Every week, we attempt to make the game extra enjoyable to comply with by placing the prior week’s motion in perspective for you. Previous editions of our Week That Was weekly recap will be discovered right here. Acquired a tip, query or remark? Please name us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), e mail us, or submit in our discussion board.
Final week, the most important information sadly got here off the monitor when males’s marathon world report holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a automobile accident in Kenya on Sunday evening. When you missed our article on Kiptum’s demise and profession, catch up right here as I don’t discuss it under, however we did discuss it extensively on this week’s Observe Discuss podcast. Additionally right here is our Millrose Video games evaluation piece that we wrote in New York.
***2024 Millrose Video games grades
Under I hand out grades to a number of the distance stars at Millrose. We additionally mentioned these grades extensively on this week’s Observe Discuss Podcast.
Josh Kerr, 8:00.67 2-mile (1st, world report)Grade: A+
Article continues under participant.
Months in the past, Kerr stated he was going to go for the 2-mile world report at Millrose and he received it. His time of 8:00.67 is equal to 7:24.90 for 3000 — an enormous pb for him (his greatest is 7:33.57 from 2023 Millrose).
No, it’s not within the Jakob Ingebrigtsen class — bear in mind, Jakob ran an virtually unfathomable 7:54.10 2-mile final summer season — however Kerr is quicker than Ingebrigtsen at 800 (1:45.35 vs 1:46.44). Kerr’s by no means going to be as match as a wholesome Ingebrigtsen. The objective is to be match sufficient that you could grasp with him if you find yourself benefitting a second a lap from having the ability to draft behind him after which outkick him like he did in Budapest.
Elle St. Pierre, 4:16.41 mile (1st, American report)Grade: A+
Final week in Boston, St. Pierre confirmed she’d be an element post-pregnancy as she simply missed the American 3000 report when she ran 8:25.25 for 2nd behind Australian Jessica Hull. Per week later, St. Pierre turned the tables on Hull in an enormous means, crushing her by 2+ seconds and taking down her personal American report by working 4:16.41 (earlier AR of 4:16.85). 4:16.41 equates to three:57.4 within the 1500, which is quicker than St. Pierre’s PB (3:58.03).
To be within the medal hunt in Paris, St. Pierre is probably going going to have to be in American report form (the outside AR is 3:54.99 by Shelby Houlihan) as Religion Kipyegon appears virtually unbeatable and it wouldn’t shock me if Gudaf Tsegay tripled. Plus, 5 different Ethiopians have already run 3:58 or sooner this 12 months (extra on that later). Keep in mind, within the second semifinal on the 2023 Worlds in Budapest, it took 3:57.85 simply to make the ultimate.
Laura Muir, 9:04.84 2-mile (1st, #2 all-time)Grade: A
Muir’s time converts to eight:24.3 for 3000, which is best than her 3000 NR of 8:26.41 from 2017. She doesn’t get an A+ nevertheless as the one adverse was she was outkicked convincingly by Ethiopian Medina Eisa, the 2022 world junior champ at 5000 who continues to be simply 19. Sure, I do know Eisa was DQ’d for chopping in at first and never working the primary flip in lane 4, but when Muir goes to contend for a second Olympic medal this summer season, she’s going to should be 100% on prime of her recreation.
Hobbs Kessler, 3:48.66 mile (2nd)Grade: A
Kessler, the US U20 report holder within the 1500, appears to be like like he’s going to stay as much as the hype that netted him an enormous adidas contract out of highschool. His time at Millrose equates to three:31.7 for 1500 — considerably sooner than his 3:32.61 pb. Kessler could be very sturdy on the finish of races and on this one he handed 3:47 miler George Mills within the ultimate 200. It will likely be fascinating to see what his change of gears is like when he races what is going to presumably be extra of a tactical 1500 at USA indoors this weekend.
Grant Fisher, 8:03.62 2-mile (2nd, American report)Grade: A-
Fisher broke the American report by almost 4 seconds, and his time is equal to a 7:27.63 3000 — which is best than Yared Nuguse‘s 7:28.24 indoor 3000 AR. However I need to admit that as an American fan, watching Fisher get destroyed by virtually three full seconds over the ultimate 300 meters was form of miserable. I wasn’t the one one. It made some query if Fisher will ever win an enormous race.
MB: Will Grant Fisher ever win a significant race? I don’t assume so
However giving Fisher a B+ can be an injustice. If Kerr wasn’t within the race, LRC can be raving in regards to the gutsy front-running Fisher, who soloed himself to an AR and dominant 2+ second victory in a race that might have made Prefontaine proud. And Fisher pushing the tempo despatched the followers dwelling glad because it resulted in Josh Kerr getting the world report.
