SIFAN will be racing 10000m next season, because ALBERTO wants her to double 5000/10000m at the WC and Olympics

Ayana vs Sifan at 10000m is going to be crazy!...

Good interview.

Am I the only one who finds her HOT!!! Is she single?

HOT!!! wrote:

Am I the only one who finds her HOT!!! Is she single?

No. She has beautiful eyes. Very attractive. My impression is she will do the 1500/10k. I thought she was being coached by Pete Julian

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Sneaky, sneaky Alberto! He is going to turn her into a marathoner without her realizing it. I like it!

0/10 for Fake News!

Hassan clearly says it's all about doubling at the Olympics. Because of scheduling, the 1500/5000 double will be impossible, so she's going to run some 10,000s to see if she can run that.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Sneaky, sneaky Alberto! He is going to turn her into a marathoner without her realizing it. I like it!

I remember she stated that wasn't into doing anything above 5000m, and that she even detested the thought of it, but that was under coaches in Holland.

Her she seems nervous-excited about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFlYJcLHKDc

This is GREAT for women’s distance running. Sadly the reason Ayana is so far ahead of the rest is the unique combination of her being super talented but at the same time poor at tempo changes (which has by necessity turned her into a beast of a front runner) and additionally her global competition in the 10000 is not the best.

Problem for Hassan is how does she approach a 10k with Ayana in the field? Sifan is almost the opposite to Ayana. She is aTirunesh type of runner, someone supremely confident in her ability to run with the pack and win with her kick over the final lap. - This obviously won’t work with Ayana who blows the field apart in the second third of the race. - Everyone is keen to point out how Obiri tracked Ayana right through the 5k in London last year and then blew past her for the win. Great effort by Obiri, but An Ayana in her second race of a championship meet is always a poor shadow of her true self. Had Ayana not run the 10k first I believe the result would potentially have been different. Ayana has not run slower than 14.26 in a stand alone 5k race (since becoming a household name) and is usually below 14.20. However her championship 5k runs, having won the 10k prior, are almost 20 seconds slower. It’s obvious her style of running depletes her ability to double.

Anyway I don’t think we will see Ayana doing the 5k in WC events again. It’s my belief she will focus on road races when she returns from injury - 10k and half marathon. Also she’ll have an eye on the full marathon.

Another focus for the likes of Hassan and Obiri when moving up to the 10k is their running form. Hassan and Obiri look like their running takes a lot out of them. Neither looks efficient and Hassan seems to somehow crab sideways as she speeds along. Again Ayana is the opposite, long striding and metronomic efficiency. This is also a factor when it comes to the longer distances.

I personally believe Ayana to be unbeatable at the 10k (interestingly, Agnes Tirop said the same thing) But I do think the female 10k needs and injection of competition to keep it relevant. Currently much of the distance talent is running the marathon, 10k has been in the shadows for too long.

AlSal is turning Hassan into the next Farah. If Ayana is injured in 2020, Hassan will be in with a big chance.

HOT!!! wrote:

Am I the only one who finds her HOT!!! Is she single?

You would not find her hot if you spent any time around her. Horrible, entititled, and disrespectful person.

Salazar has turned only one non-elite into an elite (Rupp) and it won't be surprising if he ruins yet another speedy track runner by moving her up to his own favorite distance. He clearly still has something to prove at the marathon.

Already there is no way she can win at 10,000.

bladerunner wrote:

HOT!!! wrote:

Am I the only one who finds her HOT!!! Is she single?

No. She has beautiful eyes. Very attractive. My impression is she will do the 1500/10k. I thought she was being coached by Pete Julian

Julian does not coach the stallions of NOP....That's all Alberto, especially with Yomif and Sifan. Every training session I have seen with Yomif and Sifan, Alberto was right there.

Despite English obviously not being her first language, she always is a great interview.

She does have an XC background (won Euro U-23s in 2013), but I think the problem here (especially if in-form Ayana is in the race) is the mentioned tendency to start at the back and the confidence to cover huge moves with a long way still to go (which Ayana is notorious for doing semi-suicidally). I think it was after 5k at worlds last year she said something about not being too confident about chasing Ayana/Obiri so she just hung back and ended up destroying the rest of the chase group on the last lap and was closing hard on Ayana for silver by the end. Perhaps 14:22 will help the confidence a bit.

Blech wrote:

HOT!!! wrote:

Am I the only one who finds her HOT!!! Is she single?

You would not find her hot if you spent any time around her. Horrible, entititled, and disrespectful person.

I am sure you have ample evidence to support this statement.

Holy s**t I thought her 5000m pb has 14:42 or something but turns out she ran 14:22 in Rabat this year for 7th all time.

And I bet she still has the wheels to run around 3:56 in the 1500m.

That kind of runner can for sure threaten the 30 minute barrier if she chooses to go to the 10000m distance.

Ayana herself ran her first track 10000m in 2016 at the trials in a wonderful time of 30:06 smashing incredible talented athletes in the process so as long as Sifan put in the distance workouts she will be alright even without race experience. 5km and 10km are very similar aerobically after all.

