Anyone else think Mo Farah looked terrible at Oxy?

Ugh....did you see the race? It was obviously a training run. He jogged off the line and went right to the back and just moved up slowly throughout the field and practiced closing hard.

He looked good but Ritz definitely made him work.

I'm not concerned, but I thought he would have more in him the last 200m.

Struggling at the end? I didn't see that. I mean he looked tired. But he ran a very fast last few laps that would make just about anyone tired.

Above all, I'm at a loss at what the Al Sal group was trying to achieve in this meet. Maybe they just wanted to go out and race, have fun with it, and it was just a tune up. Thats fine. But the way it looked was that they wanted to run a A standard, they got lazy and didn't push the pace enough early, then late in the race they realized "oh crap, we better get moving". Ritz and Farah then finished in impressive fashion but it was just too little too late.

He never looks great and he always looks tired, but that was a decent early season run and he certainly didn't look any worst than Rupp.

It was a ploy to make sure Solinsky didn't get the A.

ryan foreman wrote:

Struggling at the end? I didn't see that. I mean he looked tired. But he ran a very fast last few laps that would make just about anyone tired.

Above all, I'm at a loss at what the Al Sal group was trying to achieve in this meet. Maybe they just wanted to go out and race, have fun with it, and it was just a tune up. Thats fine. But the way it looked was that they wanted to run a A standard, they got lazy and didn't push the pace enough early, then late in the race they realized "oh crap, we better get moving". Ritz and Farah then finished in impressive fashion but it was just too little too late.

Farah has no need for the A standard as he already gets into worlds. Ritz wanted to show off his kick but started a couple seconds too late.

It's hard for me to say someone looks terrible when they win easily. I remember people saying Farah looked terrible last year in some low key race where he barely beat some nobody, and his season obviously worked out great. If he had lost, then I would be concerned.

Yeah, he looked horrible running away from a couple of 12:50 guys like they were in high school.

Yeah, I am concerned.

No

Farah and Ritz did not need standards they just wanted to race. Farah has automatic entry for being the returning champ and Ritz will not run the 5k at world championships. Rupp and Cam need a 5k standard and Centro needs a 1500 standard. Rupp and Cam should get it at Pre. Centro may also get in as a split during the mile. Rupp, Farah, Ritz and Levins all have the 10k standard from last year.

For the most part they were there to get in a good race to open up the season. Centro was the only one who was supposed to get the standard.

It is May.

smartned wrote:

It is May.

Same for Webb. It is part of his brilliant peaking strategy.

Farah looked pretty easy doing it. Ritz looked quite sharp. Incidentally, was that Duane Solomon as the 2nd pacer through 1200m in the 1500m? No one was following him, so he was slowing down but it looked pretty easy for him. Can he run a good 1500m?

Why does Farah already get into Worlds? He is the Olympic champion, not the World Champion. I think he needs the standard. Now, at Oxy he achieved the "B" standard, and Great Britain can send him with that, and I assume would. But after Pre all this will be moot.

20 seconds off a 5K PR is fast. also, consider that he made at least 3 very significant moves during the race; one after several laps into the race where he went from the pack he was in to the pack that had split off ahead, then again several laps later doing the same thing, and then again when Rupp and/or Ritz floored it and caught Braun within about 20 seconds of accelerating.

Mo is in excellent shape.

5000m: Farah is the defending world champion

10000m: Mo got the A standard in the Olympics

I think Ritz had some interest in getting the standard. Even if it was maybe #10 on his list of goals.

Montesquieu wrote:

Why does Farah already get into Worlds? He is the Olympic champion, not the World Champion. I think he needs the standard. Now, at Oxy he achieved the "B" standard, and Great Britain can send him with that, and I assume would. But after Pre all this will be moot.

Farah is the defending world champion in the 5k so he gets a free pass into worlds...