bobguild76 wrote:Awesome race! You're right ... Derrick must be exhausted after a full collegiate season. With the monkey off his back, here's hoping Ritz gets 5 good weeks of training and runs like the Ritz of 2009 in London. If so, we may have two under 27:00. And Teg is no slouch either! Could we have 3 in the top 10 at London?! And if Derrick hooks up with one of the established distance groups, he could very well be in the low 27's next year. Wow!
derrik's effort is worth 27 low today. hopefully he will rest and not pursue meets in europe. that will lead probably to disaster, just ask centro, wheating etc. about extending a college season to europe.
gibson wrote:hopefully he will rest and not pursue meets in europe. that will lead probably to disaster, just ask centro, wheating etc. about extending a college season to europe.
Yeah, that bronze medal from the World Championships (a lifetime achievement for most) must really suck!
SQUACKEE wrote:I like Teg for 3rd, he is bringing 8:07-12:58 to the 10k table, that is stout!
Well,well, well, lookee lookee, Tegeepo came thru and in the process made Squack swami look like genius.Teg had a Batman look with all that black. Hey wait, I had him for third...shit!
Still close enough a prediction to keep your swami-genius status intact, imo!
Thank you! High praise from this sites most informative poster!
I do think that if it was Teg pushing much of the race and Ritz layed back, it might have been a different finish. Squack Swami will return for the 5,000. I think Lagat might do well.
There is an event I cant predict.The men's shot? I have no idea who will win!
Hey, did anyone else notice the abundant lapping slower runners in this race? It seemed to start early and the trio of Rupp,Ritz and Teg were just lapping runner after runner (it seemed) over the final laps...kind of annoying...especially when a couple of the lapped runners failed to move out.
lovetorun wrote:Hey, did anyone else notice the abundant lapping slower runners in this race? It seemed to start early and the trio of Rupp,Ritz and Teg were just lapping runner after runner (it seemed) over the final laps...kind of annoying...especially when a couple of the lapped runners failed to move out.
I would be humiliated if I was being lapped and made Rupp go around me. You are being lapped! Get out of the way! You don't deserve lane one, you are being lapped! Sheesh.
lovetorun wrote:Hey, did anyone else notice the abundant lapping slower runners in this race? It seemed to start early and the trio of Rupp,Ritz and Teg were just lapping runner after runner (it seemed) over the final laps...kind of annoying...especially when a couple of the lapped runners failed to move out.
Actually, it appeared to me the lapped runners were moving out (maybe not far enough) but some tried to adjust their pace to stay with the leaders for awhile and I was worried there might be some impact from being thrown of balance from an inadvertent elbow or something. The women's race, on the other hand, had several of the other runners stay in the inside lane and the leaders had to go around them.
Did anyone notice that Rupp appeared to be perturbed by Teg running so close behind him and a knocked arms a couple of times. He appeared to me to give a couple of angry glances back at him.
The Olympic 10,000 is shaping up to be an interesting scrap with 11 men under 27:10 already this year - 7 of them under 27:05. Bekele's last lap in London was 55.6. As good as Rupp and the boys are, they have a big gap to close in 5 weeks.
AlfTupper wrote:The Olympic 10,000 is shaping up to be an interesting scrap with 11 men under 27:10 already this year - 7 of them under 27:05. Bekele's last lap in London was 55.6. As good as Rupp and the boys are, they have a big gap to close in 5 weeks.
no question rupp has closed the gap. the only question is if he can do it on the day. and most days for rupp are good days these days.
rupp has no problem in closing in 55 (400m) in an even pace 27 low race. probably it going to take more like a 53 close off a 27 low pace. farah looks he can do that? rupp you have to figure is a little behind at 54, and bekele? he's likely going to be there too, i'll give him a 54 close as well.
with all 3 guys sharpening and on the day, rupp could be the best guy!!!
as far as teg goes, he's had an up and down campaign coming into the race, was just hanging on like ritz in the later stages. its raining like mad, its' a war of attrition. there is one thing and only one thing for teg to do under these circumstances, that is sit and kick.
odelltrclan wrote:Did anyone notice that Rupp appeared to be perturbed by Teg running so close behind him and a knocked arms a couple of times. He appeared to me to give a couple of angry glances back at him.
