Salazar goes home devastated? Will his latest star import - Yomif Kejelcha - be left off Ethiopian 5000 team?

ncrecuvuer wrote:

rojo wrote:

That's the question I now have. The way that race was run was bizarre to me. It seemed to me as if the Ethiopians were worried about beating each other. Does anyone know if they've announced how they'll be picking their team?

I viewed Kejelcha as the favorite for Worlds but two weeks ago Jonathan Gault on our podcast pointed out that he might not even be on the Ethiopian team for while hew as undefeated at 5000 this year, he is only the 5th fastest Ethiopian on the year. Tonight, he was only 4th in the DL 5000 for Ethiopia. Will he be left off?

See if I thought the Ethiopian Federation was just going to take the top 3 Ethiopians from this race and it really looked like it cause no one wanted to bridge the gap to Cheptegai by themselves. They really screwed up, because between 5 of them, none of them got the win so now they HAVE to give Edris the 4th spot, right?

Honestly, this race was so crazy that if I was the selectors I wouldn't even use it for the selection criteria. It just gave no information. This is going to be a very very tough decision to make.

If it were up to me, I give it Gebrehewit for being the fastest today, and winning the DL London 5k literally days after winning the trials 10k over Berega and Kijelcha.

Then I'd pick T Bekele. He's the fastest by time and after that 12:52 in Rome he can back 5 days later and ran 12:57 leading much of the race after the rabbit dropped. Good indication of rounds.

The final spot is going to Kijlecha for being undefeated going into this race over 5k including 2 DL wins. We already know he can go 12:46. You could argue Berega, but he has questionable championship experience after not even medalling at World JR's or the African games last year. Plus he beat Kijlecha in the 10k trials so he could be a very good gold medal threat since he'll be fresh going into the 10k.

Simple things explained wrote:

captain wetod wrote:

"No, Kejelcha is too slow. He has been outkicked for years despite being one of the fittest in the world. His championship experience isn’t a record to be touted.

Similarly, it’s a bit underwhelming for a 3:47i/59:17 man to get outkicked and outrun by his teammates. Those marks mean little when he doesn’t display corresponding fitness at his main distance."

You make the claim that Kejelcha is too slow and gets out-kicked. You are reminded that Kejelcha has won multiple races this season by out-kicking his teammates.

Multiple races (i.e. two) and Gebrhiwet miscounted the laps in one of them IIRC. Kejelcha’s record against them is neutral this season, but his two most recent (and most important) races against them were defeats.

captain wetod wrote:

You decide this doesn't matter because the winning time wasn't fast enough for your liking.

The selectors’ liking.

captain wetod wrote:

Attempting to reason with you is obviously futile.

Either it’s “obviously futile”, or you still feel like yapping. You can’t have it both ways, bud.

captain wetod wrote:

And honestly, I don't think you understand how idiotic your argument is.

Don’t cut yourself on all that edge, baby.

captain wetod wrote:

Kejelcha getting 4th at Worlds as an 18 yo in 2015 and 20 yo in 2017= poor championship record. Your solution? Send Bekele who has absolutely no experience and has run one fast time courtesy of Barega's pacemaking.

Kejelcha was fit enough to medal either year (12:53 in 2015, 3:32 in 2017). Those were poor results for him, and yes, are illustrative of lacking tactical ability.

Bekele has run sub-13 3x this season, has the WL, isn’t injured, isn’t running another event, and beat Kejelcha handily a month from WCs. He is a good pick.

captain wetod wrote:

Speaking of Barega, it's interesting you've said nothing about him even though he's been out-kicked in damn near every race he's run this season. Aren't you going to hold him to the same standard as Kejelcha?

Yep! Barega doesn’t get shut out of the Ethiopian top-3. Kejelcha’s the one who failed to meet that standard when it mattered.

captain wetod wrote:

I get it that Kejelcha is coming off an injury and it may be in Ethiopa's best interest to have him focus solely on the 10k. But you are making it seem like he shouldn't have been in the 5k even if he was healthy, which is absurd.

Nah, Bekele is just really, really good.