#58 Michtrack at the Olympics - Crittenden to Finals

Inside This Issue

• Sember & Stark Advance In Hurdles

• Fisher Survives Roller Derby

• Kessler Advances On Tired Legs

• Crittenden Makes Hurdle Final

• Honest Pace?

• Want To Learn More About Racing Tactics?

Sember & Stark Advance To Semis

Running identical times of 12.72, both Cindy Sember and Grace Stark advanced to the semis of the 100 hurdles this morning.

In heat 2, Sember had to face defending Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico. Top 3 would qualify directly to the semis, everyone else would have the option of running in the new-fangled repechage races. No worries for Sember, who glided to a smooth 12.72 behind JMQ’s 12.42 (which ended up being the fastest time of the day).

In heat 5, Stark ran from lane 9. She, too, got through with no issues, her 12.72 good for 3rd behind Jamaica’s Ackera Nugent (12.65) and Bahamas Devynne Charlton (12.71). The semis will be in two days (Friday morning).

Fisher Survives Qualifying Roller Derby

Running in heat 2 of the 5000 this morning, Grant Fisher did what he was supposed to do, though not without a few scares. The races went slowly—a side-effect of the elimination of time-based qualifying in this event. No longer is there any advantage to being in the fast heat to get extra qualifying sports. Now it’s just a simple race, with the top 8 advancing.

In the first heat, there was a major pileup on the final stretch as runners went down like bowling pins in a chain reaction. A number of them were advanced to the final by officials who decided it wasn’t their fault.

In Fisher’s heat, he found himself a little farther back than he would have liked in the closing laps. It got crowded. Teammate Abdihamad Nur went down hard as he ran alongside Fisher, finishing last. Fisher closed with a 55.4 lap to finish 4th in 13:52.44.

Kessler Makes 800 Semi On Tired Legs

The night after running a personal best of 3:29.45 to place 5th in the 1500, Hobbs Kessler had to get up bright and early for the 800 heats. No celebrating for him! He found himself in a heat with Djamel Sedjati of Algeria, the current world leader.

In a race where the top 3 would make the final and the rest would head to repechage, Kessler found himself in 4th at halfway in 54.1, Then, just to make it more challenging, folks started passing him and with 100 to go he was back in 7th. He had to sprint probably faster than he had hoped, but his 12.6 final 100 gave him a 1:46.15 and 3rd place. Whew!

Crittenden Makes The Finals!

He may have done it in an unconventional fashion, but he did it. Freddie Crittenden made it into the 110 hurdle finals, set to be the final event tomorrow night. Running in semi 2, from lane 2, Crittenden got out fast and appeared to lead most of the way. He was nipped at the line by Jamaica’s Rasheed Broadbell, 13.21 to 13.23. He will go down in history as the first person to make a final after having run the new repechage round.

From Crittenden’s interviews: “Even just being here, make my family, my wife, and her family proud, just being here to represent my country, my family. All my friends, some of them have been doing this for years, but haven’t been able to make it to this point. They’re kind of living through me and they’re so proud, this is monumental for me.

“I kind of missed the boat on championships, just been not good enough for companies to invest in me. After making the team, I’ve had some people coming. It’s definitely a challenge getting to this point. You have competitors that have all the resources in the world, you have to do everything you can to get to this point. You have to keep your head down, be optimistic, be patient, and hope that all this stuff will be worth it. I’m blessed that it’s been the case for me.

“A lot of people count you out because a lot of the shoe contracts look at your age. I’m 30 years old, I don’t have a lot of my career left. For me to make my first team at age 30 is a big deal for me.” 

“Honest” Pace, Yeah, Whatever

There is probably nothing that bothers me in the sport as much as hearing commentators and fans talk about a fast pace in a distance race as an “honest” pace. Apparently in their minds, any race decision that does not involved all-out running throughout the contest is dishonest, and when someone wins coming from behind on a kick, that person is, well, some kind of liar.

What these people fail to have grasped is the fundamental dictum of distance racing. When people of equal ability (at that moment) race, the one who leads most of the way will always lose, because they expend more energy. Period. No exceptions.

Got a great example of someone leading the whole way and winning? Wonderful. It’s because they were superior to all the other athletes in the race that day, and probably could have won using any number of tactics.

A fast race is indeed fun, but without rabbits, at this level it means that someone is sacrificing their chances, whether out of hubris, or to help a teammate win, or some other such thing. Jakob Ingebrigtsen made the fast pace in the 1500 happen, but he sacrificed himself. The fastest man in the field by over a second-and-a-half left without a medal. Good bet he has some regrets and given another chance, would have waited significantly longer to take the lead.

Want to Learn More About Racing Tactics?

The only book ever written on racing tactics is still available on Amazon. While we can’t promise that everyone who reads it will make the Olympic 1500 final, we know of at least one who has! Order here.