Jim Walmsley is looking like a genius now, huh?

To your point,

I'd say most posts that believed he'd beat Rupp were crazy trolls, that was delusional from the start. He was on 2:13ish pace until the last mile and half..as his last mile he fell off. Rupp ran a 2:11:12 on a flat course 4 years ago at the trials and year and half later hit a 2:06. He now just ran a 2:09 on a wildly different course in heavy wind. You seriously can't judge a runner off their DEBUT race, I mean come on, I'd say that about any other runner not named Walmsley.

Bernard Lagat ran half a minute faster than Walmsley, I know he's older, yet he is one of the most decorated 1500, 5k specialists ever. Walmsley also placed higher than Jared Ward, and that's not a hit on Ward, I am a big Ward fan, just the facts that day. Ward ran a 2:09 and a 2:10 just in the last year.

I am sure more trail/ultra fans would love to see OTQ runners hit the trails and get served some humble pie. Would there be faster times, yes I am sure of that. Would it be the pure dominance these forums believe, no. Not to pile onto Sage, but he went into Western States talking about course record and was on a hot streak 4 years back leading into Western, a far bigger name than Walmsley, as was Max King in 2014. Both Sage and Max were beat by runners with far slower road marathon times and both hit a real bad patch in the race. Again, the correlation is strong in some races, but unpredictable past the 50 mile distance as we're seeing thus far, especially depending on the terrain and conditions. Mike Wardian in his prime was a 2:17 marathoner, and he didn't even place top 10 @ Western States back in 2009. Hal Koerner a low 2:30s marathoner, beat him by 3 hours (and won the race.)

Some of the claims here are just bitterness about Walmsley, end rant.

I don't know about the humble pie part. Are there 2:10 guys claiming they could dominate ultras? It's effectively a different sport, so why would they even contemplate how well they could run in it?

Jim Walmsley Superfan wrote:

Smaller trail and ultra events are the only sport still going on. Jim is on track to become the dominant athlete of the season.

Does it really count as still going on if nobody notices?

Coffee Bacon wrote: Rupp ran a 2:11:12 on a flat course 4 years ago at the trials and year and half later hit a 2:06.

That 2:11:12 came on a day when it was 78°F at the start and the race was highly strategic, not a paced best time attempt.

He definitely didn't run to his potential, which is true for most runners in the race. He sounded positively miffed that people would be calling him a 2:15 runner now. I'm predicting that he races a marathon a year now, until he gets down to around 2:10 at least.

zzzz wrote:

He definitely didn't run to his potential, which is true for most runners in the race. He sounded positively miffed that people would be calling him a 2:15 runner now. I'm predicting that he races a marathon a year now, until he gets down to around 2:10 at least.

It wasn't a run on a neutral course and weather conditions. His run was at least worth a 2:13

Except you are not really a super fan. If you were you would know that he does run tiny Ultras. he is planning on running the Comrades Marathon in South Africa which had 21,625 starters last year... so probably not going to happen... and UTMB which may still happen in the fall has 300 starters in the ascent race and 900 in the full. This is a worthless post.

Old is as old does wrote:

Except you are not really a super fan. If you were you would know that he does run tiny Ultras. he is planning on running the Comrades Marathon in South Africa which had 21,625 starters last year... so probably not going to happen... and UTMB which may still happen in the fall has 300 starters in the ascent race and 900 in the full. This is a worthless post.

*Does not run tiny ultras....

Again another thread that decays into walmsley or ultra bashing. Come on guys. What more can be said?

He showed in Atlanta that he is the 22nd best marathon runner in the country.

Very few of his competitors there have run Ultras so you can't compare. As has been said, your road marathon time does not guarantee total dominance in ultra distance trail running but it generally correlates pretty well.

I am sure some of the guys at the trials could have similar success to Jim at the ultra stuff if they trained for it, but 100s are so much longer timewise than a marathon that it truly is a different sport. If you have a bad stomach or nutrition then you can easily lose hours over relatively short sections. Even strong runners like Max King have struggled at the longer stuff.

