Infeld beat Huddle at the line for the bronze! incredible lean!

I don't think she was moving to lane 2 to cut Infeld off. In fact, I know she wasn't doing that. Doing that would imply that Huddle knew Infeld was immediately behind her, which she clearly didn't.

Watch the finish in a lot of races. When people are done (usually after the finish line) some runners will sort of fade out of lane 1. It becomes instinct, particularly in longer races when you are used to lapping people.

Anyway, yeah, makes no sense that Huddle would be trying to cut off a runner who is behind her and easing up at the line thinking that she had locked in third place.

Come on, guys. Go a little easier on her. Get after her for not running through the line. Don't go after her for cutting someone off (which she didn't do) or implying something in an interview (which she didn't do). She'd just gotten beat in the most embarrassing way possible--you can't seriously be micro-analyzing every cliché phrase she used in the interview two minutes after the fact. My goodness, sometimes people just use clichés--opportunity of a lifetime--in speech. Not every little detail has to MEAN something. She was disappointed. Calm down.

Aqua wrote:

Ive just watched thefinish and to me it looked like the raised arms were so close to the line that it had no impact, Infield was finishing 3rd regardless of what Huddle did.

How about celebrating AFTER you cross the finish line?

Bush league wrote:

Bush league move by Huddle to go into lane 2 and cut Infeld off.

Does Huddle haev a history of this?

Sort of: At the 5000 at USA's last year, Shannon Rowbury wove all over the track trying to keep Huddle from passing. Eventually, Huddle got around her.

Interestingly, in the interview afterwards, Huddle said she would have done the exact same thing if she'd been in Rowbury's position. So maybe that's what happened here.

PS It almost looks as if Huddle thought the first white line on the track was the finish line.

Milennials.

Watch again wrote:

J.R. wrote:

Contrary to the misconceptions, Infeld beat Huddle by about 2 feet to the finish.

The placings would have been the same regardless any premature celebration.

Ummmm... Watch that again. Huddle wasn't overtaken because she was out of gas or had nothing more to give. She was overtaken because she stopped running and was gonna coast it in across the line assuming, I suppose, that the Bronze was a lock. Had she kept pressing all the way, she would have beaten Infeld

Considering their energy though, Infeld would have gotten 3rd place either way.

The part in bold is true in any race but makes no difference. Of course if you run faster you'll run faster, but you didn't. See, that's the point, and Huddle didn't stop, she just ran out of gas, and Infeld was stronger at that point.

Which is why Infeld got 3rd and Huddle got 4th.

J.R. wrote:

Watch again wrote:

Ummmm... Watch that again. Huddle wasn't overtaken because she was out of gas or had nothing more to give. She was overtaken because she stopped running and was gonna coast it in across the line assuming, I suppose, that the Bronze was a lock. Had she kept pressing all the way, she would have beaten Infeld

Considering their energy though, Infeld would have gotten 3rd place either way.

The part in bold is true in any race but makes no difference. Of course if you run faster you'll run faster, but you didn't. See, that's the point, and Huddle didn't stop, she just ran out of gas, and Infeld was stronger at that point.

Which is why Infeld got 3rd and Huddle got 4th.

No, you are wrong. People who completely run out of gas to the extent that it costs them 3rd place by a fraction of a second don't also have the energy to raise their arms in "victory". I have seen people completely lose it in the last step or two (usually in the 400 meters) but they look nothing like Huddle did at the 10000 today. They usually look like they are about to pass out, staggering around and eventually fall over or need to be helped to remain on their feet. They do not raise their arms to celebrate and then stand around and watch the replay right away. No reasonable person can conclude that Molly's premature celebration did not cost her third place. Both Huddle and Infeld stated as much.

Rund al'Thor wrote:

Also goes to show how seldom coaches actually reinforce the little stuff.

Ugh.

Lol. So it was her coaches fault?

If only he had shouted:

"Hug the rail Molly hug the rail"

"Run through the line Molly run through the line!

Watch again wrote:

J.R. wrote:

Contrary to the misconceptions, Infeld beat Huddle by about 2 feet to the finish.

The placings would have been the same regardless any premature celebration.

Ummmm... Watch that again. Huddle wasn't overtaken because she was out of gas or had nothing more to give. She was overtaken because she stopped running and was gonna coast it in across the line assuming, I suppose, that the Bronze was a lock. Had she kept pressing all the way, she would have beaten Infeld

General rule of thumb: The opposite of whatever J.R. believes is true.

Bush league wrote:

Bush league move by Huddle to go into lane 2 and cut Infeld off.

Does Huddle haev a history of this? Wonder if Infeld calculated that and was why she stayed in lane 1 for the pass.

Run through the line, my friends.

Molly didn't cut anyone off.

Emily was already hugging the curb.

Looks to me like Molly started decelerating about 10 meters out, and didn't realize Emily was still closing.

Aqua wrote:

Ive just watched thefinish and to me it looked like the raised arms were so close to the line that it had no impact, Infield was finishing 3rd regardless of what Huddle did.

Molly clearly didn't know she was there. Its not as if she collapsed after the race. Molly was talking about herself when she said it was a unique chance to win a medal. She seemed perfectly reasonable for a person who trained, not just this season, but for ten years to have that opportunity and the only reason she lost was because she didn't know that the other runner was there. I doubt either of them feel like that medal belongs to them.

Congrats to Emily Infeld.

I think the 2012 XC championship race where Huddle was nipped by Hall was also due to the arm-raising premature celebration. So she's done this twice now. Hopefully she'll be in a position to medal in Rio and will NOT pull this stupid move again. But if she does and is passed at the finish again - well, lets just say the internet will not be kind.

J.R. is M.R. wrote:

J.R. wrote:

Considering their energy though, Infeld would have gotten 3rd place either way.

The part in bold is true in any race but makes no difference. Of course if you run faster you'll run faster, but you didn't. See, that's the point, and Huddle didn't stop, she just ran out of gas, and Infeld was stronger at that point.

Which is why Infeld got 3rd and Huddle got 4th.

No, you are wrong. People who completely run out of gas to the extent that it costs them 3rd place by a fraction of a second don't also have the energy to raise their arms in "victory".

That fraction of a second was 2 tenths, amounting to 2 feet, not a small amount.

Raising your arms because you're out of gas doesn't do anything either, and Huddle just proved you wrong.

Didn't some guy do that in college and another guy passed him just before the finish?

It was on you tube, right?

She definitely let up, well before the arms go up. hat's what cost her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7KKySANnxQ

Wth? Did you not hear her say that the only reason SHE HERSELF had a chance to medal was because it was so slow? She didn't sell anyone short.

The original live race footage had a vantage point right on the track so you could see the athletes' faces as they were coming towards the finish line. Molly raised her arms, then realized she got nipped, said "F@@K" and then immediately covered her mouth because she realized she was caught saying this on TV.

I wonder if the producers realized this as the footage they're showing now is from a distant vantage point from the side.

This was such a painful thing to watch. Huddle ran a perfect race and should've medalled but made a foolish error. It's going to be really difficult for her to get to sleep tonight because the reruns are going to be playing over and over in her mind. Ouch! It was pretty clear in the interview that she totally realized what happened.

She's really talented so hopefully she'll be back in future races but this is one of those things that will never go away. Just a really bad dream.

Never never let up until you've crossed the line. Good lesson for the younger runners. "Look what can happen if you screw up like this!"

We shouldn't overlook the incredible showing by the American women today. Anyone who suffered through the American running drought of past years should be proud of how these women finished.