I think if you look at the effect of the superspikes and likely Muarten bicarb, I think you could easily see a clean 1:57.xx type breaking 1:55.
After seeing this explosion in the 800 this year, I’ve asked around and everybody very much feels like it’s the Maurten bi-carb system. They think the formula in the last 12 months has really made a significant difference and pretty much everybody at 400 to 1,500 is using it. I don’t know if it so much as reduces H+ in the legs, but everybody says it makes their legs feel “numb” and they can keep pushing. 800 seems to be the sweet spot for this effect.
What a s-show in the men’s mile! Why on earth did they not shoot the second gun? The fall was in the first 20 meters!
Something to file away is if they follow precedent with 3 oversized heats in Paris with 15 starters we could be in store for many falls. Assuming instead of advancing fallers they go to Repechage? Of course they could do 4 heats of 11/12 but they’ll obsess over the “wasted” 5 minutes
What a s-show in the men’s mile! Why on earth did they not shoot the second gun? The fall was in the first 20 meters!
Something to file away is if they follow precedent with 3 oversized heats in Paris with 15 starters we could be in store for many falls. Assuming instead of advancing fallers they go to Repechage? Of course they could do 4 heats of 11/12 but they’ll obsess over the “wasted” 5 minutes
The repechage is going to be soooooo dumb. The only purpose it could possibly serve is for falls. What are the rules on falls and the repechage? Do runners need to finish the original race? Or can they take a DNF?
One reflection from being there in the stadium: athletics has so much potential as a sport. 55-60,000 people were in that stadium and loved every minute. There's appetite for big meets with high profile stars. If every Diamond League had that sort of crowd and that sort of buzz, the product would look so much better on TV and be more attractive to sponsors and advertisers. I really think the push to grow the sport in new territories is actually killing it, because most of these countries can't fill the stadium for DL meets so the product looks lousy.
On a related note, the sport needs to build on its stars and Noah Lyles is that guy right now. Lyles got the biggest crowd reaction of the day outside of the big British names. He's cutting through even though he doesn't race in the UK very often. Last year, it was Hassan that got the biggest reaction coming off her London marathon win. Athletics has stars, there's something to build on, it just feels like the sport's power brokers aren't really trying.