I saw that, too. Teg was crowding Rupp and Ritz, I thought, and for two or three laps I was worried someone was going to go down. No reason for that as they were down to three, no big pack left.
bushop wrote:Did anyone find it odd that Tegenkamp would not take a turn at the front?
Unless it was arranged with Rupp and Ritz why would he? He had the A time.
Agree w conor; moreover, in watching the post-race interview on Flotrack, I got the impression -- even though Teg had enough to finish ahead of Ritz at the end for 2nd -- the effort of hanging in there there w Rupp & Ritz was about all he could manage for most of the 2nd half of the race. He commented, for instance, on how difficult the weather conditions were for him, etc. And as for how close Teg was running, or may have been, to Rupp -- these three guys have been running w the big boys for a long time -- they are pros, in every sense of the word, as this race showed -- they handled the conditions and the pressure and competition well. Impressed w all three. But as enjoyable as their success here is, it is not surprising -- if we look at OG, WC, WIC, WXC, junior/youth competitions, & world half-marathon, these guys collectively have been in 21 global championship finals.
By the way -- could someone correct the title line of this thread?
these guys collectively have been in 21 global championship finals.
True, but IIRC, their combined medal total from world competitions is one bronze (Ritz's half-marathon). I will be pleasantly surprised to see even one medal among them in London. One can always hope.
these guys collectively have been in 21 global championship finals.
True, but IIRC, their combined medal total from world competitions is one bronze (Ritz's half-marathon). I will be pleasantly surprised to see even one medal among them in London. One can always hope.
ONE medal would be a huge accomplishment. And very possible.
these guys collectively have been in 21 global championship finals.
True, but IIRC, their combined medal total from world competitions is one bronze (Ritz's half-marathon). I will be pleasantly surprised to see even one medal among them in London. One can always hope.
Ritz also earned WJXC bronze. But to your point -- I didn't note their "failures to medal" bc I figured that's known. Also worth note that these guys & other USA distance runners are among the only in the world in the past decade or so to keep pace in any remote way with Kenya & Ethiopia distance leviathans. Most other countries that used to produce some great distance runners have not only failed to move forward in the wake of Kenya & Ethiopia, they haven't even kept pace with the former excellence in their own a-t lists (e.g., Japan, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Portugal, et al.). Given the power of Kenya & Ethiopia in middle & long distance running, & given the structure of the sport, to be the 3rd distance power in the world can be taken to mean nothing, but I think it's worth note. USA is about the only nation to produce, e.g.,, sub-13:00/27:00; & even though Ritz, Teg, Rupp, et al. haven't won medals in WC/OG, they have been in the mix, with a bunch of top 10 finishes. I realize that may seem like "faint praise" but it isn't, given the dominance of Kenya & Ethiopia. Pretty much all the other former distance powers or countries that at least produced some consistent global talent have gone missing, including most of the non-Kenya/Ethiopia African countries, too. So, I am impressed by what these guys, & their peers have done. Would love to see any of them medal, but I'm a realist, which means I also appreciate a top-10 finish, too.
the analysis here is many posters are stuck in the past. i.e. you've got an american (and others coming along) that are there NOW.
#1 epo now being somewhat out of the equation rules out some nations programs, like the finns were neutralized after the blood doping scams.
#2 africans can make more money on the roads and marathons so you are seeing a talent drain. when they move back to track, their finish is just not quite there as in yesteryear. the workouts you need to do are half miles in 62 + 53 repeats and i think africans have lost something in the preparation.
#3 al-sal is onto what you have to do = altitude (tents), big work and the type of speed work you need.
after all this is said, i'm not an insider and the speak above is what i'll call informed speculation.
the conclusion is that the africans generally speaking don't do the work to finish well now.
Now that I have seen Kenyan, Ethiopian and US teams, I think this is how the 10000m at the Olympics will look like...
Kenenisa and and Mo are one step ahead of every one else, and I think one of them will win the gold.
Tariku, Desisa, Tadesse, Kiprop, Masai, Karoki and Rupp are in the next group. One of them will win a medal.
While I don't think any one else has a realistic chance at a medal, they can get into top eight if they pass some of the medal contenders late in the race. I put Ritz and Teg (along with a few others) in this category.
