Olympic Musings At Midway ⏱️

Lap 180: Powered By Asics

CITIUS MAG’s coverage in Paris is powered by Asics. Over the coming days, get ready as we bring you non-stop coverage including daily podcasts, daily newsletters, interviews, live results, analysis and much more. Be sure to follow along with @CITIUSMAG on Instagram, X, Threads, YouTube and your preferred podcast player.

This week’s newsletter was compiled by David Melly and Paul Snyder.

The Olympics tax you physically, mentally, spiritually. You’ve gotta be firing on all cylinders. You’ve gotta do so while navigating a series of new rules, places, and faces. And you’ve gotta churn out at least one newsletter a day, and two for Wednesday. We’d imagine it’s hard for the athletes as well.

If you want a thoughtful, concise, and occasionally entertaining recap of each day’s action, that’s what the CITIUS MAG Olympic Daily Dispatch is for. We here at The Lap Count are all about takes. As we hit the halfway point in the track and field portion of Paris, how are they going so far? We’re diving in and taking a look.

So without further ado, here is a midweek helping of analysis, thoughts, and questions.

Nico Young will medal in 2028.

Let’s talk about Nico Young, the 22-year-old who finished 12th in 26:58.11, about 15 seconds behind gold medalist Joshua Cheptegei. But first, a digression about Galen Rupp. Both Rupp and Young were prodigious high school talents, recognized early as such, and guided along with an eye to the future. They both adapted well to collegiate competition, but for several years found themselves routinely outkicked for NCAA titles. Then late in their college careers, something clicked, and now armed with elite closing speed, they ascended to not just NCAA champion-level performance, but nationally and perhaps even internationally competitive status.

In Galen Rupp’s first Olympic 10,000m appearance back in 2008, he was a 22-year-old. But he placed 13th, 35 seconds off the winner. Four years later at the London games, Rupp nabbed the silver medal. There’s obviously no guarantee that Young will continue to progress along a Rupp-like trajectory, but even if he doesn’t quite ascend as rapidly from this point, he’s entering the next four years in a great spot. 

In his Olympic race – his debut international competition – Young was one of 13 men in the field to dip under 27 (the former Olympic Record was 27:01.17!). Hell, Young’s broken 27:00 in two of the three 10,000m races he’s run on the track. He was fully in it, grimacing and looking like he was as deep as a person can be within the pain cave, until about 1,000m to go, but even then it wasn’t an implosion so much as the eventual contenders getting away from him. Young was one of just four men in the 10,000m final in Paris who were born in the 2000s, along with Berihu Aregawi (this year’s silver medalist), Selemon Barega, and Jacob Kiplimo. In 2028 these are the athletes who will be in the midst of their athletic primes. 

Making up 12-15 seconds of ground on dudes like Aregawi, Barega, and Kiplimo is no small task… but the ace up Young’s sleeve is home field advantage. The Newbury Park high school track where Nico Young first caught national attention is a mere hour (insert Los Angeles traffic joke here) from the LA Coliseum where he’ll hope to toe the line in 2028 on the hunt for an Olympic medal.

A gold medal is a gold medal.

Clearly the squad that Team USA fielded for the mixed 4 x 400m relay was a solid one. They set the damn world record in the prelims, after all! “It’s a fake event – the world record doesn’t matter,” you might be muttering to your phone now as you read. But is that true? Femke Bol would likely disagree. Nor do the four Americans on this year’s mixed relay feel that way, given that they… well, felt compelled to blast the prelim to send the rest of the field a message.

That said, it’s fantastic that the U.S. picked up silver. Given the roster they trotted out for both the prelim and final was the same one, and didn’t include a single athlete who qualified for the open 400m, and the presence of Bol, it’s about the best outcome the USATF decision makers could have hoped for.

To win gold in this event – as demonstrated by the Netherlands squad – you need to treat it like the other two relays. Give one or two of your Big Dogs a chance to race the final on fresh legs by running others from the relay pool in the semi. Maybe even unleash one of your Really Big Dogs to anchor your team home when the medal is on the line. Other countries – including ones that beat the U.S.! – do this. One could argue that they are forced to because they don’t have the depth in single-gender competition, but the counter is that Team USA’s depth is so incredible that they should be able to split their back-half stars among a few different events and still win.

The medals sure look the same. You still get the national anthem played. And until they make the 400m/400m hurdles or 200m/400m double a little more palatable, the individual-relay-relay combo is still the best path for long sprinters toward three medals. So why not go for it?

Give Julien Alfred her flowers, please! 

