In our Week That Was, we promised to find out what is going on with Alan Webb as he hasn't been seen from since the USAs.
We wrote Ray Flynn, Alan's agent, and he wrote back today (July 21st) with the following statement:
"Alan has had a lingering achilles tendon problem he was controlling during the season. He injured his hamstring during final warm up for his heat during US Nationals. He strained it further during this race. His hamstring injury likely was connected to his achilles problem. He treated the hamstring injury aggressively in Eugene but in the end decided he would damage it further if running in the final.
Since that race, he has been getting treatment in Washington DC. Although he hoped to be back racing this Summer, It is now unlikely that he will race in Europe this year."
So there you have it. Webb appears to be done for 2009.
Kind of ironic that the news comes two years to the day that Alan set the American record in the mile, July 21, 2007.
On more positive news, we asked Flynn about Maggie Vessey's injury and he wrote the following, "In Paris, her hamstring tightened up during final warm up for her race and she decided to err on the side of caution and not race. She got treatment and is obviously now good!
She will race in both London and Monte Carlo."
Disappointing News For US Mile Fans- Alan Webb Is Apparently Done for 2009
Report Thread
-
-
Stick a fork in him.
-
Begs the question, what the eff are they doing on their warmups?? Tweaking hammys left and right...
-
This just in. Alan Webb will be holding a press conference tomorrow to announce his retirement. He is collecting donations for a memorial statue (to be placed in front of his high school) commemorating his accomplishments (Nike refused to provide funding). He now plans to finish up his journalism major and join the crew of Flotrack, allowing him to live vicariously through other athletes.
-
Thanks rojo. Sad news, but I'll be rooting for Alan in 2010 no matter what.
-
AlAN ON THE COMEBACK 2010!
-
nah let me out wrote:
AlAN ON THE COMEBACK 2010!
Doubt it...he's likely done after this.
If he does come back it will be a shade of his former self. -
Disappointing....hell his whole past two years have been disappointing.
-
Hope Alan can use this down time to recover not only physically but mentally. Hope to see him competing at high level in 2010. Good luck Alan.
-
xfit wrote:
Hope Alan can use this down time to recover not only physically but mentally. Hope to see him competing at high level in 2010. Good luck Alan.
Me too, but honestly I felt the same way last year when he disappeared after the trials. I'm growing less optimistic... -
Alan should move up to the 5k and eventually the 10k. He is reaching an age which is at or past peak for the 1500m. Maybe he can be the first sub 12:50 white guy.
-
Mr. Xeno wrote: "This just in. Alan Webb will be holding a press conference tomorrow to announce his retirement. He is collecting donations for a memorial statue (to be placed in front of his high school) commemorating his accomplishments (Nike refused to provide funding)."
Stop hating. Alan is only 26 and he's still among the best American talents in the middle distances. If he has the will and determination to get back to the top of the sport, I believe he can do it. Best of luck Alan. -
What a shocker! The notorious low mileage runner can't stay healthy if his career depended on it! Doesn't that sound like a good chunk of the kids you raced in college?
-
People always say this when he's done nothing to indicate it. I've seen some of his two miles and they didn't look that good. So what makes you think he'll be good at the 5k let alone 10k? If anything, he should concentrate on the 800m. At least he will be a contender on the world stage.
asdsd wrote:
Alan should move up to the 5k and eventually the 10k. He is reaching an age which is at or past peak for the 1500m. Maybe he can be the first sub 12:50 white guy. -
Good news - to hear that he will be taking the season off and recovering. This is just what Steve Scott and others have been saying he needs. He will regroup and be back. And he will run sub 3:48 again.
For the haters - go f**k yourselves. Leave the guy alone. If he wants to live in his parents house and play video games all day then who cares. I could understand this if people really, really, thought he has wasted his talent, but he has not done this. He has the AR and has made 2 world champ finals. Sure they didn't go great but he made them and for even the best runners in the world all you can do is put yourself in the position to win and HE DID THAT. Olympics last year were obvious over training and if anyone has a memory they will recall that he injured his achilles at michigan when over training, so this has been something he is probably dealing with since early 2008.
Go Rest AW and recharge the batteries baby, your true fans are with you! -
I hope he heals up and can be back to running well in 2010. Again, I don't understand rooting against any US runner.. We need all the help we can get. Webb is another big name that we NEED to succeed.
I guess the only runner on LR that's doesn't get target with pure hate is Fernandez. How long before you guys turn on him? -
While I will never refer to Alan Webb as "baby" I am hoping to see him light it up in 2010 and maybe top off his career with a birth to the finals in the London Olympics. I would love to see it happen, if not only to see a potential lived up to but also to see the drop jaws all over the letsrun boards... that being said I am sure even if he won a gold people would hammer him and say he should have done more. Oh well, its easy to be a jerk on a annonymous message board.
-
[quote]hamstrungg wrote:
Common misuse of Begs the question -
[/quote]
lets think about this wrote:
People always say this when he's done nothing to indicate it. I've seen some of his two miles and they didn't look that good. So what makes you think he'll be good at the 5k let alone 10k? If anything, he should concentrate on the 800m. At least he will be a contender on the world stage.
In 2005 he set the AR at 2 Miles, then in 2006 he ran 27:34 and beat Ritz in a track 10K, plus I think he ran 13:10 right around that time too. If Webb could be a 13:00 guy with 1:43 closing speed he'd be a strong contender for a Olympic or WC medal. -
comicbookguy wrote:
I hope he heals up and can be back to running well in 2010. Again, I don't understand rooting against any US runner.. We need all the help we can get. Webb is another big name that we NEED to succeed.
I guess the only runner on LR that's doesn't get target with pure hate is Fernandez. How long before you guys turn on him?
I already hate Fernandez