. . wrote:
You have to feel bad for Rowbury, she is often close to greatness, but denied - always losing by just a bit.
It must be frustrating to know that there is always another american women that will beat her.
Can't believe this thread blew up like it did! Watching the sl-mo front shot, it does seem like MAYBE Jenny's arm goes wider than her normal stride right as Shannon is about to pass, and Shannon hooks it with her normal arm carry. That said, I think Jenny's arm is going wide because she is actually starting to fall on her own. It seems like she is leaning too much for too long (probably sensed that runners were gaining on her) and she just starts to lose her balance and go down. That hooked up Rowbury and then Shannon had to dive. I think Shannons dive was more from getting tangled and trying to avoid a falling Jenny than to dive for the win as she is actually diving after the line it seems.
Shannon is lucky she didn't hit her head on the rail, she just missed it.
I don't see any fault of either here. Both ran hard and for the win. Coming on the inside poses a risk, but Shannon was on the rail coming into the homestretch and Jenny was on the outside of lane 1 with another runner on her outside. Had Shannon tried to go around all that, she would have given up momentum and maybe 3-4 meters to do so. Since the probability of pulling that off are closer to 0% she chose the better option and it nearly worked.