KUDOS to Evan Jager

let's d wrote:

gjigg wrote:

Because they aren't currently in sub 12:52 shape and they weren't really competing against him.

He shoulda won. He's that caliber. Americans can't be happy with "good effort" anymore. He should have run 56-57 last 400 and won. Easier said than done but it's not like he was running 12:50 pace. Why no 56?

Because he was running faster than 12,50 pace for the first km.

Bad Wigins wrote:

Mo Farah comes up short once again.

Yeah.. I'm sure he is devastated...

Baumgzo wrote:

Yeah Galen Rupp never has done this.

Olympic Trials 5k... happened about 2 months ago...

I watched every event, it was actually the first time in the 41 years I have lived that I got the opportunity to do so. Even took time off from work to do it.

Lots of great races. But the best one, in my humble opinion was the man, the myth, the legend - EVAN JAGER !!!

In the Mens 3000m Steeplechase.

Here are my reasons:

[1] First he is a good ol' Chicago boy. I lived in Chicago and Wisconsin for some years and its a tough place to become a distance runner. Not high altitude, cold weather. But he has shown it can be done.

[2] He busted an event that has been completely dominated by the Africans, in particular the Kenyans.

[3] His form is perhaps the best of any Steeplechaser ever. He does not slow down before a barrier, and jumps over it with ease and immediately gets back into his race pace. No broken rhythm whatsoever.

[4] It was sweet redemption for his fall, in that race last year where he ran 8:00. If he did not fall it would have been at least a 7:58. In the Olympics he ran 8:-4 which is the second fastest ever at the Games.

[5] His celebration after his Silver medal, him embracing the former Olympic Champion from Kenya and his overall triumph. A true hero.

My favourite race of the 2016 Olympics.

1992ofsaa wrote:

Here are my reasons:

[1] First he is a good ol' Chicago boy. I lived in Chicago and Wisconsin for some years and its a tough place to become a distance runner. Not high altitude, cold weather. But he has shown it can be done.

No it's not. The Midwest is a great place to become a distance runner -- Mild weather, beautiful trails, strong running community (at all levels), etc

Ujay wrote:

I give Jäger a ton of credit for today's 5000m. Jäger was training for the steeplechase and he got a silver medal. Then he has the balls to test his limits at 5000m. So many of you criticize elite athletes for coasting in the pack. Jäger learned something today and made the race more exciting in the process. Kudos.

Not really sure why everyone is excited by Jager's performance in Zurich. He clearly isn't in sub 13 shape and died trying to go for it. Why is that to be praised? He won't break 8 next week or ever. Last year was the peak of his career. Yeah,yeah he got the silver medal this year. He might have gotten gold last year and may have been the best steepler on the planet in 2015.

What about Mead? DNF? Those OTC guys seem to be good for maybe 1-2 solid races per year and the rest are absolute bombs. They're awesome at drones and instagram though.

HardLoper wrote:

cbenson4 wrote:

Doesn't this pretty much mean no steeplechase for the remainder of the season? Sigh... I was looking forward to another attempt at 8:00. But then, finishing the season with a 5k after a silver in your main event isn't a bad idea. Maybe he's content with his 8:00 AR.

Why would this mean no steeplechase next week?

It seems uncharacteristic of Schumacher to race Jager in a hard 5k the week before he goes after a potential PB in his main event. He's been known to be very conservative with racing his guys, right?

.[/quote]

Not really sure why everyone is excited by Jager's performance in Zurich. He clearly isn't in sub 13 shape and died trying to go for it. Why is that to be praised? He won't break 8 next week or ever. Last year was the peak of his career. Yeah,yeah he got the silver medal this year. He might have gotten gold last year and may have been the best steepler on the planet in 2015.[/quote]

You do realize there was a global championship last year that Jager did not even medal in... You seem like some idiot that only follows track during olympic years and looks up runners times from the past couple years to try and sound smart on message boards.

Sure! hand me a martini wrote:

Ujay wrote:

I give Jäger a ton of credit for today's 5000m. Jäger was training for the steeplechase and he got a silver medal. Then he has the balls to test his limits at 5000m. So many of you criticize elite athletes for coasting in the pack. Jäger learned something today and made the race more exciting in the process. Kudos.

Not really sure why everyone is excited by Jager's performance in Zurich. He clearly isn't in sub 13 shape and died trying to go for it. Why is that to be praised? He won't break 8 next week or ever. Last year was the peak of his career. Yeah,yeah he got the silver medal this year. He might have gotten gold last year and may have been the best steepler on the planet in 2015.

