Men's 10k Olympic Trials

It's POURING rain. Bad news for Ritz and the A standard.

Dave-O wrote:It's POURING rain. Bad news for Ritz and the A standard.

Man...it is pouring! But Ritz is an XC guy. What is the A standard?

27:45.

Huge that Rupp is helping him. Looks like Salazar recruited Puskedra as a sacrificial lamb as well.

Wet evening in Eugene. That should knock down the pollen, which ought to help Rupp.

Dave-O wrote:27:45.

Huge that Rupp is helping him. Looks like Salazar recruited Puskedra as a sacrificial lamb as well.

Looks comfortable so far...Where's Teg?

Teg in 6th or so....wearing arm warmers?

Mark B wrote:Wet evening in Eugene. That should knock down the pollen, which ought to help Rupp.

I think Rupp could run in Lane 4 and still make the team.

Here comes Derrick!....

Dave-O wins...Might get the finish right too!

Edit... Make that BenZ. Nailed it!

Rupp, Teg, Ritz.

Not a close race, but a fun one to watch. I think the best part was seeing Ritz hit the "A" standard.

Check please!

Absolute fantastic win by Rupp, he effortlessly pulled away, and a GREAT race from Ritz. Very happy for them.

Ben Z wrote:Edit: My original order was Rupp, Curtis and Ritz and while I think that is the order they will finish I want that prize since Dave B already picked that too! Now no copying my prediction Jerry!

Man, I really want Derrick to get in but I just don't see it after the long season he has already had.

So I'll go with:

1. Rupp - it won't even be close if he actually races it. The big question is whether he paces Ritz.I actually think he will medal in London this year and snag a bronze behind Farah and an East African.
   
2. Teg - Old man's last Olympic team. 13:15 tells me he's in good shape and he should have the best race tactics given his credentials.
   
3. Ritz - OK, I'll buy in to the hype, again! I actually don't want to pick Ritz here but I think he will be able to hang with Rupp for all but a lap or two (when it's down to 3) and then barely hang on for third. But if he's not careful I definitely think Curtis, Vaughn or Braun will pass him with 100m to go.
   

Wow, read Ben's prediction above. Not only was that the exact order 1/2/3, I'd say he nailed it exactly with his comments as well. Rupp looked soooo good seemingly easing through that race. You got the sense that he could have just blown apart that race any time he wanted to and never even had to go to the well at all to win easily. Great call on Teg and his pacing/tactics. A smart move by him to go from the 5K to the 10k. And great running by Ritz. With the conditions and slightly slow start, I didn't think he was going to get the A standard but he and Rupp and even he and Teg worked well together start to finish.

That was a lot more fun to watch than the women's race. Once it was clear they wouldnt hit the A standard, it really lost a lot of drama.

Major props to Galen Rupp, for two reasons. First, Ritz couldnt have run 27:45 alone without alternating lead duties. Second, for pulling away so effortlessly abd reminding everyone he's the fastest non-African born 10k runner of all time.

Teg showed poise and experience.

You could tell how much that meant to Ritz. The pain of 4th in the marathon, dealing with the pouring rain. Man, what a race. I won't be deleting that from the DVR anytime soon.

Ben, nailed it! PM me your mailing address to claim a yet-to-be determined prize.

The woman's race was excellent as well. Nice to see Amy Hastings get the win and the berth. Wonder if Shalane was really "racing" though or just pacing all of them.

Good for Ritz. He punched his ticket. I'm happy for him from that standpoint, no doubt.

Does it eliminate the disappointment of missing out on the marathon, or just reduce it? Where will he be in terms of likely finishing placement in this event versus in the marathon?

Martin VW wrote:

Does it eliminate the disappointment of missing out on the marathon, or just reduce it? Where will he be in terms of likely finishing placement in this event versus in the marathon?

In my opinion, he's a further long shot in the 10k. As impressive as his 27:36 in the rain was, that's still quite a bit off from medal contention. I suspect Rupp is the only American with a chance, in part due to his development of closing speed in the last 800m.

I think he had a better shot in the marathon in the Olympics, where the Kenyans can't engage in their typical team tactics and the pace is typically slower (RIP Sammy). So I would say that while a great retribution, it doesn't completely eliminate the disappointment from Houston.

Martin VW wrote:Good for Ritz. He punched his ticket. I'm happy for him from that standpoint, no doubt.

Does it eliminate the disappointment of missing out on the marathon, or just reduce it? Where will he be in terms of likely finishing placement in this event versus in the marathon?

It's bittersweet no doubt. But given that he finished 6th in 2009 at the World Championships in the 10k, and according to him has had a better block of training recently than he's had in eight years, I actually think he will be more competitive in the 10K.

It's been proven time and again that the marathon is just not his event.

By my crude calculations he is about 2% slower in the 10k compared to how I see the World Championships playing out (I assume 26:50 would win it and Ritz's PR is 27:22) whereas he is ~4% slower in the marathon (I assume 2:05:00 will medal and his PR is 2:09:55). But as we know a lot more can go wrong in the marathon so even though he is slower in the marathon he probably assumes he has a better chance given it's less about raw speed at the end.

Dave-O wrote:

Great pic btw.