brighteyes wrote:
Precious Roy wrote:
Looked like Kiyeng moved a bit to the outside on the last water jump and Coburn may have had to make a last second adjustment going in to the jump, getting her feet tangled up. Coburn may have been looking to pass on the outside and had to shift back to the inside to avoid a collision.
Of course, that's life on the steeple. But it really didn't look like Coburn choked.
Agreed. There was a little weirdness there. Before the water jump, when Kiyeng slowed and looked like she was done then picked it back up again as Emma approached, Emma had to adjust to that some as far as her intention to pass. Kiyeng was erratic and Emma was having to pay more attention to her due to this. I saw a weird flinch from Emma that makes me think she was trying to avoid contact of some sort as they started the waterjump. I don't think Kiyeng did anything wrong but I think her movement distracted Emma for just a millisecond at the wrong time and Emma had a lapse in concentration. I thought so right when it happened. Maybe Emma just tired but that was my read.
That was my impression watching the race. There were at least two times when it seemed Kiyeng cut Emma off, at least to some degree. I was pretty sure she'd miscounted the laps and was surprised she refound her rhythm in the last 200m or so. When Emma tried to get by her she managed to squeeze Emma's space.
All that being said, I'm dubious Emma would have gone sub-9:00, but maybe a PR.