I saw it coming with Merritt in for gold, while Jeremy Wariner took silver. I wonder what Wariner’s splits were like, the last 100m really didnt look good with maybe some slippage in form for him.
Also good leap from Neville, putting him in third place.
I think a lot of Wariners issue today may have come down to coaching. I know he’s supposedly using similar workouts if not the same as what he was using under Hart, but it seems clear that there is some entangibles there that Hart has vs. other coaches. I’ve noticed whether college or elite level, Harts runners were always at their best championship time. Wariner this year just didn’t seem to have that invinsibility to him and that came when Merritt beat him and showed that he was human. But I also think that Merritt was the first to truly believe that he could beat him in every aspect of the race. Raw speed, strength, confidence, etc. 1, 2, 3 is sweet, but I have been disappoined with the performances of the US.
Yeah I saw it too. Merritt looked MUCH better in his SF. I wonder if Wariner will still insist that the coaching move was for the best. With a loss of this magnitude and still being relatively early in his career you think he might want to consider eating a little humble pie and going back to Hart.
I actually don’t think his problem is so much fitness related as it is confidence and execution. These two things seemed to cost him in the area of consistency. The guy used to be automatic. Now, it looks like there’s doubt in his mind now when he steps to the line and he doesn’t execute the standard Hart race model very well anymore. The fact that he has run the fastest time of the year and until recently was actually faster than he had been in previous years at the same point indicates that the fitness was there…just not the consistency.
On a related note, it looks like the U.S. specializes in the men’s oval races. With only a few exceptions the men’s 400m and 400H have been our only bright spots.
Merritt on the inside spells disaster for Wariner.
With the lane controversy earlier this year, and now Jeremy losing again to Merritt on the inside, it shows that Jeremy is completely afraid of him if he can’t see him.
Merritt on the other hand has a better 200 PR and could match Wariners first 200 while staying much more relaxed it seemed. Damn fine race for Merritt.
I just watched the race and through 200m Wariner was in great position. From 200m to 300m Wariner did not accel that corner which is a staple strategy and when he saw Merritt he got tighter and tighter and tighter and looked as though he gave up. He ran 44.12 shutting down in the semis and looked pretty good. I think it’s in his head. Someone beat him, got in his head and now when he’s a tough race he can’t dig deep enough to respond to a challenge.
I am with drive on this one, Merritt is in Wariner’s head and he has lost focus on his own race. It is not a coaching issue. Wariner can’t run with Merritt on his inside. It is equal to Asafa getting 5th in the finals when he should have coasted to 2nd. We didn’t blame that on his coach.
Coaching is about preparing an athlete to execute and preparing that athlete mentally. Wariner and Hart had excellent feedback and cueing, that resulted in great consistency. Coach Ford knows the workouts and how to keep Wariner fit but cannot keep him consistent like Hart had him, and Wariner is always discussing a different race model after each race that doesn’t fit the prior race’s execution and that didn’t happen under Hart. Therefore it’s a coaching issue as well as it seems Coach Ford is overcoaching Wariner. I actually find this to be a common theme among coaches who are former athletes without any training in motor learning and development and motor control and biomechanics. Talented athletes underperform in certain instances when overloaded with cues and race specifics that actually bring them away from the race model. I am not saying Wariner would have beaten Merritt under Hart, but it would have been close. The only place Wariner would have seen Merritt under Hart is coming into the homestretch or in the homestretch.
As Vern would say “Any fool can make another fool tired.“
I am with drive on this one, Merritt is in Wariner’s head and he has lost focus on his own race. It is not a coaching issue. Wariner can’t run with Merritt on his inside. It is equal to Asafa getting 5th in the finals when he should have coasted to 2nd. We didn’t blame that on his coach.
I think Powell has shown he has been wildly inconsistent after 3 rounds of 100m. Which is the total opposite of what Wariner has done. If an athlete doesn’t execute like they should have then at least part of, if not all the blame should go to the coach.
