I feel like this is hard to quantify. Cristian Soratos back in 2015 ran a 4:0x mile at altitude, with a 3:56 conversion and everyone (including me) thought it was a bunch of BS. Next thing we know he runs a dominant 3:55 win at UW and ended up 2nd behind Cheserek at NCAAs.
Labra did not look great but it should also be mentioned he was one of the last qualifiers even with his conversion (maybe the last?). He was unlikely to ever make it through.
Troutner finished about as expected, would've likely made it in a fast race and had the 2nd-fastest close in the heat but ran with poor tactics and couldn't make up the distance.
And Sahlman looked pretty much as expected, comfortably got the big Q right behind Houser.
So basically the exact same results we would've expected if they had run their times at sea level. No big blowups, nobody looked out of their depth, Labra just had an underwhelming close (expected for the last qualifier), and Troutner didn't run a smart race.
If it’s so easy to run fast at altitude and snag cheap seconds off a conversion, I wonder why more teams don’t have their athletes do it…
Most schools can’t send there kids to altitude camps for 3 years to exploit the cheap conversions…
Now nobody expect him to qualify for the final. He was the back half of the qualifiers. But he ran like a 3:58 guy not a 3:55. Maybe it was because he had the one race where every thing lined up. Maybe the conversion gave him 2s. We will never know.
Nico ajd geordie arent enough proof that theyre atleast a but accurate? I know there are more examples but thats only recent examples. Why does a conversion bug you so much?
And we also have kenyans that have run times at altitude that formally converted to 3:24-3:25. The NCAA conversions are complete garbage on events as short as a mile. This kid doesn't deserve to be there.
Couldn't even break 4. Pretty sad that he took someone else's spot...
Hate on it all you want, but we all know that if the OP had the conversion to get to the national meet there is not a chance they are forfeiting that chance because they 'only' ran 3:58. Stay mad, stay slow
This is really quite simple. The NCAA has clearly listed conversions for altitude, flat tracks, and oversized tracks. These rules are outlined before the season starts so everyone can plan where to send their athletes to accomplish their goals. If coaches have an issue, they can take it up with the rules committee to make adjustments for future seasons. This one miler is not an issue, other athletes should have run faster.
The times from Big 12s indoor also got a conversion from from being in Lubbock and only 3200 feet. See Molly Born's 5000m time. All these rules though are clearly outlined and all the athletes and coaches should understand them.
Exactly. Coaches fly their top guys across the country to run at BU to qualify. If the conversions were a joke they would fly them to Flagstaff or Boulder to get a converted qualifying mark instead.
Are you really dumb enough not to understand that sea level trained athletes WILL get crushed at altitude and generally the conversions won't help them? If you're living and training at elevation, oftentimes the conversions (especially in the mile/1500) seem too generous. I've been following the NCAA very closely for many years and you're not going to convince me that the conversions are correct for most altitude trained athletes. If you really want some tangible evidence, check out the DII lists the past several years and see RMAC 15 guys run their fastest 15's every year in CO (converted), and then they go to Azusa and run 2-3 seconds slower.