THAT 1500 SUCKED

Fatrip wrote:

Seriously, that was a terrible 1500m race

The opposite of terrible. Sifan Hassan and Timothy Cheruiyot raced brave races. I hope as long as I live that I never witness another Olympic or W.C. 1500m like 2016 Olympics men 1500m final.

Brave east Africans, 1500m, male & female wrote:

Fatrip wrote:

Seriously, that was a terrible 1500m race

The opposite of terrible. Sifan Hassan and Timothy Cheruiyot raced brave races. I hope as long as I live that I never witness another Olympic or W.C. 1500m like 2016 Olympics men 1500m final.

That race is a blight on the history of the event.

The Kenyans often use effective Team tactics and we saw some of that here. Even though Cheruiyot ran from the front, Kwemoi staying on his shoulder helped push the pace - and most importantly protected his teammate from another Ingebrigtsen-style assault such as took out Lemi. With a slower early pace, Kwemoi might have been in the mix for the pack sprint.

Cheruiyot is the king wrote:

JMysterio wrote:

The Kenyattas used the Ben Jipcho/Kip Keino tactic from the 1968 1500. They're willing to sacrifice individual glory for the glory of their nation. As long as a Kenyan wins they don't care who it is.

Kwemoi followed and fell off. Cheruiyot did all of the pushing. Solo effort.

zxcvzxcv wrote:

There are several guys in the field who can run 3:29 but nobody other than Kwemoi went with Cheruiyot when he broke away, so nobody else got the advantage of drafting off of him. In contrast to Hassan's performance, where she let others lead for a bit and then gradually ratcheted it up, and so many could draft off of her, here Cheruiyot did not let that happen and Makhloufi and Centro, leading the others, where out there alone, having to do the work at a pace they couldn't handle without pacers. Cheruiyot and Hassan both did what could get them a victory without worrying about the kick and they were obviously both head and shoulders above the rest of their fields. Makh Daddy now has Olympic gold, two Olympic silver medals, and a World silver, all but one of those being in the 1500m.

Even if they can theoretically run 3:29 (which is not guaranteed), they probably can't off a 54s first lap. Cheriyout hammered from the start, he didn't care about maximizing the time but just about creating the gap. Even El Guerrouj's WR was set on a modestly paced race (54-1:50-2:46), in four races later he had faster splits at 1200m but never was able to run a last 300 in 39 like he did in a WR, most races he was only able to finish in 42-43.

I thought it was a good race. Fast up front and a decent battle for the minor medals.

Of course I prefer the faster races. I like to see people able to run as close as possible to their full 1,500 potential and not be confined to their negative-split 800 potential. That said, the order of finish in the slower races usually doesn't deviate that much from what you'd expect in a time trial type of race. The best 1,500 guys in fast races are also normally the ones with the most speed still in reserve after a slow start and a wind-up finish. The Barcelona final was about as slow of a start as I can stomach, though. "Running" some of the race at literal marathon pace, like in the Rio final, almost makes a mockery of calling the thing a 1,500m race.

I don’t see how kwemoi being there helped with anything. Team tactics would be 1) let’s alternate the lead

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Kenyans are not kickers! They is how they do it, always.

Americans are kickers.

Kind of like this race?

Kwemoi charged across several lanes and to the front immediately - looked planned. The only way Cheruiyot was going to lose was a mishap, clipped heel or shove. By hanging just off Cheruiyot until he was safely clear, Kwemoi kept that from happening. Swapping leads wouldn’t have endured that. When Kwemoi inevitably fell off, he bought another fraction of a second for Cheruiyot forcing the pack around. It looks to me Kwemoi “took one for the Team”.

wejo wrote:

I don’t see how kwemoi being there helped with anything. Team tactics would be 1) let’s alternate the lead

Cheruiyot knew all he had to do to win was throw down a 3:29 and did so. Everyone else in the world knew his tactics and couldn't level up or beat it and settled to compete for silver and bronze. Game, Set, Match.

