Bobby Kersee Breaks Down Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone 400mH Race, Talks Athing Mu and Racing in Europe 

And ALLYSON FELIX!!!

@@SR-oj9im Thanks you're right I forgot😀

Hopefully, S. Richardson switches to him

Not during the 1988 season.

He coached his wife too.

No, he did not coach Florrence. Get your facts straight!

@totallyraw1313 He did coach her in college and for a little while after along with another coach until she decided on a new coach.

​@@totallyraw1313he coached his wife . Al Joyner the long jumper I think coached Flo Jo his sister was married to him I think that how I remember

Lol why? His athletes wouldn’t run in it anyway 🤷🏾‍♂️

I think the 200m WR would not be attainable for her. The 400m WR is an insane time run by an incredibly gifted athlete (Koch) who was also probably very very very enhanced! Koch was so good she was beating everyone by 20, 50, 100m and most of those were on PEDs! I'm not sure how you expect a clean SM to beat that time?!!

Marita Koch and other members of the East Germany Track team were unfortunately under suspicion of performance enhancing substances. There is a possibility for Sydney.

​@JP-fd4vf I can agree with your statement on 200M. She doesn't seem to have the leg speed for that. However, the 400M is definitely attainable for her as most 400M Hurdle runners have the strength of an 800m runner. Many 800M runners also have excellent sprint speed too. Either Athing Mu or Sydney could break that 400M record technically.

@@delariorobinson2316 I think the one thing in her favour for the 400m is the progression in running shoes and training techniques which might bridge the PED gap. But, I still think it may be a little too fast even for her.

@@bassman777 It will be interesting to see in the next few years if she focuses on the 400m fully.

Athletes usually have contractual arrangements that mean they have to run certain races to promote their sponsor but many love racing and choose to race a lot more. If this was the norm it would be end of T&F as a spectator sport.

@@NelleBligh333 this is not going to be the norm because, as you correctly stated, athletes a) have to run because of sponsorships and b) they love to compete. If one coach does this, it's no biggie.

Peak in Paris…

Athing ran a full indoor and outdoor season full of meets and won the Olympics that year... Now since she's been with Bobby she never runs and got rolled last year at worlds by girls that she's better than because she wasn't sharp

Is she hurt?

@@thefamilyman9628yep, hamstring. That’s why she pulled out of Pre

I didn’t know they’ve criticized him, but I don’t like how they constantly accuse his high level runners of cheating. It gets tiring for us, so I imagine he has to shut out the noise too! The man knows how to cultivate champions, and all his runners are nice, quiet and intelligent!!

@@marjorjorietillman856 Criticizing his runners as cheats is the same as saying he can’t coach them, he simply drugs them..

@@noworries2432 if you follow the sport's business side, you understand the debate. But in short, the old commercial model had athletes making most of their income and thus influence from non sports revenue, like the Wheaties box or Orange juice or some other product. The cache was in the Olympic gold 🏅 and everyone else that made up the sport the other years, just struggled. An alternative model is to see the Olympics as another stop on the path in a full track career. This can translate to racing more often in a league format where all athletes share the wealth along with the winners getting all they deserve. The problem currently is that most track fans are occasional fans who show up for the hype of world records and Olympic medals. Can some of those fans and by extension occasional sponsors be brought into the sport more regularly? Track costs a lot to keep viable. Colleges are cutting their programs left and right to balance their budgets. If there is no major pro league here in the USA that's at the level of the Diamond League(ATL is not large "yet"), pays athletes well, provides top medical coverage for the nature of injuries athletes face (MRI machines at training centers like Flagstaff, etc), and supports athletes a lot more than is currently happening on average. Athletes can't keep absorbing the cost while being ignored by fans unless they have a gold medal. Kearse's stars deserve their flowers for the achievements and eyeballs they bring to the sport, but are they track fans that can be kept with track? And how do we encourage that? Showing up in non Olympic years becomes important to that larger cause. I'm interested in what's good for the sport over time. Stars come and go. As a viewing or paying fan, you get to have your say. I attend 4 - 5 track events a year (most recent was 2 weeks ago at Prefontaine Classic with the family). Some people buy shoes or other sponsor products. But none of it specifically funds a future for track. If you have gotten this far you also know that most viewing of track is behind a pay wall that's not realistic on Flotrack or USATF partners. Anyway, many people are fans of the people not the sport first and foremost which is also a good thing and reality.

The track bosses need to line up a TV deal so that we can see the athletes live with these meets. It's an olympic year and we can only catch these meets on replay or 2 hour after videos. Coach Kersee has to protect and keep these athletes healthy, especially during an Olympic year. He's the best when it comes to training world class athletes to reach even deeper to go even faster. Can't wait for the Olympics coming up.

