MICHAEL NORMAN DFL in Semi heat

Here are some quotes from NBCSN.

"just wasn't my day. Body was giving me signs.

Body was telling me to slow down to prevent something tragic from happening.

It's the same thing that's been nagging before USA - been coming on and off.

I'm just happy that I didn't make a huge mistake... It just wasnt my time."

I imagine he is out of the relay pool as well, which is a big loss.

My Prediction Contest score will suck that much more...

He said he had "warning signs".

Michael Johnson thinks it extremely strange. He said 'if you can run the whole lap in 45 you can run it in 44 or 43'.

Denis Lewis said '...it was nonspecific as if he's reading from a script'.

this will likely be an unpopular opinion but, michael norman peaked too early. 43.4 in april. great for the audience, but it never meant a (projection-wise) 42.9 at worlds. i dont blame his training or his schedule at all, but actually his own body as a first-year professional, not used to peaking in september at all. BUT, same thing happened to brazier his freshman year. couple years later, and look at him obliterating them two laps with an american record.

physiologists feel free to chime in, but i believe his speed endurance was april-may-june ready, not september (let alone october for christ's sakes). nonetheless we got michael norman for a looong time.

Dang that sucks! That 43.4 in April was just too early. Hard to keep that up for this long.

I knew things were going too smooth, that sucks.

Fred Kerley take over!

4x4?

Dr. DETROIT wrote:

Dang that sucks! That 43.4 in April was just too early. Hard to keep that up for this long.

Too many NCAA athletes (and in history) doing great at these Champs for that to be the case. They've been at it since Feb.

Might be interesting to see if any big bets were placed on him to finish last in the semis/not qualify for the final, and who made them.....

waxonist wrote:

this will likely be an unpopular opinion but, michael norman peaked too early. 43.4 in april. great for the audience, but it never meant a (projection-wise) 42.9 at worlds. i dont blame his training or his schedule at all, but actually his own body as a first-year professional, not used to peaking in september at all. BUT, same thing happened to brazier his freshman year. couple years later, and look at him obliterating them two laps with an american record.

physiologists feel free to chime in, but i believe his speed endurance was april-may-june ready, not september (let alone october for christ's sakes). nonetheless we got michael norman for a looong time.

Ok but what happened from yesterday to today? Very weird performance

Well, he had mentioned before USA that he had a problem and that it kept him back when he lost to Kerley. Now this. It was obviously a mistake to have him in 43.45 shape in April. He should take a long break now and get healthy before starting up again, and much more slowly than he did this year. That is a real shame, not just for my picks, but for what was looking like a dominant and near world record 400 and 4x4.

Whatley wrote:

Dr. DETROIT wrote:

Dang that sucks! That 43.4 in April was just too early. Hard to keep that up for this long.

Too many NCAA athletes (and in history) doing great at these Champs for that to be the case. They've been at it since Feb.

yes indeed BUT, not with world-medal performances early outdoor season. at that level, a half-second difference does matter.

Yea, overnight something happened?? Things that make you go hmmm.

Also, fastest time of season in April, coaching mistake!

Anyone thinks Kirani James will win the 400m final. He has the talent and already won Olympic and world championship title

waxonist wrote:

Whatley wrote:

Too many NCAA athletes (and in history) doing great at these Champs for that to be the case. They've been at it since Feb.

yes indeed BUT, not with world-medal performances early outdoor season. at that level, a half-second difference does matter.

And what collegiates are doing well in these champs? Most are crashing hard. It's hard to do on a normal but these guys are running in Oct!

Whatley wrote:

I knew things were going too smooth, that sucks.

Fred Kerley take over!

4x4?

Maybe Rai runs it? The rest of the 400 pool looked pretty bad today. Heck, put Noah on both relays!

rojo wrote:

Here are some quotes from NBCSN.

"just wasn't my day. Body was giving me signs.

Body was telling me to slow down to prevent something tragic from happening.

It's the same thing that's been nagging before USA - been coming on and off.

I'm just happy that I didn't make a huge mistake... It just wasnt my time."

Nice to see that this young man knows when not to push himself.

Dr. DETROIT wrote:

And what collegiates are doing well in these champs? Most are crashing hard. It's hard to do on a normal but these guys are running in Oct!

Wadeline Jonathas

Grant Holloway

Gleb Dudarev

Armand Duplantis

Laulauga Tausaga

Angie Annelus

Teahna Daniels

Bryce Hoppel

Norman has a glass body. He almost retired a couple of years ago because he was frustrated by how injury-prone he is. Hopefully he and his team can figure this out.

It's a USC thing. In recent memory there have been a couple NCAA Champs where all of their male sprinters tank on purpose. They just jog around the track in the heats. That kind of habit is hard to break.