Have you ever competed to win a race? If so, you might realize that hanging back 15-20 seconds from the best in the country and hoping they come back to you is not a great strategy to win that race. Scheweizer, along with others in the lead pack, were competing for the win. They paid for it at the end as many runners passed them in the last K. Maybe they would have benefitted from a strategy like Neale’s, but they also would have never been in contact with Kurgat and had no chance of winning. Schweizer and others went for the win, bonked in the last 1k or 2k, and paid for it. They may have had a higher place if they employed Neale’s strategy, but they never would have had a chance of winning. It was hard to tell that Kurgat was going to be so strong on race day that she would grind up the competition.
Neale had a great race and deserves props, but it also reminded me of Manzano in the 2012 Olympics when he picked off everyone at the end because they went too hard. 9 Times of 10, Manzano is not getting that silver medal. He benefittec because everyone was hyped up in that race and ran too hard too early. Same thing happened with Neale at nationals.
Who knows what the future holds to all these women. Good luck to those that continue to race in their futures.