Kerr rightfully gave Fisher A TON of credit score for his world report. It’s virtually unattainable to search out somebody to rabit you for all however 300 meters of a world report, however that’s mainly what Fisher did. So Fisher will get an A+ on the rabbiting entrance.
But it surely’s nonetheless unattainable to neglect what occurred on the finish of this race. When it was over, I had such a bitter style in my mouth from Fisher being destroyed that I wrote on the messageboard that if I used to be Fisher, I might need backed off the tempo and tried to outkick Kerr. That concept of Fisher making an attempt to outkick the 1500 world champ was mocked, however kicking is what Fisher must work on, proper?
In fact, one of the best ways to develop a kick could also be for Fisher to only get stronger so he’s much less drained getting into the ultimate 400 of a worldwide ultimate. On the world stage, I doubt Fisher will ever have the ability to run away from the sector, however engaged on grinding the tempo out proper now might be the precise name as it’s going to serve him properly in The TEN. That being stated, it’s disgraceful that our sport is about up in a means that Fisher goes to skip out on World XC as a result of he wants to choose up an Olympic 10,000 qualifier. How about rewarding him with a ten,000 qualifier if he ran World XC?
As Chris Chavez famous, Fisher took the indoor 2-mile American report away from Galen Rupp, who now now not holds any American information. Fisher clearly doesn’t have any Olympic medals like Rupp however he’s received far more American reccords. Rupp by no means held the outright 3000 or 5000 information however Fisher is now the outright quickest American in historical past at all the things from 3000 by way of the ten,000.
Kevin Morris photograph
Yared Nuguse, 3:47.83 mile (1st)Grade: B+
Expectations are a bitch, aren’t they? How on this planet can I give a man who ran the Third-fastest indoor mile in historical past and led all the second half a B+? As a result of Nuguse ran 3:43 for the mile final 12 months at Pre and he brazenly talked about getting the mile WR on this race and got here up brief. Josh Kerr referred to as his shot and delivered; Yared Nuguse didn’t. And I’m a tricky grader.
That being stated, Nuguse’s ultimate 200 was spectacular. The tempo had lagged enormously over the second half of the race — Nuguse solely ran 59.02 from 800 to 1200 — however he closed in 55.96 for his ultimate quarter mile and roughly 26.6 for his ultimate 200 to win handily.
Jessica Hull, 4:19.03 mile (2nd, Australian report)Grade: B+
For the second straight week, Hull set an Aussie report within the States. This week, she really received two in a single race as her 1500 cut up of 4:01.19 additionally was an Aussie indoor report. So how am I not giving her an A? Nicely, final week she beat St. Pierre and this week she received labored by 2+ seconds. In case your dream is an Olympic 1500 medal, getting labored by somebody who has by no means medalled within the 1500 by 2+ plus seconds isn’t nice.
However American followers apprehensive about Grant Fisher leaving Jerry Schumacher ought to have a look at what Hull has completed since she pulled an identical transfer final 12 months and left Pete Julian‘s Union Athletic Membership and breathe simpler. Since deciding to return to Australia be coached by her father Simon, Hull has nationwide information outdoor within the 1500 (3:57.29), mile (4:15.34), and 3000 (8:31.81) and now indoors within the 1500, mile, and 3000 (8:24.93).
Alicia Monson, 9:09.70 2-mile (Third, American report)Grade: C+
Sure, Monson set an American report and sure, she did a number of the work. However in my ebook, A is great, B is sweet, and C is honest. And Monson’s run on Sunday was a “honest” day on the workplace. Her time equates to eight:28.8 within the 3000, which is way slower than the 8:25.05 she ran at Millrose final 12 months.
Cooper Teare, 3:53.41 mile (Eighth)Grade: C-
Contemplating Teare ran 3:50 within the mile in school indoors, there isn’t a doubt that seeing him solely run 3:53 was disappointing, significantly since a couple of weeks in the past he received the US Cross Nation Championships convincingly. Given my harsh grading of others, I most likely ought to give him a D as “disappointing” means “poor,” which is technically a D. However I’m giving Teare credit score for going for it and going out laborious in 1:53.
Teare stated final 12 months that former coach Jerry Schumacher views him as a 5000 man whereas Teare views himself as a miler, which can have contributed to Teare’s choice to go away the Bowerman Observe Membership after one season. The previous couple of weeks actually haven’t supported Teare’s argument that he’s a miler. He received crushed in a 1k by Hocker on February 3 and now finds a 1:53 first 800 to be means too wealthy. Nicely 1:52 for 800 is simply 3:30 1500 tempo.
Nonetheless, Teare stated after the race he’s completed hardly any pace work and is engaged on his power, which is sensible. He doesn’t have to be within the form of his life in February — he must be in that form in June on the US Olympic Trials. Monson, Teare, and Fisher getting labored proper now is perhaps a bit alarming, but when they rock the summer season, nobody will care.
