I am honestly sick and tired of all of these DL races that aren't going sub 3:30, 13:00 or 26:00

Your expectation of sub 26:00 is a little unreasonable.

Then don't watch. I know I wouldn't watch football every Sunday if the teams weren't playing as hard as they could. That's why I don't watch track unless it's a big championship. Even then...

Deer Nimrod, your an idiot.

So trying to win (with first place prize money on the line) is pointless? You don't understand racing my friend. The point is to win.

PRs and records are statistical checkpoints. But the point is to win, not to feel good about losing.

You think Dan Marino doesn't wish he won the Super Bowl?

tired of it all wrote:

What on earth is the point of running these races if you aren't going to try and run fast? Going for the win is pointless at these races- why not try to run as fast as you possibly can? It's like were seeing fewer and fewer sub 3:30 1500 races, sub 13:00 5000 races and sub 27:00 10k races these days. I can't believe it, track and field is getting so boring without these fast races.

It is obviously frustrating from a fan's standpoint. That is totally understandable. However, to argue that running for the win is "pointless" is misguided. Regardless of the venue, winning is prestigious and often well rewarded.

Wing clip WADA now!

redux wrote:

Deer Nimrod, your an idiot.

Well said!

I don't believe going for the win is pointless, but I do believe the DL events held this summer so far have been disappointing. What happened to the 2014 summer without a championship, where everyone was supposed to try new distances and chase fast times? DL events used to be more entertaining when people actually tried to run 12:50 or 3:29. Look at all of the hype that came in the last few years with Mo Farah dropping down to the 1500, or the sub 12:50 5ks we saw. Now the same athletes are running 13:10? No wonder people are disappointed

Let me correct myself.......sub 27 is a little unreasonable. Only 2 americans have ever done that and it doesn't happen but more than a couple of times a season these days anyways. But sub 3:30 and especially sub 13 shouldn't be that hard for these guys to do. I think if they set it up to where competitors were given prize money for placing top 3, top 5, etc and also running certain times, the meets would be much more entertaining. It's cool to see the big names competing regularly but if they are just lame races that are medium tier times it's like whats the point?

5k has been slow this year, to be sure--as it was last year.

But 1500? Come on. The first DL meet of the season, Doha, featured 2 sub-3:30 1500's followed by another 4 sub-3:31 marks; there were then 6 sub-3:50 miles at Pre, and 3 more sub-3:50 miles at Oslo.

tired of it all wrote:

Let me correct myself.......sub 27 is a little unreasonable. Only 2 americans have ever done that and it doesn't happen but more than a couple of times a season these days anyways. But sub 3:30 and especially sub 13 shouldn't be that hard for these guys to do. I think if they set it up to where competitors were given prize money for placing top 3, top 5, etc and also running certain times, the meets would be much more entertaining. It's cool to see the big names competing regularly but if they are just lame races that are medium tier times it's like whats the point?

Only two Americans have ever gone sub 3:30 too.

so watch the 100m only, clearly a bigger effort

This is true, sub 27 and sub 3:30 seem to be about equal to me I suppose, both very impressive times. Still, I think we need to start giving money for running certain times, creating incentives for fast paces rather than sit and kick races.

tired of it all wrote:

What on earth is the point of running these races if you aren't going to try and run fast? Going for the win is pointless at these races- why not try to run as fast as you possibly can? It's like were seeing fewer and fewer sub 3:30 1500 races, sub 13:00 5000 races and sub 27:00 10k races these days. I can't believe it, track and field is getting so boring without these fast races.

"It's like were (sic) seeing fewest and fewer sub 3:30 1500m" or we ARE seeing fewer and fewer? Which is it?

It's like you don't know how to express your thoughts.

1. theres been only one diamond league 10k this year.. in which an american record was set

2. going for the win here isn't pointless, theres 10k prize money

epo is the reason the times have slowed from 1500-10000

that is where the drug has the greatest effect

There have only been 16 races where someone ran under 12:50 for 5000. Only 3 of those were won by someone other than Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, or Daniel Komen.

Critical Thinking wrote:

There have only been 16 races where someone ran under 12:50 for 5000. Only 3 of those were won by someone other than Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, or Daniel Komen.

Because Kenenisa Bekele, Haile Gebrselassie, and Daniel Komen were the only people to really tried to push the pace to break 12:50. Nobody these days cares about 12:50 and just goes for the win no matter the time.

tired of it all wrote:

What on earth is the point of running these races if you aren't going to try and run fast? Going for the win is pointless at these races- why not try to run as fast as you possibly can? It's like were seeing fewer and fewer sub 3:30 1500 races, sub 13:00 5000 races and sub 27:00 10k races these days. I can't believe it, track and field is getting so boring without these fast races.

Isn't the simple answer...then YOU go out and run those times to win the DL races instead of complaining about others?