Letsrun needs to give Jimmy Gressier some props

How debatable is this really

lets be real. cheptegei wouldve crushed that field.

What was the winning time? 28:55 or something. That's exactly the kind of race that would redound to the benefit of Gressier, with his wicked kick. Wikipedia lists Cheptegai's 1500 as 3:37. I don't know if that's correct, but I wouldn't assume that he could kick as well Gressier off of a slow pace. Didn't you watch the Steeplechase and 1500 in Tokyo? Slow races allow kickers like Gressier to win.

You might say, "Well Cheptegai isn't an idiot. He wouldn't have let the pace dawdle so much." Maybe but (1) even in a relatively fast race, Gressier's kick is excellent as he showed in the Tokyo 5000; and (2) if Cheptegai had been there and had pushed the pace, serving as the de facto rabbit for the other competitors would have greatly undermined his chances of winning. it's hard to be the guy up in the front.

I will also point out that Cheptegai defeated Aregwai and Fisher by less than half a seond last year in Paris. Gressier demolished both those guys in Tokyo.

Your pithy point basically proves what I am saying. Like Rojo and Gault, you have such strong confirmation bias that you are incapable of taking an honest measure of Gressier's abilities.

He ran his 3:37 at elevation in a random April Uganda meet. That wasn’t on the best quality track and was in Kampala (just under 4000 ft). I think he could have run 3:31 at his absolute worst (3:29 mid absolute best) in his peak (WR) 5000 shape, if he’d have a handful of attempts and be in a race perfectly paced for him.

I still want to call him Greasier

I really don’t think the race would be close even if the pace was slow. Chep has shown to have a superior kick minus missing the jump at the Tokoyo OG, where he was still closing fast on Barega. His kick is wildly underrated and he’s been blasting everyone by taking control at 500 meters out. No offense to JG but this one is an easy W for Cheptegei.

Gressier is a great runner. He has improved steadily year after year, and his results this year from winter through July were extremely solid: 4 5ks between 12:51 and 12:57–2 outdoors, 1 indoors and 1 on the roads—and range from 1500 in 3:32.71 to half marathon in 59:45 (for the win).

In late August and September, Gressier reached the approximate level of peak Fisher or peak Nico Young; I’m guessing he was in 12:44-12:48 type 5k shape. Unfortunately for the Americans, they ran their best races of the year in February and June respectively. Gressier had his moment at the right time. Some posters here have questioned his breakthrough, saying it’s suspicious, and I saw someone compare him to Mo Farah and his later career sudden ascendancy. I don’t think it’s gonna turn into that, I think Gressier is going to be one of many strong medal contenders at 5k/10k over the next few years, and he timed his peak perfectly this year and took advantage of a wide open field.

Well said per usual!

This is a reasonable take. Looking at the guys he beat- Kejelcha, almgren, Fisher, Mehary, Young— I don’t think Cheptegei would “crush” any of them in a championship race at this stage of his career as some other posters have said. His margin of victory in Paris in a very quick sub-26:50 race was only 3/10 of a second. Jimmy earned his due and he backed it up in the 5000.

His ultimate test will be if he can back it up again at world cross in 2026.

The Brojos called me 'stupid' on a couple of occasions for denying that East Africans have a genetic advantage. Of course it pains them to see white guys winning as soon as a modicum of anti-doping is introduced to those regions.

It can also be said Cheptegei saw the writing on the wall with the slightly increased testing and went to the roads. Believe whatever you want. All we know he is split. Of course, he has already “..won it all,” and he smiles a lot, so he would never use PEDs.

But let's not forget that the Europeans and Americans used to beat Gressier too, all the way through 2024. So Gressier winning can't really be traced back to increased testing in Africa since 2024, not to mention the fact that no one so far has shown increased testing in Africa since 2024.

You understand that showing a compatriot who moved to the roads and got busted makes your argument incoherent. Or are you suggesting him going to the roads is going to get him busted like that athlete?

I can give you some info, Wanyuuni, you ARE stupid.

Good take. If he was Mo 2.0, he’d do better than 3rd in the 5,000. Right now he looks like the best kicker in the 10,000 and pounced on Kejelcha going a tiny bit too early. But the gap is small, and guys like you mentioned (and Aregawi) didn’t time their seasons well. I think Jimmy will be hard-pressed to medal again in the 5,000 but will be an annual threat in the 10,000.

I guess you failed to understand that the basic point the tweet shows is that there is PED use among Ugandan distance runners.