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There are a number of different outstanding names that I haven’t even graded. However in case you are certainly one of them or certainly one of their kin, you have to be grateful I didn’t give them a grade. How may I presumably have given out excessive grades for US steeple champ Krissy Gear (final in ladies’s 2-mile in 9:41.26) or 2022 US 10,000 champ Joe Klecker (final in males’s 2-mile in 8:20.57)? And the OAC’s Mario Garcia Romo, who was 4th at Worlds in 2022, wasn’t final within the mile (tenth in 3:54.15) however his grade wouldn’t have been excessive.
That being stated, not less than these persons are wholesome sufficient to be racing proper now.
The place is Ajee’ Wilson — who usually loves indoors and the Armory? Olli Hoare additionally isn’t racing but and Katelyn Tuohy simply revealed on Instagram that she’s been injured as properly.
****Ethiopia actually ought to maintain an Olympic 1500 trials race for ladies
On Saturday, there was one other large indoor meet in Lievin, France, the place the Ethiopians placed on a present in profitable the ladies’s 1500 (Freweyni Hailu, 3:57.24) and 3000 (Gudaf Tsegay, 8:17.11) in addition to the boys’s 2000 (Lamecha Girma, 4:51.23 WL/PB) and 3000 (Selemon Barega, 7:31.38).
Within the ladies’s 1500, Ethiopia really took the highest 4 spots.
1. Freweyni Hailu, 3:57.242. Diribe Welteji, 3:57.483. Birke Haylom, 4:00.004. Habitam Alemu, 4:00.97
Ethiopia has a plethora of 1500 ladies proper now. Final 12 months, that they had 5 of the eight quickest ladies on this planet within the 1500 and this 12 months Ethiopians occupy spots 1-6 on the indoor 1500 record.
Ethiopia actually must have a Olympic trials race in 2024. Sometimes, Ethiopia selects its staff by season’s greatest, which ends up in a lot of their prime athletes exhausting themselves earlier than the championships as they fly world wide chasing quick instances by racing repeatedly on the circuit. There’s some hope issues might be completely different within the Olympic 12 months, nevertheless, as Ethiopia did maintain a ladies’s 1500 trials in Hengelo in 2021.
However within the absence of a trials, I feel a “Rojo Rating” is best than judging them solely primarily based on their 1500 sbs. Right here’s how I rank them proper now from 1-6.
Gudaf Tsegay – The 26-year-old Tsegay has received gold within the 5000 (2022) and 10,000 (2023) on the final two Worlds however she additionally received WC 1500 silver in 2022. It’s laborious to assume the world indoor report holder and reigning world indoor champion isn’t nonetheless certainly one of world’s prime three within the 1500 if she makes it a precedence.
Freweyni Hailu – Hailu, who turned 23 on Monday, was 4th within the 1500 on the 2021 Olympics and 2022 Worlds after which was left off their 1500 staff final 12 months (she completed seventh within the 5000 in Budapest). That was a mistake as she by no means completed under third in any of her Diamond Leagues earlier than Worlds. She’s been on hearth early in 2024 as she has received all three of her races together with the 1500 in Lievin, with two of them being world leads (3:55.28 for 1500 in Torun and a 4:17.36 mile in Ostrava, since surpassed by St. Pierre).
Diribe Welteji – The 21-year-old received World Championship silver outdoor within the 1500 final 12 months and beat Religion Kipyegon to win the highway mile champs. Indoors this 12 months, she is the world #2 at 1500 (3:55.47) and final week she was 2nd in Lievin. She’s received good pace as she was the 800 world junior champ in 2018 was 4th at senior Worlds within the 800 in 2022.
Birke Haylom – The 2022 world junior champ simply turned 18 on January 6. Final 12 months, she ran 3:54.93 in Poland to make Worlds, the place she received some big-meet expertise and completed ninth. Indoors this 12 months, she was the runner-up on the NBIGP to Tsegay in a world U20 report of three:58.43 and he or she was Third in Lievin.
Hirut Meshesha – The 23-year-old world indoor bronze medallist within the 1500 from 2022 received an enormous win in Poland final 12 months in 3:54.87, which received her on the Worlds staff. However she disillusioned in Budapest and didn’t make the ultimate. Indoors this 12 months, she’s run 3:56.47 (however was solely the third Ethiopian in that race) and eight:28.46.
Tigist Girma – The 21-year-old ran the 800 at Worlds final 12 months (1:59.72 pb, out in first spherical). She confirmed she could have some promise within the 1500 nevertheless this 12 months by working 3:58.79 for 4th in Torun.