For so long we've been swindled with these sit and kick races. Hopefully, with Cheruiyot's style of racing, we'll again have folks focusing and preparing for racing as fast as they can instead of seeing who's the fastest 400m kicker among the best middle distance runners.

At last! someone has stated the bleedin' obvious! The BBC coverage was dominated by Cram and Radcliffe going on about the likelihood that a race would be "tactical" by which they meant slow.

"an action or plan that is intended to achieve something" - or so my dictionary gives as the definition of "tactic". If you think there are people in the race who can out kick you the onus is on you to do something about this. Which in, say, Rio 2016, lly 75% of the field didn't do.

Javman wrote:

Great race. Kept the pace HONEST from the beginning instead of the BORING "jog 3 laps and sprint" CRAP that all too many races have become. Congrats to the Kenyans.

There is nothing HONEST about taking loads of EPO and doing a solo training workout 5 sec ahead of the next best in the world. Worst championships race since Rudisha ruined all those 800s. No fan enjoyment for watching someone tempo by themselves.

Cheruiyot was not unbeatable.

3:29.46 is not beyond the capabilities of Makhloufi and Jakob I.

In fact, with Cheruiyot and Kwemoi effectively acting as pacers, 3:31 plus for each of those guys is under-achieving.

Jakob I has run 3:30.16 this year and Makloufhi -- who seems to be running at his best -- has a pr in the 3:28.

Fatrip wrote:

Seriously, that was a terrible 1500m race

If they gone out in 2:06 for 800 and someone, say Berglund, had bolted off the front "to make the race honest" only to get run down in and finish 10th, you guys would be praising him.

Instead, Cheruiyot bosses the race from the gun to run one of the fastest championships ever and it's a terrible race. It's like saying the long jump was bad because Mihambo jumped really far and won by a lot.

Gggggg wrote:

Kenyans schooled them all. They know that nobody there can handle a real fast race, and all they had to do is run their own race and victory is promised.

Exactly!

Hater responses:

Slow sit/kick race- BORING, they should have made the pace HONEST from the start! Slow times, SMH.

Honest paced front running- BORING, no lead changes, Nothing exciting happened.

So what do you want?? Watch some real sports if you’re just going to whine.

Ernest wrote:

Kwemoi charged across several lanes and to the front immediately - looked planned.

Yes, he charged to the front - and settled in behind Cheruiyot - immediately. It’s not surprising a 3:28/3:30A man would want a fast pace.

Ernest wrote:

The only way Cheruiyot was going to lose was a mishap, clipped heel or shove. By hanging just off Cheruiyot until he was safely clear, Kwemoi kept that from happening. Swapping leads wouldn’t have endured that.

Tim’s immediate, huge gap is what protected him from getting clipped - not Kwemoi hanging off of him.

Ernest wrote:

When Kwemoi inevitably fell off, he bought another fraction of a second for Cheruiyot forcing the pack around.

That’s a pretty small fraction of a second.

Ernest wrote:

It looks to me Kwemoi “took one for the Team”.

Okay, get your eyes checked.

I kinda prefer the 'Robbie Andrew' style sit-n-kick race tbh

TT's/PB/SB/NR/WR attempts are all well and good but those are kinda boring too, with rabbits and all that

maybe unintentional rabbits is/are the most exciting of all

a solo effort from the front [even if fast as hell] is in fact kinda boring to watch, 2-4 was exciting however

Nah, it was a beautiful, moving race by Timothy C.

He used every one of those 1,500 meters to "put crap in their legs," as Pre said he wanted to do all those years ago.

I enjoyed this 1,500 more than any other championship 1,500 I've ever seen, with the possible exception of Filbert Bayi's masterpiece at the 1974 Commonwealth Games.

Bravo, Mr. Cheruiyot. Hope to see you do the same in Tokyo next year.

Fatrip wrote:

Seriously, that was a terrible 1500m race

You're probably one of the ones that complain about tactical championship races won in 3:50. Pick a lane, dude.