Let’s start this section with a statement of fact: Julien Alfred won the women’s 100m final in 10.72 seconds, lowering her own St. Lucian national record, and securing the first Olympic medal of any color, ever, for the tiny island nation. And she did so by running the best race of anybody in the field. She had the strongest start and drive phase, accelerated well, and she never let up, finishing in control before giving way to celebration mixed with disbelief. Once the gun was fired, at no point was another woman in the field ahead or even with her.

This is all to say, it really sucks that in the ensuing day, just as much attention was given to a rumor about unfortunate logistical difficulties experienced by Sha’Carri Richardson and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The story – which, mind you, hasn’t been officially confirmed by either athlete nor any of their representatives – goes that the two superstars, who are not staying within the Olympic Village, were apparently not informed by event staff about changes to security protocol, and were driven to the wrong location for their warmups ahead of the semi-finals, before eventually reaching the correct athlete checkpoint. This confusion allegedly impacted the sprinters’ ability to properly warm up. Richardson placed second in her heat to Alfred to qualify, and Fraser-Pryce withdrew from the semis, citing injury risk.

But it’s hard to imagine this particular Olympic final with 2024’s version of Richardson and Fraser-Pryce in which Alfred doesn’t win. Alfred’s 10.72 (-0.1) clocking is the second fastest in the world this year, behind only Richardson’s 10.71 (+0.8) from the Olympic Trials. Her race execution was just about perfect from gun to tape. Fraser-Pryce showed up to the Olympics after an injury-plagued season of minimal racing and didn’t win her preliminary round race. Richardson’s iffy starts persisted. 

We’ll never know for sure what might’ve been, but we do know what did happen. Alfred’s win was no fluke and anyone attempting to smack an asterisk beside it missed one hell of a performance by focusing on what wasn’t there.

A thought per place: men’s 100m 

1. Noah Lyles, 9.79: This is how you justify the whole Yu-Gi-Oh card nonsense – PRing at just the right moment to win the Olympics in your “off” event.

2. Kishane Thompason, 9.79: What a remarkable way to debut in international competition!

3. Fred Kerley, 9.81: When you publicly walk away from your sponsor after a down year, this is a great way to justify your decision-making.

4. Akani Simbine, 9.82: Imagine running 9.82 (a PB and South African national record) yet finishing off any podium. That’s never happened before.

5. Lamont Jacobs, 9.85: All the talk about his gold in Tokyo being a fluke is hopefully behind us now. And given the way he limped off the track, it sure seems like this guy is basically always playing a Jordan flu game.

6. Letsile Tebogo, 9.86: Not the placement he likely wanted, but what an incredible showing (a PB and NR) given everything he’s been through this year, including the loss of his mother.

7. Kenny Bednarek, 9.88: Running under 9.90 in your secondary event, regardless of place, has to leave you feeling good for the 200m.

8. Oblique Seville, 9.91: The fastest anyone has ever run and finished in eighth place in a 100m… ever. Same for fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. Sheesh.

A (dis)qualified success. 

“Rubbing is racing,” said millions of people wisely as they sat on their couches and watched Gudaf Tsegay chicken wing Faith Kipyegon, Kipyegon grab Tsegay’s arm, then Tsegay give Kipyegon a little shove – nearly off the track. This exchange took place about 800m from what everybody knew would be a dramatic finish to the women’s 5000m final. When the initial dust settled, Beatrice Chebet had prevailed, Kipyegon finishing behind her, and Sifan Hasan landing third, we all breathed a sigh of relief. The race was everything we had wanted it to be: nobody had taken a spill, and the leaders had closed the final kilometer in a shade over two minutes and 30 seconds.

But then, a second round of dust settled, and the official results had slotted Kipyegon to the bottom, a bolded “DQ” next to her name. For the next couple of hours, Sifan Hasan was the silver medalist in the first event of her bonkers triple. And Italy’s Nadia Battocletti was the surprise bronze medalist, having run a four-second PB and set a new national record. The “rubbing is racing” crowd was in disbelief. That was grounds for disqualification? Surely Tsegay, the initiator of the initial contact, was responsible? Even then, neither athlete looked to gain any sort of real advantage. And still! There was over a half mile of racing left! Predictably, the Kenyan camp protested. And ultimately, the DQ was overturned upon official review. 

Why did we need to do all this? Why did we need to momentarily tell an athlete she was a bronze medalist, only to come back in a bit and say “just kidding?” Why did we publish three “official” sets of results? Why did we need to make Faith Kipyegon cry? Why not take note of the contact, hold up a yellow flag or whatever, review the footage once the race has been concluded, then make a final judgment call? The whole thing felt amateurish and needlessly dramatic. Not to mention cruel to the three women whose placement and medals – or now, lack thereof – were on the line!  

A cautionary tale to federations.

