Amen. Manzano never got the respect he deserved. Maybe too many fans were blinded by Wheating's magic summer and the drama around Wheating's return to form to appreciate how really, really good Manzano was.
Manzano was an amazing race tactician with an incredible kick. Might have been the fastest pure sprinter ever to race 1,500/mile. Not sure he would do as well in this generation with the best runners' ability to front run and push the pace. Loved the way he raced though.
He clearly has the finishing speed to easily navigate rounds. He's fast enough to advance if one of his rounds goes fast.
In the final, if it goes slow, he's a medal threat with that speed. If it goes fast, he won't be leading so it will be a paced time trial for him. His PR in the mile is worth about a 3:33, so if he runs a PR type race, he should be 3:32 or better. That's approximately equivalent to Hocker's Olympic performance, so top 6 or so. Then there's the possibility that he has a legit breakthrough, which would put him in the medals in a fast race, and possibly 3:30.x time (or better).
He has home crowd advantage as well. I think he'll have a great championships.
Teare will do great at WCs to pick off a Brit or two and finish 6th or 7th. Likely 8th, considering the form the Kenyans, Brits, Hoare & JI are rounding into. Save the medal contention musing for 2024.
I don't expect a medal out of him but it's not impossible to imagine some scenarios where it could happen. I really expect him to be more like 6th or 7th which would be great for a young guy running in what has been considered to be a secondary event for him.
With the ridiculous top speed he has, I like his future in championship 5000m racing.
I’ve watched this semi-final a lot cuz this was one of my favorite moments when Hocker and Centro looked at each other like Bolt and De Grasse did in the 2016 Olympics. Both Closed in 51.9 and slowed down the last 30 meters in a 3:43 race.
Nuguse at the 3rd spot to top it off was coming off of his prime shape when he dropped a 1:48 high last 800m at NCAA’s and still lost to Hocker.
Like it’s not even close… Last year’s team is a hell of a lot better than this year’s. Thompson and Gregorek(or whoever it is) has never been and never will be on the level of this 2021 Olympic 1500m team.
Why has the U.S. struggled at 1500? What are the U.S. runners doing differently than the rest of the world? Even in the early 201x we had more guys breaking 3:35 but pretty much all of them were running 3:34 except a few. Those few that broke 3:34 did it by a lot (Centro, Wheating and Manzano all ran 3:30). I feel like the U.S. has been stuck at 3:34 except a few.
Scratch that - holt might make the team over Gregorek, if this performance gives him enough points to elevate in the world rankings quota, according to Merber. June 26 (tomo) is the close of the window, so he has more time.
What is the ranking Holt would need to make it? He’s like 73rd now.
His fourth place gave him 1025 points which will actually bring down his current score of 1172.
This race reminded me of the 2013 champs. Similar finishing time but Centro close nearly a full second faster than Teare in 51.04. Manzano was second, closing in 51.07. Perhaps they got rolling sooner, as this year they didn’t start to close the last lap down until 300m to go. Centro went on to get silver at worlds in 2013:
What is the ranking Holt would need to make it? He’s like 73rd now.
His fourth place gave him 1025 points which will actually bring down his current score of 1172.
That's an interesting point with regards to Thompson too. He was ranked #39 last week, wonder if this slow race is enough to knock him out of the top 48 (or whatever he needs to be at). Quick scan through the list doesn't turn up any mind blowing performances from the guys below him, but there could be some who haven't had enough results to make the list pop up.