People are excited because they were tired of fast times being hyped then nobody going for it. Yeah Jager died but only because he went out at ~12:50 pace for the first K with everyone else happy to run like little pansies. There's a thin red line when you're pushing your limits like that and even being a little too fast at the beginning puts you in the hurt locker. Overall Jager ran like he wanted it he learned and will come back and break 8 next week

Bad Wig wrote:

Mo, the reigning double Olympic and World champion at 5000 and 10000 is missing nothing by not racing scrubs in the watered-down Diamond League in front of 20 people in the stands.

The 30,000 seat stadium looked sold out. Probably more people there than most nights of Olympic track.

Bad Wig wrote:

Mo, the reigning double Olympic and World champion at 5000 and 10000 is missing nothing by not racing scrubs in the watered-down Diamond League in front of 20 people in the stands. Any series where Ben True can win a race is not worth running.

What are you talking about? Zurich is the DL final. The field wasn't full of scrubs. It contained the guys who crossed the line 2-3-4 and 6 at the Olympic Games. It was also in front of a large crowd.

Asafa powell made some post-race comment about the crowd being bigger than RIo although I don't think that's the case.

Don't downplay Jager's fine run in a very stacked field with a large crowd to Ben True's run in the scorching hot sun in the failure that was the NY diamond league.

Carlos Danger wrote:

Critical Realist wrote:

Face it, nobody takes steeplechasers seriously. Shaheen/Cherono was about the only one. If Chelimo or Mead or Lagat had done the same thing, you guys would be lamenting their tactical blunder but since it's the lily white Jager, it's kudos all around.

Don't be silly. There's little reason to create some type of race issue where there is not one. Very strange comment.

Yeah, strange indeed. If Lagat or Chelimo had done what Jäger did, I would applaud them for it. I would probably have to do a double take if Lagat did it. I guess there would be drug allegations if Lagat went out to run sub 13, but I don't think that is a racial issue.

As far as Jäger, he is a formidable runner, not to be pigeonholed by your inane steeplechaser comment.

In a 5000m race for all the marbles with only U.S. runners, Jäger has as good of a chance as anybody, including the current 5000m silver medalist and marathon bronze medalist.

Please enlighten me how a 13:16 guy is a threat to anyone or how you would credit Chelimo or Lagat for trying to do something which they are clearly incapable of doing.

Face the facts, Jager is not a sub-8 or sub-13 guy and is the beneficiary of poor selections by AK and the inevitable aging of Kemboi.

Except for that one time he paced me to 26:59. Thanks Galen!

Bad Wig wrote:

Please enlighten me how a 13:16 guy is a threat to anyone or how you would credit Chelimo or Lagat for trying to do something which they are clearly incapable of doing.

Face the facts, Jager is not a sub-8 or sub-13 guy and is the beneficiary of poor selections by AK and the inevitable aging of Kemboi.

You are truly ignorant. I am not one who thought Jäger would break 13 in Zurich. However, you label him a 13:16 guy. You are an idiot. Jäger peaked for the Olympics in the steeplechase. Then he manifested the mental fortitude of one who wanted to test his fitness. He almost won the race. Jäger can obviously run faster than 13:16. I credit any runner who is willing to experiment with race strategy and to be bold when timid souls such as you cower in a corner.

Man you sound really bitter. First of all Jager isn't a 13:16 guy: he decided to follow the pacers and found himself alone in the last 5 laps.

He ran 13:02 in 2013 and wasn't even top 5. Last year had he took the last jump carefully he would be the 9th steepler of all time crystal clear. Still smashed the AR for 4 seconds anyway. Also 8:04 in Rio without pacers in scorching weather.

I can understand running tactically if you were in the run for the 40k, but the other guys wussed out without any good reason. It's a shame that 12:59 will be the wl time of 2016.

Also you would be a fool not to consider Jager a legitimate candidate for USA team from 1500m-5000m. If he really wanted to, I guarentee you 100% that he could run faster than Centrowitz in the 1500m and close to Lagat's time in the 5000m.

I think you need to learn to apreciate the talent that your country is helping to find and produce, you're taking too much for granted it seems.

Sorry, but the Pre strategy is an epic fail.

Bad Wig wrote:

Sorry, but the Pre strategy is an epic fail.

Tell that to John Ngugi and Ismael Kirui. You need to shut up and learn something instead of speaking of things of which you know not.