Particularly to our American readers, it just makes sense to send an athlete to the Olympics who has qualified for the Olympics. However, this is not the case for many nations’ governing bodies. UK Athletics catches a lot of – deserved – flack for choosing to not enter athletes who are Olympic eligible. But the Athletics Federation of Nigeria often outclasses UK Athletics on this front. 

Last week we mentioned that AFN had failed to enter Favour Ofili in the 100m, despite her qualifying. We also mentioned that she was one of roughly a dozen Nigerian track and field athletes who were ruled ineligible for the Tokyo Olympics because AFN allegedly failed to allocate sufficient funds to meet drug testing standards. One of those athletes who was unable to compete in Tokyo for this reason was

Annette Echikunwoke, who was at the time the African area record holder in the hammer throw.

Well fast forward to Paris, and Echikunwoke added a new accolade to her impressive resume: Olympic silver medalist. The kicker is, she won that medal representing the United States. Echikunwoke, who attended the University of Cincinnati and was still training in the States, opted to change allegiances following the clusterf*ck in 2021.

It’s hard to imagine she’ll be the only disgruntled and highly talented athlete to do so. Granted, Echikunwoke had the ability to quickly switch over to American allegiance – something not possessed by every other athlete sitting at home right now who ought to be in France. But if you’re targeting Olympic qualification for LA28 and currently represent a country with a spotty track record of getting deserving athletes to the Games… you might start looking to see if you technically could claim citizenship elsewhere.

The 1500m results shouldn’t surprise you.

For the seventh year in a row, the global 1500m champion was a runner who hadn’t won a gold before. So why was it seen as such an upset that Cole Hocker landed atop the podium instead of Josh Kerr, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, or Timothy Cheruiyot?

Diamond League 1500s can be predictable and repetitive. But championship middle-distance running is a whole different beast. The last couple decades of results have shown that, if your name is not Hicham El Guerrouj or Asbel Kiprop, your path to multiple golds in this event is pretty darn steep. Every world-class miler good enough to make the Olympic final in 2024 has the ability to run sub-3:30 and kick off a hard pace — so the final results tend to be more about positioning, tactics, and frankly, who’s got the best stuff on the day.

Hocker is a generational talent. Let’s not forget he finished 6th in this event in Tokyo in 3:31.40 at age 20 and all evidence has shown that, when he’s healthy and able to train consistently, he’s among the best in the world. Yared Nuguse has a 3:43 mile to his name and both Americans first turned heads on the domestic scene with their lighting-fast closing speed. These aren’t exactly dark horses!

It’s a testament to the respect that Ingebrigtsen and Kerr have earned that their displacement was something of a shock. Ingebrigtsen’s fearlessness, in particular, is a sight to behold when he takes 11 runners through halfway in 1:51 and bets that his legs will hold up best. But either or both of these top-tier athletes can, and have, been beaten by talented challengers repeatedly over the last few years, and if history is any indication, someone entirely new will beat all three champions in 2025.

Sponsored by Velous Footwear

Introducing the VELOUS x CITIUS MAG Hoya Adjustable Slide in collaboration with the team at Citius Mag! Combining convenience and performance, this limited edition slide features a custom CITIUS MAG print that celebrates the love of track and field. Equipped with our patent-pending Tri-Motion™ Technology, the Hoya Adjustable Slide optimizes foot movement and refreshment, making it the perfect choice for athletes and fans alike.

Lightweight and breathable, this slide offers a custom fit across your forefoot and instep with its adjustable design, ensuring continuous comfort. Get your pair here today and use code CITIUSMAG20 for 20% off at checkout.

Re-Evaluating The Repechage 🧐

One of the most pleasant surprises of the front half of the Paris Olympics was the generally positive reception the repechage rounds received.

As Aisha Praught-Leer, a World Athletics appointee to the Athletes Advisory Commission, shared earlier this week, the repechage rounds originated as an IOC idea to fill more broadcast time with more racing. And while the track and field community is famously resistant to change, the general consensus so far is that the “second-chance” bracket has been a welcome addition to the preliminary round-heavy front half of the program that can be, frankly, a bit dry from time to time.

Not only were there interesting strategic choices – like Freddie Crittenden aiming for the repechage as an injury precaution – but it’s also provided an opportunity for smaller stars to shine, like high school phenom Adaejah Hodge in the 200m or French hometown heroes like Anais Bourgoin in the 800m. In the middle-distance rounds especially, it’s generated some seriously great head-to-head racing, like Italian Federico Riva kicking away from the field in the 1500m redo to clock a lifetime best 3:32.84.

The dirty little secret of the repechage is that they exist for entertainment, not for equality. None of the qualifiers from the five events that have progressed from repechage to final over the first four days have actually made the final. Possible exceptions may come up soon in the form of Crittenden or Kendall Ellis in the 400m, but as a general rule, repechage is not a particularly viable path toward a top-8 finish.