TN1965 wrote:Now that I have seen Kenyan, Ethiopian and US teams, I think this is how the 10000m at the Olympics will look like...
Kenenisa and and Mo are one step ahead of every one else, and I think one of them will win the gold.
Tariku, Desisa, Tadesse, Kiprop, Masai, Karoki and Rupp are in the next group. One of them will win a medal.
While I don't think any one else has a realistic chance at a medal, they can get into top eight if they pass some of the medal contenders late in the race. I put Ritz and Teg (along with a few others) in this category.
I'm not at all sure that our "top 2" will, in fact, finish in the top 2. I'd be perfectly happy for that to happen, but I'm prepared for a possible herd of dark horses. And if an American is ever again going to pull a Mills, this would be a great year to do so.
ExCoastRanger wrote:Fastest, deepest Trials 10,000 ever? Three under the meet record and -- according to Ken Nakamura's excellent Trials Stats -- fastest times for place for places 1-8. Rupp looked dominant. Ritz drove the pace for 8 or 9 of the last 13. Teg looked relaxed and controlled. Damn Derrick must be tired now.
1 Galen Rupp Nike 27:25.33 M 2 Matt Tegenkamp Nike / Oregon TC Elite 27:33.94 3 Dathan Ritzenhein Nike 27:36.09 4 Chris Derrick Stanford 27:40.23 5 Aaron Braun adidas/McMillan Elite 27:41.54 6 Ryan Vail Brooks 27:52.53 7 Brent Vaughn Nike 27:55.44 8 Luke Puskedra Oregon 27:56.62
As lousy as the weather was, this has got to be the best Olympic Trials 10K finals in years.
I expect the Bekele brothers to team up against everyone else, and the Kenyans will team up against the Ethiopians. The opportunity for everyone else (such as Farah (if he's doing the 10K), Rupp, etc.) will be to track them and take advantage of the mutual destruction. Farah, Rupp, and a few others have the talent to sneak past if the Ethiopa vs. Kenya battle blows out enough of the prime contenders. I still expect the winner of the 10,000 to be named Bekele, however.
Rupp looks great! And what a fantastic three we have in this event.
Rupp can run with anyone in the world, but to finish in the medals he will have to find another gear. I know they are working on it, but is it possible? Can a world-class finish really be developed? I guess we will find out. I sure hope so.
huntinwr wrote:Anyone know if there is a video of the race anywhere. I tried YouTube. I suppose NBC blocked everything...
as is their right.
rather than going begging for network coverage, take it away.
think about pulling NBC (and the rest) from the sport. and have the track and field community and sponsors run their own show over the internet.
after you have total control of your own product, then the networks can bid if they like on a big meet. and again, if their coverage sucks, don't let them handle the product into the future.
Asolutely no mechanism to 'pull' the Olympics program broadcaster because it is a package deal and no one in track has the kind of dollars (well in to the nine-digit level).
As for the 10,000, KB is definitely a threat, but I would not be shocked if he did not medal. He did come back from is poor (by his standards) WC race to run a WL, but he has run some rather so-so races since then and seems to have lost the lower portion of his dominance. Taking that into a championship race, it means that he will have a much harder time going ~14:00/12:57 and a lot of runners suspect that such is the case.
I suspect that the Kenyans will run a variable pace, which might bother KB a lot more now than in the past when his peak cardio level was likely better. He is much better off in the Final-only 10,000 than with the 5000. As mentioned above, the Kenyans have moved to the road and will have a thinner deck for the variable pace racing at the speeds that it will take to attack KB and it might take their guys out of it a bit (I think that they really want gold and will sacrifice other medals to improve their chances).
Finally,
True, but IIRC, their combined medal total from world competitions is one bronze (Ritz's half-marathon). I will be pleasantly surprised to see even one medal among them in London. One can always hope.
Note also that Teg was 0.03 (and closing) from the bronze in the 5000 (as well as getting 5th ath WJXC behind Ritz and KB) and did not run that event at the Trials because the competition was too tough.
I think that this is the best American team from the 800 up that we have had in a long time and given the level of the competition, those earlier years of good finishes would not likely have happened in the current mix of competitive countries.
