mmb wrote:
Coburn picked the weakest event in track in which to specialize, then expresses doubt when someone with faster 1500/5000 times who can hurdle properly puts the record away for a while. Chepkoech's flat times are good, but not great. Coburn got lucky to win the WC. Just wait until someone with real talent tackles the steeplechase.
Correct. Women's distance events in track and swimming have fielded the weakest crop of athletes imaginable. That has been glaring for years. Just look at them, especially the track athletes. And when you limit it to steeplechase then it gets even more ridiculous because not many of them can even hurdle competently, except the American stiffs.
No kidding there is massive room for improvement. Chepkoeach is the first taller sleek looking athlete to enter that event. It was evident in 2017 that she had easily the most upside, especially given the decent hurdling form.
I never would have predicted 8:44 but the way she did it enabled it to happen. Emma Coburn is remarkably ignorant to doubt a performance like that, just like the Almaz Ayana skeptics make fools of themselves. Anyone who follows horse racing knows that early relaxed leads can enable a performance that far surpasses the norm. You never tighten up and just keep going and going. Once extreme talent level combines with a scenario like that, prior barriers mean very little.