Rai Benjamin vs. Michael Norman in 400 at 2024 Mt. SAC Relays

I think Norman needs to let this 100 aspiration go. He's literally a world record contender in the 400M

He's no Fred Kerley. He has potentially the most amazing ceiling for 400m

i dunno. that 9.86 was some legit stuff. his 19.70 pr is legit too. should give the 400/200 double a shot again at some point.

i think that we would be saying something different about his hopes in the 100 if he didn’t get injured last year. likely would have run low 9.8s.

Norman=DNS

Well, he got injured when he started 100m training. Meanwhile he ran 9.86 on 400m training...

Exactly. He could have succeeded in the 100 but it’s not worth the higher injury risk

should be a good race. Rai and Norman are training partners I believe so that should be fun. looks like rai's pr is 44.21 from last year but i definitely think in his best shape he can run a 43 so we'll see how close he is to that. Realistically I think both run very close to around 44.4 and Rai gives a good push but Norman wins out. Maybe 44.2 and 44.7 or such. Wouldn't mind being pleasantly surprised of course.

I'm glad Norman is running a 400 again, I hope he does at Paris. Obviously he has insane range, and I would love to see him run more 100s, but I think the 400 is definitely his better event, at least so far in his career. I wasn't a huge fan of his move last year.

Talou unattached? Wow, how quickly sponsors discard athletes as they get a little older.

Even if that is the case we are still talking about low 9.8s vs 43.45 in the 400m. One is great, one is one of the best times ever run.

But it's part of the process. If he was a 100 runner moving up, you wouldn't expect him to run 43.45 in his first year doing the 400, in the same way that you wouldn't expect him to run 9.7x in his first year doing the 100.

Norman is a scratch

Saturday at 4 PM EST (April 20, 2024 in Walnut, California at Mt SAC Relays) Men's Invitational Section of the 400 meters:

Michael Cherry is in Heat 2

Rai Benjamin is in Heat 3

There needs to be some kind of penalty when pros just scratch their event. It's literally their damn job

If it *was* their job, then yes. But it really isn't. NBA players receive a salary for playing in the league, this is a random one off meet that no-one is contractually obligated to participate in nor will receive anything for winning. Therefore there's no grounds for any penalties. Furthermore, for more prominent athletes, their sponsors are getting their returns via the athlete's popularity and not necessarily their results, but *especially* not Mt Sac results as opposed to the Olympics or World Championships. For example, Sha'Carri Richardson could retire and still make more off her likeness than most track athletes because she can be used to market since people generally know her and she has a sizable target demographic that she appeals to with purchasing power. This is just basic economics really

Yeah I'm so interested in what's really behind this? Is this some weird mental crux/anxiety he has about committing to the 400m long term? Is he scared of the expectations that would exist if he were just to say "yeah I'm a 400m guy and my goal is to win the Olympic Games and challenge the WR one day". So instead he opts out by saying "I'm going to the 100" - where he is a good 100m runner, but never going to be a serious contender (let's get real here - he's not). So now he can coast along no expectations and if he doesn't make teams he can just sit back and the narrative will always be "well it's not his best event so it's fine".

I have just never ever heard of an athlete that had the legit capability to win the Olympic title and break the WR turn around and say they wanted to opt out of the event under this assumption he had mastered it with one world title.

yep agree - Norman could focus on the 1500 if he wanted to. But when he gets out and runs 4.05 after a year of training for it, it's unlikely that Nike will want to re-up his six-figure yearly deal that allows him to survive as a professional athlete in this world. But that would be his choice.

The "penalty" will come from Nike who would have every right to say "we signed you to this deal under the assumption you would compete and be the best in the world over the 400m discipline" and when he doesn't, can wave him goodbye.

Which is exactly why I think he needs to lay off this whole 100m thing. I'm with you on this one, he literally could be the first man under 43 seconds. It just makes no sense for him to suddenly switch to the 100m training. Don't get me wrong, his 9.86 is remarkable. But he'll never be Usain Bolt.

He simply just has such a higher level of greatness for the 400M. He could run 42.9. Dude needs to realize what he can do.

Not even that, but at this point his networth is around 2.5 million? If not more. Which is even more of a reason why the dude needs to go back to the quarter. I'm hoping his crappy season last year is a sign for him to go back.

This is honestly a really good point, thanks for clarifying

Not to be a hater but also I honestly think he got off easy with that Eugene win in the first place. Steven Gardiner would have wiped the floor with him, Zambrano was also injured. Matt Hudson Smith got his first medal in that final, in a time slower than he ran to come last place in the Rio final. While it was nice to see Norman finally win, that race didn't convince me at all that he had gotten over his pattern of peaking early in the season and not being able to put it together properly in the big moment. I would love for him to prove this in Paris against a healthy Gardiner, Samukonga, Watson, Hudson-Smith, etc.

I’m still baffled by it, especially considering the context of the US and qualifying for the Olympics and future world championships. We’re stacked in the 100. It’s one of the most difficult teams to make. Why leave an event in which you’re the country’s heavy favorite for an event where you have a much lower chance of making the national team?