I believe everyone is good wrote:
PissPoor wrote:If a 7th place NY Marathon in 2:13 makes you a hot favorite to make the US Olympic team, we have a piss poor team. 2:13 is much closer to the women's world record than the men's world record! Surely, we have better.
This. Meb was more than 4 minutes off of his best time on the NYCM course. Conditions yesterday were great for a fast time. Meb did not run fast, not did he trade punches in a tactical affair. He ran slow (for a professional) for 20 miles before being dropped. Stanley Biwott is great, but he's not some world beater.
What is a "hot" favorite? He's clearly the favorite but the marathon is a cruel race and anything can happen on race day. He also ran NYC in 2011 "only" in 2:11 off of a 63 first half and came back just 68 days later to win the trials. A 2:13 off of a 66:49 first half (ie, he had a negative split) is well within the fitness level needed by him to win the trials and not much worse than in 2011.
How can you say that a guy who split 28:35 for the last 10K who dropped Kamworor, Desisa and Kipsang (the last two, who, by the way ran "awful" 2:12s) isn't a world beater??? Do you have any idea of the credentials of that trio? The fact that Meb stayed within a minute of Desisa and Kipsang (yeah, that Kipsang who is a 2:03 marathoner and former WR holder) should tell anyone with half a brain that Meb is in great shape. The stupidity on these boards never ceases to amaze me.