Ritz is over cooking them and it's showing. Disappointing as a fan of the sport, because they are fun to root for. Still holding out hope that Beamish can do something in the steeple though.
I’d give him a pass on Sage. She PBed in the mile last night and what can Ritz do if an athlete falls in front of his athlete and sidetracks their race. Let’s see how Geordie Sinta, Yared, Hellen and Morgan do from here…tough start.
I am genuinely enjoying their demise. All the thyroid meds in the world can’t ward off the walls falling in
continuing to train at lower altitude and on worse trails than you find in Flagstaff seems about as smart for pro runners as wearing non-super shoes on race days
but I guess not everyone can run for Mike Smith when they grow up
Does Ritz get fired or do we see a bunch of athletes leave OAC? Major changes need to be made, this Olympic cycle has been the goal for the entirety of the program. Is it the athletes or coach? Ritz got everyone running fast, but couldn't get them fast and healthy at the right time. Something's got to give, but the athletes should all reassess after seeing Morgan, Sinta, Yared and Helen race. Maia isn't truly a Ritz peaked athlete yet.
I'd be fine with continuing the status quo if Joe had made the 10 over Woody and ran in the low 27s again and Alicia had been healthy and raced well but out of the medals and Ollie had made the final and George had finished top 10 in the final. In my opinion Ritz should have some major questions to answer for the ON brass about what's going to be different going forward.
If I was Maia and Olivia I would be very nervous. Did they make a mistake?
Beamish looked AWFUL in his steeple heat. What is going on?
Here's what he told reporters:
Initial reaction “Pretty gutted. Pretty sore. Would’ve loved to be in that final Wednesday. It’s sad not to be there, but grateful to make the start line.”
On his recovery from injury/bronchitis: “Yeah pretty much not at all. Pretty much in the same place I was in a Paris. Unfortunately, it was pretty rough month, just been in pain every single day...Just wasn't able to get in the training required to complete this level. I haven't done a barrier since Paris. I haven’t even done a stride after an easy run. It’s been in too much pain to do that – just been gritting my teeth through a workout and then been on the bike for two days after every session in St. Moritz. It was a hard month to get through. There were a lot of times I didn’t think I would make the start line. But happy to have made it and it was cool to be there.”
On what it meant to represent his country at the Olympics despite it not being the result that he wanted: "It’s pretty incredible to see the support garnered through going to the Olympics. It feels that half of Hawke’s Bay, where I am from, is out in Paris. I looked up into the crowd and saw my girlfriend and siblings, and I was tearing up on the start line. It’s pretty special."
Beamish was struggling from the get go, you could see it in his face. I know he was sick form awhile. i also suspect he may have overtrained. normally he has a deadly kick (same with Hoare) but it just wasn't there.
Crazy overreaction. Ritz is a good coach whose training obviously works. There's no reason for people to leave after 1 bad year. Bad things happen and I'm sure that they will reflect and make adjustments. OAC seems like a program with good training and a healthy culture, and I don't see any reason why athletes should jump ship after the first signs of struggles.
Where would the athletes even go to? Team Boss? Burrito Track Club? I'm sure people on here would have a field day with that.
And I’m not pointing that out in a “very impressive” way. I mean it in a “should not have run it” way. Not only did he not get the standard, but he took himself out of the season. Could’ve rested and trained to make the 5k where he had the standard.
OAC had eight athletes ranked in the top-20 in the world going into Paris, which in and of itself is very impressive. 3/8 failed to make it to the line, and another 3/8 were eliminated in the first round. Definitely a massive disappointment no matter how you slice it, but medals from Nuguse/Obiri could go a long way in rewriting this Olympics for OAC
2nd - Nuguse (1500) made final 4th - Monson (10k) injured, missed Olympics 6th - Beamish (Steeple) out in 1st round 9th - Garcia (1500) out in 1st round 11th - Obiri (Marathon) yet to compete 14th - Hoare (1500) out in 1st round 18th - Klecker (10k) injured, missed Olympics 20th - Hurta-Klecker (800) missed Olympics 24th - McDonald (5k) yet to compete 36th - Vissa (1500) yet to compete 38th - Raess (5k) yet to compete 69th - Andrews (1500) missed Olympics
OAC had eight athletes ranked in the top-20 in the world going into Paris, which in and of itself is very impressive. 3/8 failed to make it to the line, and another 3/8 were eliminated in the first round. Definitely a massive disappointment no matter how you slice it, but medals from Nuguse/Obiri could go a long way in rewriting this Olympics for OAC
2nd - Nuguse (1500) made final 4th - Monson (10k) injured, missed Olympics 6th - Beamish (Steeple) out in 1st round 9th - Garcia (1500) out in 1st round 11th - Obiri (Marathon) yet to compete 14th - Hoare (1500) out in 1st round 18th - Klecker (10k) injured, missed Olympics 20th - Hurta-Klecker (800) missed Olympics 24th - McDonald (5k) yet to compete 36th - Vissa (1500) yet to compete 38th - Raess (5k) yet to compete 69th - Andrews (1500) missed Olympics
Vissa, Morgs, and Raess are all long shots to make the final under the best of circumstances. Lot of pressure riding on Nuguse and Obiri at this stage.
OAC had eight athletes ranked in the top-20 in the world going into Paris, which in and of itself is very impressive. 3/8 failed to make it to the line, and another 3/8 were eliminated in the first round. Definitely a massive disappointment no matter how you slice it, but medals from Nuguse/Obiri could go a long way in rewriting this Olympics for OAC
2nd - Nuguse (1500) made final 4th - Monson (10k) injured, missed Olympics 6th - Beamish (Steeple) out in 1st round 9th - Garcia (1500) out in 1st round 11th - Obiri (Marathon) yet to compete 14th - Hoare (1500) out in 1st round 18th - Klecker (10k) injured, missed Olympics 20th - Hurta-Klecker (800) missed Olympics 24th - McDonald (5k) yet to compete 36th - Vissa (1500) yet to compete 38th - Raess (5k) yet to compete 69th - Andrews (1500) missed Olympics
Thx for excellent post.
OAC -- now in its 4th year -- appears to be a mirror image of BTC's glory days from approx 2016 -2022. Extremely high profile athletes, many who made the Olympics and World Championships, but also many on the sidelines.
Seemed like half the team would be great while the other half injured. Then, a year or two later, the other half would be injured while the other half would be great.
Underperforming looks bad . . . but the injuries are most disturbing.
Ritz is a traditional coach, writing training programs that are variations of the training his coaches wrote for him. Notably, Ritz has refused to adapt the double-threshold approach which, ironically, even Jerry/BTC has now warmed to and appears to have kept most of the current BTC squad healthy throughout this year and almost nabbed Mo Ahmed a 10k medal.
Jacok said it best when he and Henrik were guests on the Coffee Club podcast back in January. Essentially, he said: "if you're not doing threshold training, you're gambling."
More and more agreeing with this sentiment. Running faster than T-level for long training sessions pushes too many runners over the edge. It's what happened over the years with BTC, it's happening now with OAC.
Think it would be wise for Hoare, Klecker, Monson, et al., to have a post-season sit down with Ritz to hash out whatever training issues they have.
As for leaving OAC a la what Woody, Grant and Elise did leaving BTC, doubt it would happen given OAC is still a young, growing training group that has enjoyed tremendous success in its few years of existence.
But, seeing what Grant has accomplished just ten months after striking out on his own and creating his own customized professional training environment, leaving OAC for something better has to be on their minds.