US men are GARBAGE from 800m to the Marathon

You realize that nearly every country in the world except for 3 or 4 would be thrilled to have our "garbage".

There are 195 countries in the world, apparently.

2016 Olympics

800m - US places 3rd out of 195

1.5k - US places 1st out of 195

3k steeple - US places 2nd out of 195

5k - US places 2nd and 5th out of 195, although neither are really American

10k - US places 5th out of 195

Marathon - US places 3rd and 6th out of 195

Looks pretty good to me.

Merica Baby wrote:

There are 195 countries in the world, apparently.

2016 Olympics

800m - US places 3rd out of 195

1.5k - US places 1st out of 195

3k steeple - US places 2nd out of 195

5k - US places 2nd and 5th out of 195, although neither are really American

10k - US places 5th out of 195

Marathon - US places 3rd and 6th out of 195

Looks pretty good to me.

This. Throw in 2012 and we've consistently overachieved in spectacular fashion at Olympics and World Champs.

To add to that, we have some incredibly talented 800 meter guys coming up.

I’m eating tandoori wrote:

US men also are garbage at cricket.

And Cheese-rolling. They don't even know the rules!

When this was discussed last week, the only suggestions for up-and-comers were Murphy, Engels, Fisher & Hunter.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8901252

so, let me summarize your message:

800m - 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist who was 21 when he won. Ran 1:42.93 which is top 3 all-time american

1500 - 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist, WC indoor gold medal, SIlver outdoor WC. CHESEREK ran 3:49 indoor mile...

5000m - Chelimo - Silver medal - 2016 Olympics - crazy, wild runner but willing to go after faster stuff

10000m - garbage-like

Marathon - Olympic Bronze in marathon in 2nd ever marathon. Best and fastest USA marathoner ever. Won silver medal in 10,000m - probably best american born runner all time. wins big marathons

USA men probably had one of the best performances as a distance/mid-distance crew ever in the 2016 olympics

If we look past what happened in 2016, there is a huge drop off after Jager, Rupp, and Chelimo. Brazier has run fast but does not perform at global championships.

Aside from the steeple and a few Kenyan immigrants, the top end of U.S. men at 800m to 10000m is really weak right now. It is hard to understand because there has been more quality depth at all levels at these distances than ever before over the past ten years or more. We did great in the medal count at the 2016 Olympics, but what is going on now? We had three guys at 1:43.55 or better, all young in Donavan Brazier, Boris Berian, and Clayton Murphy, and only Murphy is under 1:45 now, and he's had to come back from injury to do it. At the 1500m, we had 3:30s from Webb, Wheating, Centro, and Manzano between 2007 and 2014, not even counting Lagat, as a Kenyan immigrant, and to this point 3:35 is still the best this year for the U.S.

In the 3000m, in the past, Lagat ran 7:29, Rupp ran 7:30, Hill ran 7:30, Solinsky ran 7:34; in the 5000m, in addition to Lagat's 12:53, there were several 12:55 and 12:56s from Solinsky, a 12:56 from Ritz, 12:58 from Teg and Rupp, just between 2007 and 2013. In the 10, Rupp ran 26:44 and Solinsky ran 26:59 and had plenty left to run faster (closing in 1:56!), but no other non-Kenyan born runners have run sub 27:20 since Meb way back. So, there has been a puzzling failure to bring our many 3:35-37 and 13 low guys to greater heights.

The U.S.men have won a medal in each of those events the last two Olympics. You probably have to go back to the early Olympics to see that.....

You’re the only one that’s worthless.

People - let it go. This is a troll. They are just saying this to get a rise out of the Americans here.

Lol! Imagine that, someone complaining about us distance running. Is this post from 20 years ago?

run with the wom wrote:

People - let it go. This is a troll. They are just saying this to get a rise out of the Americans here.

You'll never catch me doing that. American men have regressed, and I don't see anything promising in the wings, not even

from african transplants. We are getting b and c listed africans to run in america. just saying.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

800m: Murphy is our only hope, and he is probably a silver medalist at best. Other than that, GARBAGE

The women are graduating outstanding talent every year from 800m on up to the marathon. Just like women are carrying US Soccer, they are now carrying US Track and Field and Road Running.

Worded in a bit of an over the top manner. You did catch the attention of many OP.

US does not have to be as you said, garbage in 800m. As you may know, the best event for US men is 400m as demonstrated by number of Olympic gold medals since 1896. US is also great in 200m and 400mH. US male athletes should not fall off the way US men do in 800m. From John Woodruff, to Malvin Whitfield to Tom Courtney, US had an impressive string of Olympic gold medals. I understand Kenyan Independence is a factor in lack of US 800m gold medals since circa 1964. I would also say it's Lydiard training philosophy. Woodruff, Whitfield and Courtney were all 400/800 runners. Lydiard philosophy scares many US 400m runners in 45.0 to 47.0 range from moving up to 800m. Possible college XC scares away many possible 400/800 men from moving up to 800m.

Meh, the US mid and distance guys do better than its World Cup team.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

run with the wom wrote:

People - let it go. This is a troll. They are just saying this to get a rise out of the Americans here.

You'll never catch me doing that. American men have regressed, and I don't see anything promising in the wings, not even

from african transplants. We are getting b and c listed africans to run in america. just saying.

Regressed?

From when? The 90s??

Gouchers times are laughable in comparison to today, HS, ncaa, and "pro".

The 70s?? Shorter was good at marathon, but his times don't equal Rupp.

The early 00's?? Culpepper and Ritz were full of potential and had good performances but still don't have pr's better than today.

Fact is, your assessment is bad.

Other fact is, the US has never seen its best athletes on the track and likely never will.

LeBron James makes more money in 5 minutes of game time than the entire Rio US T&F team combined has for their entire careers.

Add in that US kids have lacrosse, soccer, football, baseball, basketball, hockey, volleyball, not to mention individual pursuits like skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding, wake boarding, cross this, cross that, x this, etc, etc, ad infinitum.

Do Kenyans play hockey or lacrosse?

US kids don't give a shite about Rupp or Jager or Centro or Murphy (all world medalists, confounding your troll attempt) or running, period. Like .7% of US kids aspire to run elite levels. ....And they aren't our best. Despite this. US performs in athletics, despite your feeble attempt to troll otherwise.

I agree with you not trusting Chelimo, but he could mature. What about Ryan Hill? He was under 13:30 at the outdoor championships. Other than that, pretty sad times. The amount of runners in the 14:00's at the freaking championships does not bode well for the 5000m.

And yeah, the 10000m is pathetic.

By comparison, Prefontaine's 13:21 & 3:38 would get him where today?

...Or Goucher's 27:59??

And Frank Shorter's 2:10:30???

None of these prs would ensure a win today.

These are some of the legends of US running but none of these pr's beats the best 2018 US performances this year.

Regression?

Only if we're measuring scorpio-boy's brain cells.

They have a medal threat in each event. That is outstanding. Sure, of course the depth is not spectacular on a world class level like Kenya or Ethiopia (who are notoriously desperate age cheats and dopers because they have nothin else good going for them) has but who cares. The top US can beat them consistently now anyways (which they could not in the past) especially at Olympic and world championships where doping control is heightened. The vast majority of countries can't come close to the US in distance running. Congrats on a solid troll job OP.