Duane Solomon Going to Take 800m Final to Place only Nick Symmonds Can Go, Plans On Being at WR Pace at 600

Strategy worked for his coach in the 1992 Olympics. Went out in 49.9. Got the bronze. The strategy can work.

I cannot believe everyone forgets the "Johnny Gray Twilight Zone." I must just be getting old.

Again, Grays twilight zone worked domestically but not so much abroad. Sure he won a few races with fast times like in Oslo with rabbits but typically he set himself up for failure when he could have benefitted more from letting a few others take the lead in championship races. Usually, it didn't work out and he didn't win a gold medal by taking others into the twilight zone. I really enjoyed watching him compete, even in New Orleans but the bottom line is that strategy only works for guys like Rudisha among his competition. Jones, Coe, Cruz, etc... Held off in 84 letting Koech and Gray clear a path. Ereng, Cruz, Elliot, in 88. 92 finally scored after showing he was ready at the trials. He didn't get skunked a third time and is one of the American greats but international 800 competition is all about being in striking position without extending too far with 120 to go. London will never happen again.

Watched the vid wrote:

bagel and lox wrote:

he wasn't coasting. he was rigging after his 50.x first 400. nobody who feels fine at 750 just shuts it down with guys nearby to "save" himself for the final and then watches others go by.

this isn't 2012 when he was in 1:42 shape. if he goes out sub 50, my money is that he is coming back 56+. lox and nick the dick will beat him running like that but he very well might make the team with a 49/56. this isn't exactly murder's row in the 800 final.

Dude, you are blind. Solomon shut it down. He ain't in 2012 shape but he didn't rig either. He will make the team, might even win, but he won't make it with a 49/56 unless it's 110 degrees.

You should leave the analysis to the adults in the room in the future. That was an embarrassment. Has the leader at 700 in a championship race ever started walking without being hurt?

Hahahaha. That was hysterical. Unreal dnf lol

Duane embarrassed himself out there. None of us would be ragging on him if he didn't run his damn mouth.

Pathetic that he started walking and acted like he was hurt on the track just because he couldn't handle the pace he set himself.

Seriously what was he even thinking? Was he thinking?

bagel and lox wrote:

Watched the vid wrote:

Dude, you are blind. Solomon shut it down. He ain't in 2012 shape but he didn't rig either. He will make the team, might even win, but he won't make it with a 49/56 unless it's 110 degrees.

You should leave the analysis to the adults in the room in the future. That was an embarrassment. Has the leader at 700 in a championship race ever started walking without being hurt?

None of you guys called it. But you being a bagel and lox fella will try and claim you did. That's how you guys are. Go back to crying about Rupp and Salazar.

No one called this one except the guy who said Symmonds would make the team. Now there's a knowledgeable fan.

This is baffling to me. He claimed to have gone WR 800m pace through 700m in practice while still being smooth. How could he tie up at 680 now and not even run more than 750m?

He may have gotten the record for the slowest time ever recorded in a professional race.

I called Sowinski. Good for him. A stepping stone for next year.

You were all wrong wrote:

bagel and lox wrote:

You should leave the analysis to the adults in the room in the future. That was an embarrassment. Has the leader at 700 in a championship race ever started walking without being hurt?

lol

None of you guys called it. But you being a bagel and lox fella will try and claim you did. That's how you guys are. Go back to crying about Rupp and Salazar.

No one called this one except the guy who said Symmonds would make the team. Now there's a knowledgeable fan.

Can you not read? I said if he goes out in sub 50, then he is coming back in 56+. He went out sub 50 and came back in 2:19 (is that how you express a 400 split over 100 seconds?) I was dead on idiot.

Just as I said.

Old Man Winter wrote:

This is baffling to me. He claimed to have gone WR 800m pace through 700m in practice while still being smooth. How could he tie up at 680 now and not even run more than 750m?

Anybody see him chewing gum? Caffeine would jack his heart rate up higher and definitely affect his top end sustained performance.

lol lol lol lol wrote:

Eugenia von Henry wrote:

Give me a break. How many times have we heard this bunk from Solomon? Not buying it again.

