Funny thought: Holt was DQed, which led to Matsatsa in the race. He finished DFL, so why does it matter?
Because Matsatsa was acting crazily in the race and causing chaos. At the 100m break he attempts to box in Murphy and block his path to the front. Murphy fights through but takes a push for his efforts. The ripple effect is Hoey gets by Murphy before 150m. 10 seconds later and 250m in Matsatsa pushes Murphy again! Not even sure why, I guess he thought Murphy was slowing too much.
Next impact- at 350 Shane Cohen is actually connected to the pack and trying to pass into 7th. Matsatsa cuts in front and blocks this and Cohen loses a step and valuable momentum on the pack as a result ahead of the bell.
Next impact is he makes a hard surge at 400-500m and forces Josh Hoey on his inside to work just a bit harder to get by him and attack the top 3. Hoey wisely waits to mount a final attack until the straight but is not close enough to run down Miller even as he fades.
Lastly Matsatsa’s positioning makes Murphy have to kick very wide and Koech goes by on the inside. Even having a dreadful last 100m, he affects the kicks of multiple guys.
Funnily enough if Holt is in it he almost assuredly runs in the back with Cohen and impedes no one.