The tactics at championship distance races are often very different from the tactics you will see at a non-championship race. At championship races the goal is to win the race. The time is secondary.
It is rare that you see someone lead a distance championship race from the very beginning and they stay in front to win the race. This usually happens only when the person leading is far superior to all the others in the field.
A common championship race strategy is to let someone else lead and to try to kick by them for the win late in the race (this tactic is known as “sit and kick”). The faster your kick, the more this strategy will work for you. However, the problem with this tactic is that as the level of competition goes up, everyone thinks they have the best kick. If you watch the NCAA men’s 800 final on Friday, June 11 (5:40 P.M. west coast time with free streaming video from CBS Sports and NCAA TV) look for Oregon’s Andrew Wheating and Virginia’s Robby Andrews. Both have outstanding kicks so I expect you will see both sit back early in the race and then there will be a big kick at the finish. Wheating himself said, “it’s definitely going to be a case of who’s got the mightier kick.”
To read the rest of Andy's post on his blog, go to the following link:
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