The Track and Field Thread

[Incredible Hulctuary]

Originally Posted by stephenson123

interesting, I saw highlights of this. Do you watch the events on universal sports? The javelin in both Doha and Shanghai had winners with throws above the Olympic distance.

I don't get Universal Sports anymore. First they pulled it from my cable lineup a couple years ago, but the meets remained available online for $3 PPV last season, and I signed up for about half of them. Now it's not even available online unless you have Universal Sports in your cable lineup; I can't even pay to watch it if I want to.

However I did manage to find a feed from Slovakia or somewhere around there for last weekend's Shanghai meet. I guess I'll just have to settle for searching for foreign streams and watching Youtube highlights.

[quentin cassidy]

Originally Posted by Incredible Hulctuary

And she's still classified as a junior in 2014 and 2015!

Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon's progression, while classified as a junior. She turned 19 in January:

2010 (age 16): 4:17
2011 (17): 4:09
2012 (18): 4:03.8
2013 (19): 3:57

Cain is almost a year and a half ahead of her, having run 4:11 shortly after turning 16, and 4:04.6 at 17.

Sounds very humble too, which will serve her well.

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-ru...-track-history

To the question of how a girl with academic gifts balances her studies with transcontinental travel and elite level racing, Cain responds, “I’m an epic nerd. My life is running and schoolwork and sleeping. And eating.” And producing those unprecedented fast times. Pondering her 4:04.62 for an unguarded moment, Cain gasps, “God, that’s a hard PR to beat. That’s okay, though.”

[ditkaworshipper]

Originally Posted by quentin cassidy

Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon's progression, while classified as a junior. She turned 19 in January:

2010 (age 16): 4:17
2011 (17): 4:09
2012 (18): 4:03.8
2013 (19): 3:57

Cain is almost a year and a half ahead of her, having run 4:11 shortly after turning 16, and 4:04.6 at 17.

Sounds very humble too, which will serve her well.

http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-ru...-track-history

Cain will likely peak at a younger age. This isn't saying what she's doing isn't phenomenal, but I'm guessing Cain's had access to proper coaching and diet than Kipyegon at an earlier age.

[Incredible Hulctuary]

Originally Posted by ditkaworshipper

Cain will likely peak at a younger age. This isn't saying what she's doing isn't phenomenal, but I'm guessing Cain's had access to proper coaching and diet than Kipyegon at an earlier age.

I don't know about that. The top Kenyan teenagers get solid coaching and SERIOUS training and good natural food from early on, but then burn out by 23 or 24. Kipyegon has likely been training much harder than Mary Cain, and I expect she will plateau or burn out at an earlier age than Cain will.

[quentin cassidy]

Originally Posted by Incredible Hulctuary

I don't know about that. The top Kenyan teenagers get solid coaching and SERIOUS training and good natural food from early on, but then burn out by 23 or 24. Kipyegon has likely been training much harder than Mary Cain, and I expect she will plateau or burn out at an earlier age than Cain will.

Are we fairly certain that Kenyan 'teenagers' are actually teenagers, not 20-22 year olds?

[Incredible Hulctuary]

Originally Posted by quentin cassidy

Are we fairly certain that Kenyan 'teenagers' are actually teenagers, not 20-22 year olds?

Even if the "teenagers" who are now world class are really 20+, they've been training very very hard since their early teens.

[Runnerd]

Cain has been a beast for a while now. Although girls are much more likely to burn out at a younger age, I think the move to Salazar will be really good for her...a la Galen Rupp.

[quentin cassidy]

Originally Posted by Incredible Hulctuary

Even if the "teenagers" who are now world class are really 20+, they've been training very very hard since their early teens.

Agreed. Not to mention the stories about East African children running 2-3 miles each way to school from the age of about 7 or 8 years old. Or the lack of junk food, TV, social media, etc in that part of the world.