With the supposed strength of the US Collegiate running scene, shouldn't better results be expected?
Mens 1500 heats
Heat 2
8th Kendall Muhammad 3:51.27
Heat 3
7th Diego Zarate 3:47.95
Neither got close to qualifying for the final
Mens 10,000
Top 3 all 27.25-27.26 and probably of questionable birthdates, but:
16th Thomas Pollard 29:53.84
20th out of 34 Colin Burke 30:20.80
Both PRs so they performed at their level, but the level isn't that high for a 19yo. Top 8 filled by 2 from each of Kenya, Eritrea, Uganda and Ethiopia, but from 9-15 you have two Japanese, Italy, France and Guatemala, and then India and Canada between 16-20.
Womens 800
In heat 1, Aaliyah Miller came 4th with 2:08.21, snuck in with final qualifying spot. Samantha Watson won heat 4 with 2:07.30, so some redemption.
Isn't the factory supposed to be churning out top athletes?
Even in the men's LJ, only one of the two got through to the final. Cuba and Australia got both their athletes through.
In the women's javelin qualifiers, the American girls came 16th and 17th out of 21 in their group, waaaay down the rankings. Japan got both theirs through, and countries like Cuba and SA are doing well across a lot of events.
What's going on with the track and field powerhouse? Maybe Noah Lyles will be left carrying the can, but even in the 100, the other US runner came 3rd in their heat and struggled.