Letesenbet Gidey was supposed to be the future.

Gidey is doing ok. Split her energy between track and road. Has two second places in Marathons behind 2 of the quickest/ best 3 marathoners. Not changing the sport, but is a long way short of 30yo.

Read the writing on the wall.

Not to mention the fact she's the world record holder in the half marathon. A full minute faster than anyone else in 1:02:52!

Thank you for your concern, but last I checked I still hold the 10k and half world records. I’m doing okay for myself.

...Or you are wrong. Faster athletes are ALWAYS on the horizon.

Just wait until the next time Gidey pops out... her last 13months of results include a 2:16 Marathon (was 5th AT), a World Champs 10,000m Silver Medal, a 14:07, a 14:08 (both Top 6 AT times) and narrowly missed winning World XC by collapsing just before the line.

That's just last season. Not mentioning a 3x WR setter or her other achievements pre-Dec 2022.

For someone who is bouncing between distances, between surfaces, and based in a war-torn country, I think she's doing just fine. With a bit better focus/consistency, a lot of people may be soon walking back any anti-Gidey takes.

Secondly, fact checking:
1) She hasn't been 'dying on the track' for the past 4 years - she's been trying to straddle both track and road, giving us one of the fastest ever Marathon debuts, 2nd at NY Marathon + a HM WR alongside her track accomplishments
2) Kipyegon, Hassan and Chebet didn't beat Gidey in the 5000 as she didn't run it.
3) Of those names only 1 person beat her in the 10,000m.
4) Mentioning the Valencia 10K when Gidey wasn't even there is ridiculous, for all you know she's in 28:30 or 2:11 shape right now, probably not, but we don't know and you can't criticise her when we don't even know what she's doing currently
5) Agnes Jebet Ngetich - if you don't know someone who medalled at World XC, came 6th at World 10,000m, 2nd at Boston 5K, and was twice part of the Adidas 'Road to Records' event (3rd in 5K), then that's on you - she's not a nobody.

Good post! But you missed that she won the WC 10000m -2022!

Also her homeland of Tigray has been engaged in a brutal war / defending against ethnic cleansing by the Ethiopian State. She was off the grid for half a year or so.

The defining point of Gideys season in 2023 wasn’t the unfortunate collapse at the world Cross champs it was deciding to attempt to better her own 5000m WR at the Paris Diamond league meet. Had she not targeted the record, Kipyegon wouldn’t have been able to use her as a super fast pacemaker and wouldn’t have come even close to the record.

If Kipyegon hadn’t snatched the record in totally unexpected fashion, would Tsegay and Chebet have targeted the record in Eugene? probably not. So Gideys decision in Paris that night set of a chain of events that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

A big issue for Gidey are the forced upon tactics of the Ethiopian Federation, who demand that the 5 and 10k are run as a team..Gidey will always lose out to Tsegay in this scenario as her kick is the lesser.

i think Tsegay will attempt to gain the 10000m WR this season (she is fully capable of lowering it into the 28 minute region) But I don’t think Gidey would let that slide. She started the last season with three world records and a worlds best but finished with only the fourth fasted time in the world despite being the only female to dip under 14.10 three times. Nobody else has done it more than once.

I think Gideys enormous talent and work ethic will shine through. I do feel she could benefit from a different training set up as she appears to be a one man band in a very small team, - unlike Tsegay who lives,runs and trains with many talented ladies.

Sne won’t regain her 5000m crown though. I feel that will be the domain of Kipyegon, Tsegay and Chebet going forward……

I love her

She's just not a championship runner. She prefers to chase world records. Because of this she just doesn't race (and win) a lot. I remember when she was battling Kipyegon in the Paris DL during that 5000m WR and the commentator caught me by suprise by saying Gidey actually hadn't won a 5000m race since she set the WR 2,5 prior to that

Jnr:
2015 WC XC Indiv' Gold
2017 WC XC Indiv' Gold
Snr:
2019 WC XC Indiv' Bronze
2019 WC 10,000m Silver
2019 Ethiopian National 10,000m Gold
2021 OLY 10,000m Bronze
2023 NY Marathon 2nd
2022 WC 10,000m Gold
2023 WC 10,000m Silver
+ was couple metres from 2023 WC XC Indiv' Gold

Seems like a decent championship-style athlete to me...

Almost a full minute, if I was splitting hairs.

It's the greedy agent's fault.They wanted her to do every race in every competition across all the surfaces.They wanted world records in track and roads and they wanted them ASAP. They wanted world titles in cross country ASAP too.They wanted gold medals at world champs and the Olympics.They wanted everything and they wanted it now.I always wonder why they put so much pressure and demands on her.What was the urgency for?Gidey is only human at the end of the day.She could only do so much.Hence the current situation.

Add to this long list of hardware the fact that she has set individual world records at 5000m, 10000m, 15km, and half marathon, in addition to running a 2:16 marathon.

Y'all don't see the vision. Gidey was Jesus, a god level talent. Someone I would've thought would hold the record for 10-15 years. All of her records will be gone by 2026.

Yeah sure, she has her records now, but she won't soon. It's insane that someone who absolutely blew apart the record books 3 years ago has already been surpassed. Once again, IT'S NOT ENOUGH. How can she even compete? How can anyone expect to maintain relevancy if you can go from superhuman god to mid pack in the 5k finals in 3 years.

Y'all are acting like I'm hating on her. Seriously...

I don't think Tsegay is likely to target the 10k record this season. I think Sifan will and that she'll break it. She was in sub-29 shape in 2021 but went out conservatively and finished in 29:06. I don't think Tsegay has WR 10k strength, especially if she tries to keep the 1500 on on the table which it seems like she is doing given her entry in the event this indoor season

Has she said if she is running a spring marathon or focussed entirely on the track and the Olympics this year?

I thought just track this year but the London lineup may spring a surprise. Surely it’s coming soon.