Coaching is about preparing an athlete to execute and preparing that athlete mentally. Wariner and Hart had excellent feedback and cueing, that resulted in great consistency. Coach Ford knows the workouts and how to keep Wariner fit but cannot keep him consistent like Hart had him, and Wariner is always discussing a different race model after each race that doesn’t fit the prior race’s execution and that didn’t happen under Hart. Therefore it’s a coaching issue as well as it seems Coach Ford is overcoaching Wariner. I actually find this to be a common theme among coaches who are former athletes without any training in motor learning and development and motor control and biomechanics. Talented athletes underperform in certain instances when overloaded with cues and race specifics that actually bring them away from the race model. I am not saying Wariner would have beaten Merritt under Hart, but it would have been close. The only place Wariner would have seen Merritt under Hart is coming into the homestretch or in the homestretch.
As Vern would say “Any fool can make another fool tired.“
Nice post. I’ve observed the same things (in my bold).
Coaching is about preparing an athlete to execute and preparing that athlete mentally. Wariner and Hart had excellent feedback and cueing, that resulted in great consistency. Coach Ford knows the workouts and how to keep Wariner fit but cannot keep him consistent like Hart had him, and Wariner is always discussing a different race model after each race that doesn’t fit the prior race’s execution and that didn’t happen under Hart. Therefore it’s a coaching issue as well as it seems Coach Ford is overcoaching Wariner. I actually find this to be a common theme among coaches who are former athletes without any training in motor learning and development and motor control and biomechanics. Talented athletes underperform in certain instances when overloaded with cues and race specifics that actually bring them away from the race model. I am not saying Wariner would have beaten Merritt under Hart, but it would have been close. The only place Wariner would have seen Merritt under Hart is coming into the homestretch or in the homestretch.
As Vern would say “Any fool can make another fool tired.“
Ford may know the workouts. Hell, I know the workouts, but Hart would do a better job because of his experience and ability to help an athlete prepare. I think Coach Hart has the “it” factor going for him. I think anyone on this entire board would agree that if they had the best coach in the world in their specific event they would have a level of self confidence in everything the coach would say how they prepare for specific races and how to execute it. I know that would be the case with me.
But did the public scrutiny and second-thoughts on switching that he must have had have anything to do with his decreased confidence?
I think if you eliminate Merritt out of the equation, we don’t need to debate Wariner. Merritt came in and got in his head along with the coaching change. Look at JW’s semi - cruised the 44 point. He lacked confidence over Merritt, something that even Coach Hart might not have been able to fix.
I watched a similar thing happen to Andrew Rock as a frosh and soph in college. He was the far superior runner but Ben got the inside of him and got in his head.
I am with drive on this one, Merritt is in Wariner’s head and he has lost focus on his own race. It is not a coaching issue. Wariner can’t run with Merritt on his inside. It is equal to Asafa getting 5th in the finals when he should have coasted to 2nd. We didn’t blame that on his coach.
I think Powell has shown he has been wildly inconsistent after 3 rounds of 100m. Which is the total opposite of what Wariner has done. If an athlete doesn’t execute like they should have then at least part of, if not all the blame should go to the coach.
Do you blame a kicker’s coach on a missed field goal? Do you blame the coach when a b-ball player misses a free throw? At some point the athlete is responsible. Otherwise the everything would happen according to the plan and execution would NEVER be an issue.
But did the public scrutiny and second-thoughts on switching that he must have had have anything to do with his decreased confidence?
I think if you eliminate Merritt out of the equation, we don’t need to debate Wariner. Merritt came in and got in his head along with the coaching change. Look at JW’s semi - cruised the 44 point. He lacked confidence over Merritt, something that even Coach Hart might not have been able to fix.
I watched a similar thing happen to Andrew Rock as a frosh and soph in college. He was the far superior runner but Ben got the inside of him and got in his head.
Ben Dreyer wasn’t in Rock’s head, trust me. Both of his years he did not run good races. He didn’t run a very good strategy. He had no problem with him indoor so he was not in his.