But with the exception of poor Sophie O’Sullivan, who ran 4:00.23 in the first round of the 1500m only to finish sixth, no one really seems to be missing the “little q” system. Instead of complex mid-race split math and more sweating over heat draws, the new qualifying system has a satisfying clarity and finality. And if and when the first repechager does break into the medals, what a story it’ll be.

Vive le repechage!

There’s A Way To Be A Hater, Respectfully 🙏

One of the proudest and longest traditions of the Olympic Games is sitting on your couch and screaming at the television. With the addition of social media to the spectating experience, millions of people around the world can all sit on the same virtual couch and scream at the TV – or at each other. Public discourse is a critical part of what makes sports so fun from the perspective, and rooting for your faves and against your enemies is a central part of the experience. (Just ask the Lap Count staff divided between Red Sox and Yankees loyalty…)

But the perceived anonymity of social media commentary is a double-edged sword, to say the least. In the sport of track and field, Team USA is both a monolithic presence and easy target for, say, Jamaican or European athletics fans. Similarly, Americans practicing a little gleeful patriotism can read a lot like gloating – particularly when success comes at the withdrawal, injury, or underperformance of other countries. And comments on the Internet do find their way to the athletes themselves – with potentially devastating effect, as Australian Olli Hoare vulnerably shared following his elimination in the 1500m.

Not every comment has to be sunshine and rainbows; that’s not how life works and it’s not how consuming sports does either. The full spectrum of emotions experienced by both athletes and fans is part of what makes athletics so compelling and impactful. But at the same time, it can’t hurt to practice a little restraint from time to time. We don’t want to be the party-poopers, but there should be some guidance for properly being a Track and Field Certified Hater:

Don’t say anything online you wouldn’t say to an athlete’s face. The mob mentality of a comment section can be a dangerous thing for lighthearted fun-poking to spiral out of control. You can’t control what everyone else says for clicks, but you can take a moment to check yourself before proverbially wreck yourself. So next time you’re tempted to blast “MONDO IS WASHED; HE ONLY BROKE HIS WORLD RECORD BY ONE CENTIMETER” picture yourself running into the Swedish vaulter in a bar and ask yourself – would I say this to this athlete’s face over a beer?

Stick to the facts. Professional athletes are public figures and their work is performance. Ultimately, track and field is entertainment, and as the consumer you’re within your rights to express your reaction to the content you’re being fed. But think for a moment about the nature of your criticism – is it about the athlete’s appearance? Background? Circumstances beyond their control? If so, maybe keep those takes to yourself. Reacting to something an athlete deliberately did or said is fair game; going off of their vibes or your biases steps over the line.

When in doubt, err on the side of empathy. If you ever find yourself in a gray area, asking yourself “does this go too far?” or “is this kicking someone while they’re down?” Maybe take a pass. No one ever regretted not hurling insults into the Twitterverse to amass a couple dozen likes. The job of a track and field athlete is hard, physically and mentally, and flaming out on the sport’s biggest stage isn’t exactly a great feeling. Better safe than sorry.

Rapid Fire Highlights 🔥

– Discus thrower Veronica Fraley joined the ranks of under-funded American Olympians who’ve felt the love from Public Enemy hype man and unofficial Team USA benefactor Flavor Flav. While reliable, materially significant institutional backing for “non-revenue” sport Olympic athletes would be preferable, extremely rich people, this is probably a much cooler thing to spend your money on than whatever you’re doing now!

– At the Sir Walter Miler in Raleigh, North Carolina, Doruc Ewoi edged out Sage Hurta-Klecker, 4:19.71 to 4:19.89, and third-place finisher Heather MacLean joined them both under Nikki Hiltz’s previous meet record of 4:21.89. Yared Nuguse’s record – 3:53.34 – was similarly obliterated. Winner Waleed Suliman went 3:51.89, but Festus Lagat, Sam Gilman, and Sean McGorty also ran under it. (Full results)

– At Beach to Beacon 10k, Tadese Worku went 28:12 to break the tape in the men’s race. Top American Abbabiya Simbassa placed fourth in 28:34, about 10 seconds back from Worku. On the women’s side, Faith Chepkoech won in 32:05 with Susanna Sullivan finishing as the top American in 32:22 for fourth.

– World Athletics prez Seb Coe told the press that discussions on bringing cross country running to the Winter Olympic program by the 2030s have been taking place, and via a confusing cricket simile, he indicated those talks have generally been positive. The 2030 Winter Olympics will take place in the French Alps, and then Salt Lake City will host in 2034.

– A special congratulations to the various Olympians who just learned they have already hit their qualifier for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo. To see if you personally have accidentally qualified within the last week, check out the standards – and other updates to qualifying procedure and championship scheduling – here.