Scorpion_runner wrote:
Awsi Dooger wrote:
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.
I think I am going to laugh for a solid month at that claim. Thanks a bunch. Rarely is biased hyperbole mixed with such rare stupidity.
Ayana runs an astonishing world record, one that had cynics yelling doper from all directions, and you want to pretend someone who finished 15 seconds back would have had no problem taking her down, minus the so-called panic. Oh, sure, let's be a Happy Adjuster and make the winning time 28 flat. Make it whatever we want it to be.
Ayana is devastating when rested and when she sticks to sensible lap times. She would have won the 5000 double at Rio of not for being overconfident in the qualifying race and also in midstream of that race. Ayana later conceded she felt fine and didn't think she could be beaten, hence the overly aggressive center laps.
She would not have beaten Obiri last year, not with Ayana lacking foundation and Obiri at her best.
Yes, Ayana is a one-trick pony. The rest of the running world should be one-trick like that. Dictating from the front end is the absolute ideal style, in track and field and swimming and auto racing and horse racing and any type of racing. Only dunces don't understand that. Every American coach and runner who teaches or adopts a stretch running approach should be banished immediately. They are nothing but a waste of time...the exceptions too irrelevant to care about.
Hellen Obiri is the stiff. It is ultra hilarity how she is perceived around here. I love to wager on Ayaya because I am receiving such incredible bargains at 10,000, since suckers like yourself continue to invent reasons to doubt Ayana. Meanwhile I just sit back and yawn while collecting. Please make it +110 odds next year, just like 2017. I have no doubt it will play out that way, due to so many clueless times who have no idea how to evaluate variables and outcomes. Obiri and Sifan enter the race. Wow, Ayana is in trouble. Maybe I'll get +150.
And there she goes again...a half lap clear. I may laugh for 6 months.