While 3:54 is very good, it is not unexpected. I would have been disappointed if he ran slower then last year, and he ran about the same... a little faster. If anything LAST YEAR'S 3:55 was the one that should have been the shock... not this year's 3:54!
Mottram was a 3:49 guy... Sydney Maree was a sub 3:50 guy... lots of 5k guys are sub 3:50 or around 3:50 milers... which makes Chris' 3:54 indoors sound about right.
I think what nearly everyone fails to realize is that because there are not enough high quality 10ks throughout the year to get a good sense of how fast is really fast, the 10k is a weak event in terms of depth of performances. 26:59 sounds more ridiculous then it is. I guarantee that if there were 4 high quality European 10ks during the season, and you had the common named 12:50-13:05 guys race each one, you would see a lot more 26:40-26:59 times then we do otherwise.
What I mean by this, though Chris' 10k seems unreal, and makes one wonder if he is a 10k guy, I contend his best event is still the 5k in terms of absolute performance. Solinsky is a 3k/5k guy, and to that end, should be a 3:50 miler outdoors. This makes his 3:54 seem completely inline with where he should be.