In honor of the Purdue Women's 4x400, what are the biggest choke jobs in running?

Kentucky choked. Fastest time coming in and they completely laid an egg.

If the Purdue anchor went out any slower, the USC runner would have caught her going into the final curve, sat on her, and beaten her by over 5 meters. She tried what she had to and wasn't good enough. No shame in that!

Hand banana wrote:

Kentucky choked. Fastest time coming in and they completely laid an egg.

This is a better definition of choking.

curiousrunner35 wrote:

joho wrote:

Choking is when you do not perform your best because of the...pressure of having a lead

Exactly, you’ve proven it was a choke. She had an insurmountable lead and ran a very poor race strategically allowing USC to win. That’s a choke.

Posting anonymously is choking the big one.

Anyone in the 72 olympic men's 800meter race whose name is not Dave Wottle.

splits and PRs wrote:

Purdue - 52.08/52.37

SC - 50.05/49.99

So the Purdue runner actually split a little in this race compared to her all-time PR.

Fact. She performed to her potential, therefore, NOT a choke. If she was a 50” performer who laid a 52 it is a choke. Tough spot to be in if you know you are your teams 3 or 4th fastest running anchor against the best from other schools- coaching decision. It might have worked if Ellis was mentally weak and defeated at the exchange.

So you're saying if the Purdue runner had gone out at a more sensible pace and STILL lost it would NOT have been a choke? What you really seem to be saying is that anyone with a 30 meter lead in a 4x4 shouldn't lose the race.

Les wrote:

What you really seem to be saying is that anyone with a 30 meter lead in a 4x4 shouldn't lose the race.

uhhhh duh? That's why it's a choke. Thank you for agreeing.

Purdue alum here. I get your point about blaming the coach for running the fastest legs first and second but Greene has ALWAYS run his fastest runner second. It gives you a clear path in the exchange zone and allows you to avoid the mishaps that happened to Kentucky/Oregon/USC when they were all handing off at the same time. I wish the UK runner had held her ground on the first curve and not allowed Ellis to get the inside, maybe that would have slowed her down enough.

Mitchell is a 1:26 600 runner with extremely long legs - even when she's running fast, it doesn't look like it. When she tires, her stride gets even longer so it looks like she's walking it in when really she's fatigued. I know her team mates and coaches don't think it was a choke job so I'm going to defer to their opinion on this. What an accomplishment getting 8th as a team and 2nd in the country as a relay.

While I was at Purdue, letsrun was hell bent on talking about how Purdue was one of the worst D1 programs in the country. Now letsrun is convinced that getting second at nationals is something to be ashamed of. I'm an incredibly proud alum and wish I had 3 more years under Greene.

curiousrunner35 wrote:

Giving up a 30 meter lead in the last 100 meters is a choke, end of story. Running the second fastest anchor leg doesn't make it not a choke, she went out too hard and had nothing left at the end, for a running forum I figured you all would understand the basics of racing strategy.

Gary Glitter wrote:

Getting beaten by a better athlete isn't a choke job.

So when the Falcons blew a 28-3 lead it wasn't a choke job because Brady is a better QB? LOL okay.

Brady isn’t the only guy on the field numbnut... their offense was just better than the falcons defense

BoiltheVikes wrote:

While I was at Purdue, letsrun was hell bent on talking about how Purdue was one of the worst D1 programs in the country. Now letsrun is convinced that getting second at nationals is something to be ashamed of. I'm an incredibly proud alum and wish I had 3 more years under Greene.

No one said you should be ashamed of getting 2nd, that's admirable for such a terrible program. We're just talking about how badly your team choked away the win

Thanks for showing your ignorance so that I can know to ignore any thoughts you have moving forward!

toptom wrote:

Thanks for showing your ignorance so that I can know to ignore any thoughts you have moving forward!

And what is that ignorance? You can't even point anything out lmao

Everyone else has already pointed out your ignorance. Running near her best, regardless of how it was paced, is not choking. You clearly don't understand running, choking, math, or debate. Glad to help!

toptom wrote:

Running near her best, regardless of how it was paced, is not choking.

Alright see you in the next diamond league thread when someone goes out way to fast and gets caught at the finish. I assume I'll see zero comments about that because it's irrelevant and ignorant to track correct?

curiousrunner35 wrote:

toptom wrote:

Running near her best, regardless of how it was paced, is not choking.

Alright see you in the next diamond league thread when someone goes out way to fast and gets caught at the finish. I assume I'll see zero comments about that because it's irrelevant and ignorant to track correct?

If Chelimo gets away from the field and gets caught at the line running 13:05, it would not be choking, either. Do you need more examples?

Opinionated guy wrote:

If the Purdue anchor went out any slower, the USC runner would have caught her going into the final curve, sat on her, and beaten her by over 5 meters. She tried what she had to and wasn't good enough. No shame in that!

This.

People don't seem to understand how running a 400 anchor leg works. It's not like in the DMR, where if you have a lead on a faster runner then you go moderately and make them have to work to close the gap while you're saving for a kick. Same situation in a 4x4, you actually want to go out hard and try to make your lead as big as you can by 200 and hope that it's big enough that the other person doesn't think they can get to you. The girl from Purdue did what she was supposed to, but Baisden was just better.

objectivity over ignorance wrote:

splits and PRs wrote:

Purdue - 52.08/52.37

SC - 50.05/49.99

So the Purdue runner actually split a little in this race compared to her all-time PR.

Fact. She performed to her potential, therefore, NOT a choke. If she was a 50” performer who laid a 52 it is a choke. Tough spot to be in if you know you are your teams 3 or 4th fastest running anchor against the best from other schools- coaching decision. It might have worked if Ellis was mentally weak and defeated at the exchange.

No. 2 seconds slower in a 400 is not a choke. The McMillan table for choking in a 400 is 4 seconds slower than your PR.

Saruni and Kerr were choke jobs.