Talking of hypothetical running events, I continued this conversation the pub this evening, where we all know the best ideas are formed.
We have come up with the ultimate track event.
Based on the velodrome cycling pursuit, track pursuit.
2 competitors start on opposite sides of the track, whoever catches the other wins.
We decided that on a 400 track, picking marathon runners was optimal but it could take hours. However, run it on an indoor 200 track, and 200m runners would catch most long distances.
You’d have to do a secret nomination so the opponent country wouldn’t know what athlete you’d picked until they turn up at the start line.
32 teams. Possibly start with a team of 200, 400, 800 and 1500 and 5000m runners. Each athlete can only run once in the competition.
What order do you run your athletes?
GTO athletics
I’m drunk

Imane Khelif through to the gold medal boxing match. There is no winner in the final going up against a boxer from China.

holy ****

just saw Hocker won the 1,500

can't believe he got pinched in the final corner, had to slow down, and still had the energy/desire to regroup and fire down the stretch. so rare

what an upset. so happy for him. epic stuff

awful strategy by Ingebrigsten. what was he thinking?

they said her time in the 400 hurdle is faster than anyone's time in the 400 without hurdles. that doesn't seem right lol

Bol's time in the semi's was about half second behind

My instinct is to pick a 5k runner. Fast enough to avoid the sprinters and then capable of being 30 secs faster a mountain goat marathon runner over 5k. I think it’s between a 5k and a 1500m runner, but I’ll pick the 5k guy because I think they would eventually get a 1500m guy

Sprinters are the nut worst choice.

you can click on the blue arrow to go to the original post

the line I found is McLaughlin -310
Bol +220

fwiw, pinny

Ok, so when your 5000 runner has won, who runs in the next round? What's the strategy? Do you save you 5000m runner for the gold medal match with the danger of not even getting there?

I didn’t realise it was a relay. What are the rules…how many runners?

hmmm, i had to take my own advice and go back to that original post/thread

the first sentence does seem to be referring to the USMNT which, as you said, is clearly true (in fact, we could probably say 15+ teams are prob better than the USMNT now)

that said, the USWNT isn't exactly "just another team" when it comes to the women's game

It partially explains why teams like Argentina and Spain continually field world class teams.

In the NFL we have the Chargers, which is the best comparison I have to USMNT. Top 3 QB and a complete dogsh*t performing team.

IRT womens soccer, US got in on the ground floor with the world competition. Hence, other countries don't have much of an edge with their training/coaching/system.

Apologies for the quality of the image but I thought this was an incredible shot of Mondo’s WR vault

more than 15 would be my guess but idk.

But you’re right about the US women - clearly one of the very best

I don't think the 200m runner catches the marathoner, but I also didn't know this turned in a team event.

At least we won't have people denying some guy pole vaulted 20'6" years from now.

Or will we?

Are the pole vaulters aloud to wear gloves? For that matter, are NBA players aloud to wear gloves?

jfc look at these times!! insane how these two women are so far above everyone else

you could give all the other runners a 2 second head start, and they still might win

I’ve read that the jumpers have been told they can’t wear the new Adidas shoes. Not sure if the 400 hurdlers can still? The shoes certainly helped with world records in that event

That's about what happened in the 4x400 mixed relay and Bol ran down the American runner with ease. BTW, why the F didn't USA use Sydney in that? She was a defending gold medalist in that event and would've easily held off Bol given the headstart.

The USA team burned themselves out in the semis trying to win their spots in the final, instead of conserving energy, and then paid for it.


They showed Sydney's WR time in the 400 hurdles and overlaid it to last Olympics 400 regular final. Sydney would've finished 7th, but not all that far behind the top 6, which is utterly insane.

It's dumb that swimmers can do 80 events, but we can't figure out how to stagger it so that Bol and Sydney can at least compete in 400, 400h, 4x400 and 4x400 mixed. This is probably the best rivalry in ages, and we'll prob only see them H2H in one event.

iirc thymes amended the schedule on Michael Johnson’s behalf to allow him to run the 2 and 4 in Atlanta

Really curious to see if the officials will have the balls to kick the french guy out of the 5km final

they

fair. the men's program is at a low moment right now (elo #32)

they need to get the manager hire right like the women's program just did