If Solomon goes out in 1:14--or even 1:15--what would he have left for the remaining 200 meters? Enough to finish in 1:44.00 or better? Or would he stagger home having been passed by 5 or 6 runners in the last 50 meters?

As I was sayin'...

FWIW, Solomon was at 49.76 at 400 meters and 1:16.34 at 600 meters.

While 49.76 is, technically, "WR pace" it is slower than Rudisha's 49.28 in his 1:40.91.

By 600, however, Solomon was not only over two seconds slower than Rudisha (1:14.30), but had fallen well behind the even-split pace of 1:15.68...

That Solomon died a painful death isn't exactly shocking. Instead, he set the race up perfectly for Symmonds, who has over a decade of experience with pace judgement, knows his abilities, is grounded in reality, and BENEFITS from a race in which his opponents go out too quickly, not only because it allows him to profit from his superior pace judgment, but because it tends to cause the field to string out, reducing the distance he has to travel while passing people & minimizing his chances of getting boxed.

Judging by Symmonds ever-slowing splits of 25.22--26.05--26.24--27.03 he is NOT in great shape right now; probably not capable of breaking 1:44; but he ran very intelligently and has plenty of time between now and the WCs to do what he needs to do...

For Solomon, this oughta be a reality check.

By comparison, if Robby Andrews announced that he planned to lead the 1500 through 1200 meters in "2:44 and change" (WR pace for 1500 meters is 2:44.8), would people think this was...a __bright idea__?

Coach T wrote:

Duane is just taking a page from his coach, Johnny Gray. But he is not that kind of guy, and these comments will probably back fire.

I am a big fan of Duane, but this boasting tells me that Duane is actually worried about his race today. Its almost as if he needs to make these statements in order to convince himself that he can win. If Duane goes by the 600 in 1:16, then you will see the wheels come off the Solomon train. He is simply not ready to run 1:43 right now. And that's ok. Just go out and get a top three finish in this race. And then you can work on your fitness for the next 6 weeks.

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Props to you. You were right and I was wrong. Solomon was not ready, and he did indeed, do something that is not in his personality. Anyone who knows Duane can tell you that the "Twilight Zone" crap is not him, its Johnny Gray. I should have seen the signals but I didn't.

Salvatore Stitchmo wrote:

He's taken so many PEDs it's now actually affecting his brain functionality. What a twit.

PED's, crack, weed, whatever - Solomon seemed like an old disillusioned man this weekend - almost 3rd person-like about "the twilight zone" etc etc knowing full well it was just some desperate attempt and bravado and/or mind games. And what happened in the final confirmed that.

And for the record I do actually think that the same guy who was a consistent 1.45 high - 1.46 low runner that at 27 years of age spectacularly ran 1.42, was doped to the gills in the first place. Peace.

That was one of the funniest damn things I've ever seen in pro track and field, maybe the absolute funniest

Why is it relevant that going out like a bat out of hell (sometimes) worked well for Solomon's coach? Maybe Johnny Gray was just a better runner. He was certainly a different one, and much more smooth.

Looking at the top guys busting down the homestretch today was surreal. All three of them looked like lurching non-runners, like a trio of lacrosse players that decided to jump into a half-mile race halfway through a keg party on a bet. Symmonds is, by far, the ugliest (in terms of form) successful mid-distance or distance runner I can ever recall watching. Loxsom looks like he has sand in his joints. Sowniski looks like he is going to topple over backward at any time. Yet they all get "it" done.

reed wrote:

i don't think he'll do it. he's trying to scare people so they don't follow him too closely, then he'll come through 400 in maybe 49.8.

dunno if he'll win though, he's probably the favorite still but not by much

just pointing out that i called 49.8, he ran 49.76.

obviously, i didn't call him walking it in after 700...

d3 fan wrote:

Seriously what was he even thinking? Was he thinking?

I agree. This just happened in the final of the NCAAs womens 800 where the frontrunner took it out super fast for 600m and completely died (though she didn't stop and walk the rest of the way).

I can't believe Solomon thought this would work. Doesn't he care about making the team? But, who knows, maybe he thought he could hang on, or that the others would go out fast with him, too fast for them, and he'd "break" them.