I am Kenyan and though I was rooting for Kamworor to win, in the end I was happy Desisa won. Desisa has had many near misses in this race and it was fitting for him to finally cliche the top spot. Shura Kitata did the work in that race and I wish it was possible to have two winners him being one of the two. His second place is very impressive and I see him get better from here.
Finally I have a passionate appeal to Kamworor. Kamworor is a master racer and great strategist. However the aggression by the Ethiopians yesterday caught him off guard. Normally Kamworor takes it out early because he doesn't have a big kick like Desisa for example. But the hills in New York and the fact that they were already moving at a fast pace prevented him from implementing such a move. Kamworor is also a "big" man and his running style is not fit for hilly course like New York or Boston. He reminds me of five time world cross country champion John Ngugi. A flat course or slightly hilly course is fine for him. Going forward he should exploit his greatest potential which is the half marathon. His challenge to change gears fast enough especially at the end of races makes it hard for him to contend for the 10000m at the world championships. Unless he finds a way to go out very early, maybe paced by one of the Kenyan team members, I see him getting disappointed like in 2016 and 2017. He should therefore train hard and attempt the half marathon world record at the Valencia race next year. But before that, he should go for his third world cross country title. His third place and a 2:06:26 in New York was a superb performance for him and he should not feel bad about it.