If he hadn't tried to go with Rupp's surge. If he had hung back and played it safe, he would have finished third.
If he hadn't tried to go with Rupp's surge. If he had hung back and played it safe, he would have finished third.
questionable... it is hard to say when you don't know how he was feeling. Maybe he just suddenly hit the wall. It could have happened a few laps later had he not thrown in the surge
my favorite guy goes out
shucks
i agree w op
he would have made it
surging...
crazy!!!
pointless!!!!
I don't agree that Lagat would have made the team with a different strategy. The younger guys were better on the day.
But I do very much believe that Rupp's strategy was aimed at Lagat. He wasn't going to give him a smooth ride to a final kick. When a guy has beaten you 22 times, of course you are going to make things difficult for him, if you can. It's respect.
Have no idea how Masback got it into his head that Rupp was "softening up" the field for the benefit of Eric Jenkins. Why the heck would Rupp run at Jenkins' service in an Olympic Trials?
I agree that Lagat COULD have qualified with a better strategy. Sometimes ego gets in the way of decision making.
If Lagat runs a close fourth the whole way and still has his usual kick, he comes home third. Qualifying has to be the highest priority and it looked like his strategy was "win or die". He died.
Hated to see the DNF.
Agree. Bad strategy. If he was feeling bad, why go with Rupp? Take your chances for third.
Mr cleen wrote:
Agree. Bad strategy. If he was feeling bad, why go with Rupp? Take your chances for third.
You're right, but at the end of the day Kenyans don't race to lose. They race to win.
know the enemy wrote:
...
But I do very much believe that Rupp's strategy was aimed at Lagat. He wasn't going to give him a smooth ride to a final kick. When a guy has beaten you 22 times, of course you are going to make things difficult for him, if you can. It's respect.
...
Rupp has been better than Lagat for several years now.
Agreed, no way Rupp was running in service of Jenkins at an Olympic Trials. Poor reporting.
If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle.
know the enemy wrote:
Have no idea how Masback got it into his head that Rupp was "softening up" the field for the benefit of Eric Jenkins. Why the heck would Rupp run at Jenkins' service in an Olympic Trials?
Yeah. Rupp has been training for the marathon, so he has a massive amount of strength, and probably doesn't completely trust his top-end speed. He employed the strategy that makes the most sense for himself given these facts.
It looked like lagat was still a 1500-5000m runner out there. He did not seem to be straining too much until he dropped out, then he looked like death. I think he is still more adapted to lactate tolerance (a 1500-5k adaptation) than lactate avoidance (a 10k adaptation.) He may find that it is not too painful to stay witha hard pace then he suddenly reaches a crisis point when chemistry can no longer be denied. it was great to see him go for it one more time, esp for me since I am also 41.
I think Rupp was trying to soften everyone up so he did not have to strain too hard at the end. Rupp was just at a different level in that race. He could win it any number of ways and I think he probably wanted to do what would work best for his overall training and pose the least injury risk / allow for quickest recovery. At about 6k Salazar was shouting for him to slow down, which he did. When the second place finisher went past with about 300 to go i briefly wondered if Rupp was going to just relax into second but when he stuck onto him I said to my wife "now you are going to see the difference between a great 10k runner and a world class 10k runner." Then Rupp opened up 30 meters in the last 200 while still looking like he had 2 more gears. The way he ran it looked like someone who was more marathon fit than 10k fit to me, but it will be interesting to see if he runs the double.
Weed wrote:
If my aunt had balls she would be my uncle.
Please stop the bigotry.
If the trials were in 2015.
Masback, Hammond and Boldon are buffoons when it comes to calling mid- and long-distance events. No surprise there. They made several odd comments during both 10Ks.
Run_26.2mi_Dad wrote:
Agreed, no way Rupp was running in service of Jenkins at an Olympic Trials. Poor reporting.
Rupp was running in service of Ritz four years ago.
Ritz did not have the standard. Rupp paced him to achieve the standard, and then kicked for his win.
safdsafdsf wrote:
If he hadn't tried to go with Rupp's surge. If he had hung back and played it safe, he would have finished third.
disappointed fanboy