For sure the eliterunners of today have enhanched the technical ol part due to sprint/middle distances. How would you describe your difference in mental and tactical mode when entering start gate in a shorter race?
Well, in fact, there is not huge differences. The warm-up tends to be a bit longer and more intense. But the most important is to prepare mentally for the scale difference, and the unusual traps (fences, etc), which basically means higher map reading frequency at the very beginning of the race. But you should better ask a sprint-specialist... ; )