Huddle goes home DEVASTATED

No way was she going to take a chance on that, especially after what happened at th eUS championships at 5000m, the way rowbury and shelby ran her down. Plus the first heat was pretty fast, so she went with what she felt was best. She understands that her kick isn't fast anymore, so she was not going to take her chances. My only gripe is that she didn't stretch the lead out farther when she first went out, because the group was going to stay at its pace. If you going to lead big, then lead big. But hats off to her. She qualified. She will probably go with the same tactic in the finals, because she is no match for the kickers.

kmaclam wrote:

NO, the tactic did not work. The tactic for an athlete of Huddle's pedigree, in a heat as undermanned like that one, is to qualify as easily as possible. She had the lead and was controlling the pace, 3X tried to wave someone else to the front, got frustrated, and took her frustration out on herself!! Could have brought them through 4km. @ 15:30 pace & pushed a hard K. MUCH easier to recover from than what she pulled

Sol Asylum wrote:

And gotten sixth in a slow time and been eliminated.

SHe did the right thing.

CGBatch wrote:

She arguably would have qualified easier had she just stayed with the pack though

I find it hard to believe it would have been that much slower. The times they were running before she went were already similar to the first heat.

CGBatch wrote:

scoreboard czech wrote:

She qualified thanks to her approach, numb nuts.

She arguably would have qualified easier had she just stayed with the pack though

She just as arguably wouldn't have numbnuts. All we know is she's in with this tactic.

CGBatch wrote:

Sol Asylum wrote:

And gotten sixth in a slow time and been eliminated.

SHe did the right thing.

I find it hard to believe it would have been that much slower. The times they were running before she went were already similar to the first heat.

No, the times they were running were slower. Huddle had the lead, was controlling the race, wanted someone else to take it, no one wanted to share, she got pissed and took off. Emotion got the best of her and cost her any chance of a medal in the final. She was bonking badly, won't recover by Saturday.

Why is she going home? What do you know that we don't, OP?

He already took it back.

She is not the Molly of old, and I would not be surprised to find out that she is or has been injured.

I usually enjoy watching her race -- she's Shalane Flanagan tough -- but it has been painful watching her lately. Hopefully she's got something left for the 5k final.

1955 wrote:

She is not the Molly of old, and I would not be surprised to find out that she is or has been injured.

She had an injury over the last month which had her withdraw from a DL meet.

Like Muir, she forgot the juice in the dressing room

This makes sense. She was in the best track shape of her life in Rio. In the right race she could have lowered her 5,000 AR.

She's running with a hitch in her left leg. Should scratch rather than do permanent damage or risk a marathon build up.

Shelby is amazing she still has the body of a larger 1500m runner.

Her words in the TV interview: "I didn't intend to do that. In hindsight I could not run backwards once out there. It was stupid. I'm lucky to get in."

She gets it.

Surprised she is even running the 5000m really - she doesn't have the speed to be competitive in it these days. Her making the team is also a testament to the lack of depth in the US in the event as there should more sub-15 women than there are currently.

Think it is time to move up to the Marathon permanently, which may be her plan - last kick at the can for this event anyway. Didn't have a great 10000m for her this week, but 8th is still ok. Hope this isn't a downer for her in the final, as that was a tough way to run a heat, even though she did get in and didn't have to rely on a kick that might not have been there.