USA WC Distance Grades thus far

Agree in general, except - as someone already pointed out - Waskom didn’t make it out, so could hardly give him an ‘A’.

Sinclaire Johnson the biggest disappointment in my books. She’s so talented and has the ability to mix it up with the bug guns..is she still talking about her being more of a ‘sprinter type’, and suited to more ‘sprint training..’ Reality is that she had her breakout just after leaving BTC, and their extremely tough distance-based training. She didn’t like it. She’s never been the same since. My take: She needs to get back to work and do the training that she needs, or go get a job somewhere…

Speaks the truth, gets slammed by the downvotes.

Johnson has been injured. Missed training. Not rocket science she was good for one round but not fit enough to come back the next day and run faster... It's called rounds 😮

But it is not completely true. Other runners was slower prs ran faster in her heat.

She ran really bad with BTC, it’s kinda hard to say she should go back to that sort of thing. She had an abbreviated buildup (only running since June?), and needs to be fitter to handle two hard efforts in two days. She’s said she’s doing more strength this year, and seems to know what she has to do. The amount of fatalism after a tough semi is bizarre especially when you learn about Snowden/Mageean who had years of underperformance before breakthroughs vs one slight off year for Johnson.

I think she might be good under a Lagat-style training. She really struggled under the mileage of BTC but also clearly needs aerobic work to perform in the rounds. A program of lower mileage (peak around 60, mostly 40-50) with lots of tempo and aerobic work for most of the year before sharpening in the spring and summer would be perfect for her.

I agree. That is akin to Muir’s training too. No matter how you’re training if you’re coming into Worlds on 11 weeks of running, you’re probably not going to achieve your best. Even Hocker has been running since May. Sinclaire is talented, but not so talented she can come in at 80%, have some issues tactically, and still get through.

Lol imagine thinking Jerry is a bad coach...

Nuguse D+

Was expected to medal and failed. Tactically he did not run well. He got up front but was wasting too much energy running on the outside and didn’t take much risks to at least compete for a medal. I just didn’t see any fight. Laros wanted it more than Nuguse it seemed like. But for his first championship ever, it wasn’t a complete failure.

Hocker A-

Making the final and running a PR is something he should be very proud of considering his injury in the spring. The only reason it wasn’t an A is because I thought he could’ve finished as high as 5th but had trouble getting boxed in last lap and had to swing wide last 100m. For the next championships, I want to see him in the top 3-5 with 400m to go.

These grades are so based on skin colour you Republican you

Hocker - a D at best - never puts himself in position to medal. at this point will always be an also ran

Coburn - D was hurt otherwise an F.

Gear - D 1st time on this stage

Rogers - F should have just picked 1 race

Edwards - F ran like a rookie

This is a joke. Nuguse was WAY more impressive than Hocker. Hocker just sat back and picked off people who actually went for a medal: C

Nuguse went for it, he tried to get into position even when bunched out. He placed 5th in the world in his first real championship: B+

Rooks - B - Maybe I’d be a little tougher on him if he were a seasoned vet, but I can’t help but consider how wild it would have been to pick him for top 10 at Worlds 6 months ago. Still, by the time he lined up for the final I had high hopes that he could pull off a top 5 finish, which in hindsight was overly optimistic. His prelim performance has its pros (qualified very convincingly) and possible cons (did he leave anything out there in the heats?)

Updike - C- - In some ways his Worlds performance verges on embarrassing, as he fell in the prelim (going on to beat just two men) and finished last in the final. Still, it’s not like he ever had any chance at a medal, and you gotta give him some credit for picking himself up after falling and clocking 8:31.

-

Nuguse - B+ - Giving him a D+ like a poster above me is crazy. He was only “expected to medal” to the extent that after Ingebrigtsen he had as good a chance as anyone, but with the depth of 3:29 guys this year and the nature of the event it was always far from a sure thing. He didn’t bomb out in the first round, or go out in the semis like Katir and T. Cheruiyot. He placed 5th in the final with his second fastest 1500 time ever, closing in 53.6. If he fails to learn from his tactical errors in the final in future championships, then I could think about grading him more harshly.

Hocker - B+ - Exceeded most people’s expectations coming into the championships, and made many of the fickle posters who crapped on him over the past two seasons look like…well, fickle haters. He was one of two men to PR in the final, along with Laros the 18 year old. I don’t think Hocker would want to be graded higher than Nuguse, because I know he maintains high standards for himself.

-

McGee - B+ - Made it through the rounds and finished where I expected her to in the final (one spot ahead of where her PB ranked her, in fact). B+ is as high as I can go without her running that elusive sub-4.

-

Murphy - D- - Couldn’t close faster than 53 flat off a 54 low first lap? Really? Granted I also find the sunglasses/arm sleeves combo objectionable.

Harris - C- - Finishing 0.03 out of the last qualifying spot in a tougher heat is basically what I expected from him, but surely he could have qualified if he’d put himself near the front of such a dawdling early-paced race…a little frustrating that he chose to race like that at this stage in his career.

Hoppel - TBD

-

Mu - TBD

Rogers - TBD

Akins - TBD

Edwards - D- - She finished and I don’t doubt her effort, but DFL in your first round heat in 2:02 is rather awful to be representing one of the deepest countries in the world in this event.

-

Monson - TBD

Cranny - TBD

Rogers - C+ - She would have had to have run 14:43 or faster in hot weather to qualify, which definitely wasn’t happening. She made every effort to go with the top 8 and she beat some solid runners in finishing 9th, but she was still 20+ seconds behind Tanaka, Battocletti and Galvan, and ran slower than the 19 year old Caune.

-

Wayment - TBD

Gear - C- - Her performance at USAs was such an outlier that I wasn’t expecting a whole lot, but she was still out the back pretty early. There was a moment with 400 to go that I thought she had a chance for the last Q with a massive last lap a la USAs, but it was missing today.

Coburn - D- - Hate to add insult to injury but 9:41 is not fast, it just isn’t.

I appreciate the way you factor in context in your grades for younger runners. Considering the context for Coburn, I’d give her a C. You’re right about 9:41 not being fast (for a runner of her caliber), but it was a gutsy effort for someone running on one good leg, who hadn’t hurdled or water jumped in 6.5 weeks, and who has been grieving the loss of her mother.

Women’s 800m

Nia Akins- A

first world championship and runs a PR in the semis and final. she got the most out of her experience and this should get her into Diamond Leagues. She represented the brooks beasts very well.

Raevyn Rodgers- A-

4th place is nothing to be ashamed of with that top 3. Focused on her own race plan and it paid off. It was gonna be hard to medal but it was a possibility. If she medaled I would’ve gave her an A/A+.

Athing Mu- C+

she medaled so that’s a positive. Lot of unnecessary pressure and attention came her way when Kersee made those dumb a** comments. But she could’ve done better. Her tactics were simply not good. Idk why she runs on the outside of lane 1. She got away with it last year but it finally bit her today when Keely passed her on the inside. Also she went out too fast which drained her the last 100m.