Rockstar Games wrote:

Holy s**t I thought her 5000m pb has 14:42 or something but turns out she ran 14:22 in Rabat this year for 7th all time.

And I bet she still has the wheels to run around 3:56 in the 1500m.

That kind of runner can for sure threaten the 30 minute barrier if she chooses to go to the 10000m distance.

Ayana herself ran her first track 10000m in 2016 at the trials in a wonderful time of 30:06 smashing incredible talented athletes in the process so as long as Sifan put in the distance workouts she will be alright even without race experience. 5km and 10km are very similar aerobically after all.

Hassan is a huge talent that’s for sure, - I would love to see an Olympic 10k featuring Ayana, Obiri, Tirop, and Hassan. Although Ayana would still win. Nobody else has the ability to run back to back 14.30s 5k splits within a 10k. And the one time Aprot took it out hard presumably to unsettle Ayana, she instead provided her with a platform to destroy the WR.

Remember Ayana is essentially a time trialler as she runs over half the race alone, all the others are racers. Takes huge self belief and mental strength to do what she does.

I think Gidey will excel if she steps up. But firstly she is powering up the 5k rankings, and she also has beautiful form. The long term future is with her.

The 10,000 is very weak, as others have noted. It is run so seldom I can see why it is not prioritized. You basically have to be a natural specialist at the distance with a perfect style, like Ayana.

Stretch running is for suckers at that level. Sifan sat so far behind Ayana and Obiri at 5000 last year she essentially forfeited any chance at the top two. One Ayana weakened after Obiri left her on the final lap, Ayana was content to jog to the wire until she realized Sifan was making a late bid. Ayana picked up the tempo at that point but the final margin between the two was misleadingly tight, both due to Ayana tired after the double but also deflated since a championship 5000 was again escaping her.

If Sifan could alter her style and find ability to clip off lap times not far below Ayana at 10,000, then we might have something really fascinating. But I tend to doubt that will happen. I expect the 10,000 will be either a one-year experiment for Sifan or never play out at all.

NOP don't do stuff to just do it. This is not an experiment. She is being conditioned to run farther.

An had Vivian's teammate not panicked during the Olympics at 10000m, Vivian would have taken down Ayana like she did at 5000m meters. Keep in mind Viv ran 29:32 in that same race. So I don't find Ayana to be invincible at that distance. You just can't panic if she goes out hard. Keep the lead within 30 meters, and chop her down in the last 2 laps.

I think there are a lot of the half marathon female kenyans who can hang with her if they chose to focus on 10000m, like Jepkosgi and Jepchirchir...Especially Jepkosgi, she ran 29:43 on the road, a WR!

Ayana is too much of a one trick pony, and because of that she does not race often either. no circuit races this year, or last year, or even in 2016. She cherry picks, and will continue to do so. I can't trust a runner like that.

Ayana will not lose a 10000m race for a few years inless her training is severely depleted due to sickness or injury. The lady reels off WR spilts for the 5000m in the middle of all her 10000's except her debut. If she is healthy we can only wait for father time to slow her 10000m downn in maybe 3-5 years.

VIPAM wrote:

Ayana will not lose a 10000m race for a few years inless her training is severely depleted due to sickness or injury. The lady reels off WR spilts for the 5000m in the middle of all her 10000's except her debut. If she is healthy we can only wait for father time to slow her 10000m downn in maybe 3-5 years.

highly disagree. Like Vivian said, she can be beaten, Just stick to the game plan and don't panic. Once Viv laid down the print at 5000m , as well as 10000m, kenyan women don't fear her. Obiri easily has a number at 5000m, and Dibaba has beaten her as well. Let her run at WR pace, don't chase her, because 10000m is close to the half marathon. It's like how runners chop down marathon runners in the second half of the race. That is how ayana should be treated. That is what Vivian figured out.

They tell you, with great distance, run the first half with your brain, and the second half with your legs... Ayana will always run the first half with her legs, and slow down in the second half. That is how her style will be broken, because she can't run any other way.

I see what Vivian sees.

So we agree to disagree. You heard it here first she will not win at 10000m at the WC next year.

You say April going out hard cost Cheruiyot the race? And the trick to beating Ayana is to stay within 30 metres and kick? - if this is true then why didn’t Aprot going out hard cost Ayana the race? And why didn’t Cheruiyot stay within 30 metres of Ayana? - because she couldn’t keep up! Thing is Ayana will never take the lead as late in the race as she did in Rio if the pace is slow from the start. At the London WC she went at 4km after a slow start and her 4-5km split was 2.49, good luck staying with that pace and then out kicking her at the end.

In Rio if Aprot hadn’t gone out hard the time would have been slower- but Ayanas second 5km split would have been faster like it was in London.

I do agree though, that if all the talent from the roads were forced to train for 10k track it would be closer but Ayana would still win she would lower the record even further.