it again in 2025?
As for Fisher's tactics, his coach Mike Scanell said the following, "The strategy that he used in Zurich will not be employed in Tokyo," Scannell said. "He’s a strength runner. So you can infer whatever you’d like out of that."
As for Young's fitness, here is what coach Mike Smith had to say, "He thrives off of good, consistent blocks of training," Smith told LetsRun.com. "I think the last block he had after USAs, he’s in phenomenal fitness."
Has been training in Hawaii to adapt, per Citius Mag's recent WC podcast preview, while Grant is heat training at USATF's selected pre-WCs altitude camp somewhere in Japan.
Has been training in Hawaii to adapt, per Citius Mag's recent WC podcast preview, while Grant is heat training at USATF's selected pre-WCs altitude camp somewhere in Japan.
Question:
What is the best way to acclimatize/adapt to humidity aside from living in it and running in it? I know sauna sessions, heat suits, etc.. are all used for the short term, but does that really prepare you for it? It seems to me that in order to best acclimate to humidity is to spend a sizeable amount of time "in" humid conditions. Similar to altitude, not only training, but also living in it. Does training in small blocks of time really help? For instance, Nico is training in Hawaii, but this is just a temporary block. Does his body actually "acclimatize" to the humidity and can adapt that quickly in time for Tokyo?
Has been training in Hawaii to adapt, per Citius Mag's recent WC podcast preview, while Grant is heat training at USATF's selected pre-WCs altitude camp somewhere in Japan.
Question:
What is the best way to acclimatize/adapt to humidity aside from living in it and running in it? I know sauna sessions, heat suits, etc.. are all used for the short term, but does that really prepare you for it? It seems to me that in order to best acclimate to humidity is to spend a sizeable amount of time "in" humid conditions. Similar to altitude, not only training, but also living in it. Does training in small blocks of time really help? For instance, Nico is training in Hawaii, but this is just a temporary block. Does his body actually "acclimatize" to the humidity and can adapt that quickly in time for Tokyo?
Good article. Very exciting times for American distance running. Let’s not forget about Graham Blanks. He ran toe to toe with fisher and Nico in the 10k at usas. I think people forget he beat Nico in the Paris DL and regularly in the NCAAs. I would not be surprised to see him up front with the leaders at the end of this one. I do think an American can absolutely win this race.
Jonathan Gault has written an excellent analysis of the men's 10k final. 61 years after Billy Mills won US 10,000 gold in Tokyo, can Grant Fisher or Nico Young do it again in 2025?
As for Fisher's tactics, his coach Mike Scanell said the following, "The strategy that he used in Zurich will not be employed in Tokyo," Scannell said. "He’s a strength runner. So you can infer whatever you’d like out of that."
As for Young's fitness, here is what coach Mike Smith had to say, "He thrives off of good, consistent blocks of training," Smith told LetsRun.com. "I think the last block he had after USAs, he’s in phenomenal fitness."
I think Nico wins and Grant gets silver.
Are you aware this is not the US championships? Other countries are here. This is a US style "world championship" like NFL or NBA. This is actual WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
What is the best way to acclimatize/adapt to humidity aside from living in it and running in it? I know sauna sessions, heat suits, etc.. are all used for the short term, but does that really prepare you for it? It seems to me that in order to best acclimate to humidity is to spend a sizeable amount of time "in" humid conditions. Similar to altitude, not only training, but also living in it. Does training in small blocks of time really help? For instance, Nico is training in Hawaii, but this is just a temporary block. Does his body actually "acclimatize" to the humidity and can adapt that quickly in time for Tokyo?
You can be fully heat acclimated in 10 days unlike altitude. Not everyone handles heat well, acclimating longer won’t fix that.
Are you aware this is not the US championships? Other countries are here. This is a US style "world championship" like NFL or NBA. This is actual WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Yeah the NFL and NBA don't do that. Maybe you are thinking about baseball which calls its championship the World Series?
Plus there is no doubt that whoever wins the NFL or NBA championship is the best American football or basketball professional team in the world: the NFL because hardly any other country plays American football, and the NBA because although lots of people in other countries play basketball, pretty much all of the best ones in the world play in the NBA. It's not like soccer where there are multiple competitive professional leagues.