****The collegiate assault on instances continues
It will take perpetually to undergo the entire quick collegiate instances put up final week. Belief me, there have been a number of them, together with Stanford’s Ky Robinson working 7:36.69 at UW (#2 all-time NCAA). I’ll let a tweet from our Jonathan Gault put Robinson’s race in perspective for you:
Precisely two years in the past, the NCAA males’s indoor 3000m report was 7:38.59 by Alistair Cragg. It had stood for almost 18 years.
Within the two years since, seven collegians have run sooner, together with 4 this season and two tonight in Seattle. pic.twitter.com/pbSpfnlpCy
— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) February 10, 2024
****Reminder: Josh Kerr isn’t the one member of the Brooks Beasts
Brandon Miller‘s first main race as a member of the Brooks Beasts was tremendous profitable as he ran 1:14.03 for 600 on the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque on Friday (earlier than that, he had run a 1000 in Seattle on January 13 in 2:19.54 in addition to his first-ever mile in Albuquerque on February 3 — 4:14.34). Solely Donavan Brazier has ever run sooner for an indoor 600 (Brazier’s world greatest is 1:13.77). Miller, the 2022 NCAA indoor 800 champ, joined the Beasts final fall.
His teammate Nia Akins, the US champ final 12 months indoors and out, ran 1:24.32, which makes her the Eighth-fastest lady in indoor historical past (Keely Hodgkinson has the report at 1:23.41) and Fifth-fastest American.
***Observe PR of the Week
Former Arkansas Razorback 800m runner Shafiqua Maloney, whose greatest NCAA end was a third indoors in 2021, ran an enormous PB final week on the Tyson Invitational. Maloney, who had solely damaged 2:00 as soon as in her life (1:59.94) and by no means indoors (2:01.22 indoor pb), ran a 1:58.69 on Saturday, a nationwide report for Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Shafiqua’s 1:58.69 within the Girls’s 800m has:
• Booked her a spot on the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France
• Lowered her personal Nationwide Document
That is just the start, @shaf400mx2 🇻🇨#naralayo #trackandfield #shafiquamaloney #olympics2024 pic.twitter.com/HKIBxmqGgL
— naralayo (@naralayoco) February 12, 2024
****Sweden’s Andreas Almgren crushes it but once more
Sweden’s Andreas Almgren has had a really fascinating profession. Ten years in the past, on the age of 19, he ran 1:45 to win world junior 800 bronze in Eugene. A decade later, he’s the second quickest European ever within the half marathon.
Sure, that’s proper. Over the weekend, Almgren made his half marathon debut in Barcelona. Very like Ryan Corridor, he made it depend by working very quick. Almgren ran 59:23 and completed only one second again of Kibiwott Kandie, the 2nd-fastest half marathoner in historical past.
ANDREAS ALMGREN pic.twitter.com/a2ddDs9wxx
— Konstantin Kan (@knstntn_kan) February 11, 2024
Almgren is now the quickest Swede ever at each occasion from 1500 by way of the half marathon, which is loopy contemplating he began out as a mid-d runner. When you look Almgren up on Tilastopaja — a outcomes database we pay for — they record him as a 400, 800, 1500 runner and inform us his 400 pb is 48.33.
Nicely now he’s received a 1500 pb of three:32.00, 3000 pb of seven:34.31i, 5000 pb of 13:01.70, and 10k pb of 27:20. Tremendous spectacular. What’s loopy about Almgren is that nearly as good as these instances are, he’s by no means been to the Olympics and solely twice made it to outside Worlds. And in these two journeys to Worlds (800 in 2015, 5000 in 2023), he’s by no means gotten out of the heats.
MB: Andreas Almgren of Sweden units one more NR – 59:22
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Seeing Almgren’s quick half marathon time jogs my memory that it’s wild that the US half marathon report continues to be Ryan Corridor’s 59:43 from 2007. For the reason that invention of tremendous sneakers and tremendous spikes, each single US mid-d or distance report from the 800 by way of the marathon has fallen for each the women and men besides for 3: the boys’s half marathon, the boys’s marathon (Khalid Khannouchi‘s 2:05:38 from 2002), and males’s steeplechase (Evan Jager‘s 8:00.45 from 2015).
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The primary highway race in her 30s for Joyciline Jepkosgei, the 2019 NYC and 2021 London Marathon champ who turned 30 on December 8, was a fantastic one as she received the ladies’s race on the Barcelona Half in a 64:29 pb. That’s 22 seconds sooner than what she ran when she set the half marathon world report in 2017.
***Final Week’s Residence Pages
Previous editions of our Week That Was weekly recap will be discovered right here. It is best to come to LetsRun each day for the newest information however if you happen to miss a day, you possibly can at all times go to our archive web page. When you like our written weekly recap, you’ll love our weekly Observe Discuss Podcast as properly. Acquired a tip, query or remark? Please name us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), e mail us, or submit in our discussion board.
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Acquired a tip, query or remark? Please name us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), e mail us or submit in our discussion board.
