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Jager bombs - heartbreaking!
NorthEnder
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I was watching this live earlier, from the Paris Diamond League meeting.
It was great to see a white guy getting in amongst the African (can I say that without sounding racist?!) - just for a blooming change. I couldn't believe how he broke the field in the penultimate lap and then managed to inexorably pull away from the one remaining contender in the final lap... but you really do have to concentrate all the way to the end!
I don't know anything about this guy... except he's no spring chicken at 26 and he smashed his own USA record today, despite having a little lie-down half way down the final straight. Has anyone followed his career?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/athletics/33401455
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Comments
Yawn.
I understand what you're saying, NorthEnder, based upon the fact that the athletic ability of the event’s competitors was comparatively matched, despite an ‘epic fail’ on the American's part.
If only he'd gone to the Salazar school of coaching, perhaps he wouldn't have fallen at the final hurdle (I'm joking....Hey, stop it, stop it right now!).
All jokes aside, the fact that he smashed his own record, despite falling in the final straight, is something he should be proud of. Sadly, I suspect all he's currently thinking about is his wounded pride, in addition to the precious points that his fall cost him.
Jager may well prove to be an athlete who begins challenge the dominant names of the 3000m steeplechase, although only time will tell.
Agree with the sentiment, though I think I see it as someone challenging the overwhelming East African dominance rather than specifically singling it out as a white v black issue. It wouldn't really matter to me whether it was a white or black American, Brit, Asian or indeed Martian that was doing it, but I do find it makes the Diamond League as a spectacle less appealing when you look down the start list of the track endurance events to seemingly find that anything up three-quarters of the competitors are either Kenyan or Ethiopian! Moreover, the Kenyan men in particular seem to share a relatively small pool of names as I'm convinced we have different flavours of the likes of Koech, Cheruiyot and Mutai et al on rotation at different races, and most of the rest are something like Kiprop, Kipruto or Kiplagat. Confuses the hell out of me!
Any road, that steeplechase on Saturday was indeed a cracker. Great run from Jager, that reminded me of Laura Muir's 1500m (at Oslo I think?) in an earlier meeting, albeit with an even more dramatic denouement. I hope they both have the guts to try something similar at Beijing next month as it's probably their best chance of challenging for a medal.