Big fan but concerned wrote:
It seems like he's gone backwards since joining NYAC. Didn't he run sub 4 the summer after graduating high school? Who has details about his training and the designed plan by his coaches for long term growth?
I hope that I will be pleasantly surprised in the coming years with a strong improvement curve.
Best of luck, Mikey! Hope to see you competing for a spot with Hill, Jenkins, Fisher, Chelimo and others on the 2020 team.
I hope you mean "gone backwards athletically" as the profile of him and his coach that we had up on the site last week was great and it seems that things are going great on that front.
I would agree that his athletic results seem to be slower this year. 4:11 mile at Penn Relays, 4:04 indoors. But it should be remembered that his 3:57 mile last year kind of came out nowhere.
Last year earlier in the year, he ran like 1:50 for 800 and 14:33 for 5000 at Penn and then popped a 3:57 mile when he got in a race with the pros. This year, he did run a big 5000 pr at Mt Sac (14:09).
The fact of the matter is you've expectations a little high for him. There are tons of high school stars - most - that never make the Olympics. And you are comparing him to Chelimo?
Here are the 5000 results.
1 2080 PEREIRA Cristiano POR 22 MAY 1996 T20 8 14:29.80 CR
2 2352 BRANNIGAN Michael USA 12 NOV 1996 T20 3 14:39.87
3 2331 VOLUIKEVYCH Pavlo UKR 11 JUL 1994 T20 6 15:01.59
4 1741 NAKAGAWA Daisuke JPN 9 JUL 1990 T20 12 15:07.41 AR
5 1478 MORRIS Steve GBR 13 SEP 1988 T20 4 15:14.04 PB
6 1350 HERSI Mohamed DEN 26 NOV 1994 T20 5 15:43.20 PB
7 1738 KANEKO Ryo JPN 14 FEB 1990 T20 10 15:47.70 SB
8 1176 DES BRISAY Thomas CAN 19 DEC 1991 T20 2 15:48.93
9 1384 AGUIRRE SANTOS Asier ESP 20 OCT 1989 T20 11 15:57.20 PB
10 1362 CORDOVA LOPEZ Johnny Paul ECU 7 MAR 1997 T20 9 16:12.81 PB
11 1739 KIMURA Yuya JPN 19 JAN 1984 T20 13 16:24.24
12 2277 OZTURK Emrah TUR 1 DEC 1992 T20 7 17:28.99
1438 BOUTASGHOUNT Rachid FRA 28 MAY 1987 T20 1 DQ R 18.9
Intermediate Times: 1000m 2:46.94 2080 PEREIRA Cristiano (POR)
2000m 5:38.48 2080 PEREIRA Cristiano (POR)
3000m 8:34.76 2080 PEREIRA Cristiano (POR)
4000m 11:31.96 2080 PEREIRA Cristiano (POR)