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> 灰二：惜しかったな。
>
> 神童：中盤で様子を見すぎました。 **もっと早く仕掛けられた** 。僕はスプリントで勝負できるタイプじゃないということがよく分かりましたよ。
>
> 灰二： **言ってることが陸上選手だ** 。

These two sentences both feel incomplete, leaving things out in ways
unfamiliar to me. I understand もっと早く仕掛けられた to mean もっと早く仕掛けられたらよかった or
もっと早く仕掛けられたはずだけど. How should I understand this?

I also find 言ってることが陸上選手だ kind of wanting. I think I have seen/heard things
like 言ってることが陸上選手みたいだ/陸上選手っぽい/陸上選手と同じだ
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question
colloquial-language ellipsis
「もっと早く仕掛けられた」「言ってることが陸上選手だ」
In this case "もっと早く仕掛けられた" means much the same thing as "もっと早く仕掛けられたはずだ" ('I
_could have_ moved in sooner'). Even though it lacks an irrealis marker like
"たら" or "はず", the context makes it clear that it is in counter-factual mood.
Perhaps the comparative "もっと早く" may give the listener an extra lead in the
beginning by hinting at the implicit "than I (actually) did". (Though, of
course, comparisons can be with other things than the reality.)

"言ってることが陸上選手だ" means pretty much what you are thinking too. The speaker is
comparing the other person to a thing which he is not (I assume), but without
any simile marker. It is a quite common occurrence.

For example, seeing someone who I know is not a Japanese but speaks and acts
very much the Japanese way, I might say "日本人じゃん！" instead of "日本人みたい！". Or
take a conversation like this: A「あぁ、腰が痛くて歩けない」B「おじいちゃんじゃん」. (I'm not sure if
these can be explained as simply the distinction between simile and metaphor
or not.) I guess without dilutive stuff like "みたい", "ようだ" and "っぽい" your
statement packs more of a punch as a quip.
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answer