I am sure Jim probably earns more money than almost everyone that finished in front of him though so there is that. But he also probably trains more too.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

It wasn't a run on a neutral course and weather conditions. His run was at least worth a 2:13

Another thing of interest is how well Walmsley was actually properly trained (or over-trained?) for his debut. In an attempt to keep things in perspective, a month after the top road marathoners had shut it down in Chicago, JW was out winning this mountain World Championship:

And then he had a road half, and also that trail 50k during the same month of the trials race.

JW won that mountain world championship in November 2019. Do you think this course was 'Rupp certified'?

https://imgur.com/MrRkjsm

One reason JW is likely sponsored is because he wins races, like this World Championship in November:

https://imgur.com/ldgKvKZ

So what is stopping those other road runners that finished ahead of him in that road race to join in his element, and take their shot?

I have two gripes with Jimbo:

The horrible man bun. C'mon dude, get a real haircut. Or let it all out and lean into it like you're a rock n roll guitar player.

His own asinine prediction that he was in 2:10 shape and that he believed he was in shape for top 3. None of the other guys at the trials were giving interviews where they were saying this kind of nonsense. Hell, even guys who had earned the right to say something like that, like Jake Riley or Scott Fauble, were all silent. Shut your mouth and perform.

If he hadn't said anything, his 2:15 would look a lot better.

Rhodium Nights wrote:

...he believed he was in shape for top 3.

If you actually listened to the LRC pre-race podcast interview, he did not say he was "in shape for top 3". He indicated the landscape had dramatically changed over the past year, in effect, reducing his odds.

hinpoln wrote:

Rhodium Nights wrote:

...he believed he was in shape for top 3.

If you actually listened to the LRC pre-race podcast interview, he did not say he was "in shape for top 3". He indicated the landscape had dramatically changed over the past year, in effect, reducing his odds.

Fair, but he talked a lot before the gun went off, and his performance wasn't even close to what he predicted for himself. It's a bad look. The real professionals don't say anything before the race and they let their performance do the talking

Rhodium Nights wrote:

hinpoln wrote:

If you actually listened to the LRC pre-race podcast interview, he did not say he was "in shape for top 3". He indicated the landscape had dramatically changed over the past year, in effect, reducing his odds.

Fair, but he talked a lot before the gun went off, and his performance wasn't even close to what he predicted for himself. It's a bad look. The real professionals don't say anything before the race and they let their performance do the talking

I don't think that is fair. When the Brojo's are taking sponsorship money and do an interview with the (evidently?) sponsored athlete, is said athlete supposed to clam up? I thought his interview was somewhat entertaining, without over-stepping.

Maybe he possibly could lower his road marathon PR with some training changes.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

already embarrassed wrote:

Um, how does he erase already being embarrassed at the US trials? He ran and looked like shlt and now has no opportunity to try and prove it was just a bad race. The “top” ultra runner can’t beat a whole bunch of dudes nobody has ever even heard of. Embarrassing look at the true talent of ultra runners. An other “too” ultra runner (Sage) couldn’t even qualify. The top of ultra running is low talent, I a nf even imagine how crap a “sub-elite” ultra guy is. Probably a 50 minute 10k caliber.

Yeah, he looks like a guy that finished in 22nd place at the marathon trials.

Yes, the 21st loser. Got it!

Rhodium Nights wrote:

hinpoln wrote:

If you actually listened to the LRC pre-race podcast interview, he did not say he was "in shape for top 3". He indicated the landscape had dramatically changed over the past year, in effect, reducing his odds.

Fair, but he talked a lot before the gun went off, and his performance wasn't even close to what he predicted for himself. It's a bad look. The real professionals don't say anything before the race and they let their performance do the talking

I wasn't bothered by anything he said prior to the race. It was all his fans that believed running ultras gave him the superhuman mental toughness and hill running ability, to take on Rupp. That didn't really bother me either, as it was fun to debate and to be proven correct.