Her fastest opener is 53.13 so expecting sub 52 is a bit much my guy. I see more of 52.5

@Quam: It doesn’t matter what she does. No need to obsess over each race. The big stage is Paris. Runners will hold back and not run 110% until then. Sydney is the defending champion and current world record holder.

​​@@forevergoated99953.13 was her first ever race with 14 strides last year and that was only a race to try the new pattern. Then one week later she already ran 52.4

@BCNpod Exactly! You can tell when someone never runs track. It's all about strategy to have more in the tank for the big race.

53.07

Seems like appearance fee but also to scope out the cities where the big meets will be held in the following year. In 2022 the only place outside the US she competed was Budapest ahead of the 2023 World Championships in the same stadium. In 2023 the only place outside the US was Paris ahead of the 2024 Olympics there. She goes to scout out the cities and also get paid for helping them market the big events coming the next year. Apart from the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, the last time she competed outside the US was in 2019 when she really took part in the Diamond League circuit.

She doesn’t have a competitive trials to get through in order to make the team. She is the team.

We love Paulino, but your post has nothing to do with this video. Bob is the coach of Sydney. The interviewer is only interested in those two people. That’s it. Please RU-vid search Paulino if you are a fan of Paulino

@@BCNpod I understand, but my comment is related to the interview in pointing out that other top athletes (like Paulino and others) travel to DL meets regularly even though they have to tend with long travel times/jet lag etc.. but despite this they still win at major championships. I don't understand the argument that Kersee is making that he needs to rest SM to keep her in prime form for Paris. This doesn't seem necessary to me given the schedule and performances of other top athletes. Now, he clearly knows SM better than we do, so it may be that she is more susceptible to catching a cold etc if she travels therefore he prefers to stay at home and avoid this.

@@nicolecooper1569 Fair point, but there are plenty other top athletes who travel long distances to compete (from Kenya, Ethiopia, Asia). SM is an outlier on this.

Leave this one alone y’all. He’s going to poke and probe and won’t be satisfied until he’s satisfied lol. It may take the rest of his life lol.

He isn't just referring to the diamond league meets. Most of the professional running meets are in Europe. It's called the European circuit. As time goes alot more Americans if not already will follow this plan, and USA will start providing more meets for the athletes to stay home.

To be honest I thought Kersey was sounding like he was getting defensive. In truth I'm not sure his argument about having his athletes only run in the US, which for his top 2 athletes in Sydney and Keni, basically means only one race so far leading up to the trials. Plus most of the other contender in events other than the women's 100m hurdles, haven't really ran that much anyway whether overseas, in the US, or a combination of all. Someone like Sydney, who basically only has "maybe" one serious challenger in Bol, can afford to do that. Someone like Keni, who's event easily can run over 10 contenders on any given day, probably can't. Plus athletes have been successfully competing overseas with fairly good to great results. Sure it probably sets some back, but in the end, they all end up doing it in some fashion. US athletes eventually go overseas if they are true contenders, and Europeans the vice versa. And like you say, how can you expect to really grow the sport, when athletes and coaches are always refusing to compete here and there.

He didn't say they never leave Europe.

@@artdogg50 I think the overwhelming majority of athletes and coaches are OK with travelling and competing elsewhere. I believe Bobby is a minority in this belief (hence the defensiveness). So I don't worry about the sport not growing because a few top athletes aren't present at the European circuit.

Is it just me? As talented as his top athletes are, I don’t relate to them. I don’t see them much and tend to back those athletes I see more often and relate to their journey. Some people are star struck for getting to see an athlete once or twice before a major event. The rest of us invest in and follow athletes we see more often.

Introverted?

@@alexarihani2902 😂😂😂

I would say that for mu...it's inconsistent with her. Sydney is in her best form and no one is better than her. Bol is not #1. As for mu, I'd agree. U just never know with her

I believe Athing's issues had more to do with turning pro and the demands that came with it. Being successful so early, it seemed she wanted more outside of track. I listened to a couple of her interviews last year and she emphasized how she needed to listen to Bobby more.

Bol is definitely not #1. She hasn't even topped a race with Sydney in it. She's getting better, but not #1

@@shonp3761You’re basically right, but remember that Sydney has only run a single race faster than Bol’s PB.

@@berndtherrenvolk1951 her PB is 51.45 outdoor. Which is #3 I believe (she's the 2nd fastest women, not the 2nd fastest time). Both 1 & 2 are above that and they are both the same person (Mclaughlin). It will definitely be on heck of a race