Patience, a white cap, and a sustained increase in pace over the final kilometre saw Ky Robinson comfortably win the 10000m in Glasgow.
None of it was particularly flashy.
“Flair,” legendary hockey coach Ric Charlesworth would say, “is an overrated commodity.” Ky Robinson didn’t need it on his way to victory over 10000m in Glasgow, and that was perhaps the most fitting display of his absolute class.
None of that is criticism. Just professionalism. Right down to the last minute choice to wear a plain white cap.
“Five minutes before we came out, I got the cap from the coach and it kept the rain out of the eyes, which was very nice,” he told Seven after the race.
“I run in a cap sometimes, but never really in the rain and never in the cold, so it was a bit new.”
The 24-year-old ran patiently in a race where nobody really wanted to do much. He had a grin on his face as a Scottish competitor surged to the lead in the second half, giving the pack a bit of a verbal spray at the tame pace.
Good things come to those who wait. And Robinson waited. And waited. The first half was covered in 14:16. The second half, 13:33, for a 27:48.93 winning time. Fast in the second half, but not that fast. Likewise there was no explosion of pace with a 2:28 final kilometre and 55.9 second final lap creditable, but not sensational, off the slow pace.
But the stats can miss the point. Robinson was always in control every 200m segment of that final kilometre was faster than the previous, wearing down the remaining field until only India’s Gulveer Singh and the Isle of Man’s David Mullarkey could follow. No flair, just getting it done. It was almost a second victory for Robinson in the end, with half a second between the minor medallists on an unlikely podium.
Robinson was quite simply ready, in form after Australian records over both 5000m and 10000m in the lead in to Glasgow.
“I was talking with a guy from the Seychelles, and he was complaining about the weather because he’s like, “It’s usually so hot where I’m from.”” Robinson told Channel 7 after the race.
“And I’m like, well, we can we can get some pretty bad downpours in Brisbane, and in the US where I’m training now, there’s a lot of snow in the winter, so I can go through a bit of adversity and it worked out today.”
It certainly did work out, with one of the most consummate displays of distance running control that you’d ever see. He’ll line up again, on the final day of the meet, in the 5000m, hoping to replicate the success.
