Is 7:32- 3000m man- SERGIO SANCHEZ (Esp) the Real Deal?

deanouk

RE: Is 7:32- 3000m man- SERGIO SANCHEZ (Esp) the Real Deal? 2/14/2010 7:53AM - in reply to the reality of it

the reality of it wrote:

When he was 20ish he ran 3:44 for 1500m, outdoors.

Now when he is 28ish he runs 3000m at about that pace, indoors.

I mean, it is possible. Big improvements don't always signal drug use. But if it came out that he was dirty it would not shock me in the least. Spainiards/Italians are right behind Morrocans on the most suspected drug users list.

I agree that his progression at that age does look suspicious, but there have been many others who made breakthroughs later in their 20's. Lagat, for example had a 1500m pb of 3:37 at 23 and a 5000 pb of 13:19 at 27. He didn't break 13:00 until his 30's. So some athletes do mature late.

It's ironic that we laud over some athletes (including Moroccans) despite what appears to be happening around them, yet are quick to condone others, usually depending on nationality. Surely we should give this guy the benefit of the doubt at this very early stage of the season. I confess to know nothing about him. We can all look at his progression lists on IAAF, but that doesn't really tell us about what he's been doing training wise the last 5 years. Perhaps he's had loads of injury problems, suffered with mono, not trained seriously! Who knows. Just because he's Spanish rather than American or Kenyan, why should that mean he's dodgy? If he is, then if we believe the words of Ventolin and others from their past posts, then the out of season testing programmes are so robust, that he will surely get caught very soon!

If you actually look at the race and note the splits, it was actually a pretty economic performance. By stating just the last 1k as being 2:26 out of context, then obviously it looks startling. But if you take the 400m splits (the 200m splits I have but will take too long), there's only a 2.4 differential between the fastest and slowest "laps (400m)" until the last 600m, when one would expect him to speed up.

- 60.8. 60.7, (2:32.5), 61.9, 61.4, 61.6 (5:06.4) 59.5, 59.0 & 27.5

If he'd had 5:00 at 2000m he wouldn't have had the energy to run a 27.* last 200m and would probably have run 7:30. That means he's in 7:30 shape, and doesn't mean he could run 7:23 outdoors right now. I don't know where these conversions come from, but the standard of the tracks indoors and the lack of any unconducive weather conditions, would suggest that he isn't going to be 6 seconds faster on an outdoor track. He should, of course, be able to run faster outdoors by the summer season, given the training he should get in by then. That isn't a given either, since he may get injured or reached a peak early on purpose.

Many people on here moan about the lack of white American or European runners that could threaten the domination of the Africans; which let's face it, is getting somewhat tedious. So then along someone comes and before we even give him a chance, he's universally attacked for being on something.
We can't have it both ways. I know that many would like to see a nice American kid, with prodigious talent at college, gradually emerge with a uniformal rate of progression through his early 20's, and emerge to defeat the Kenyans/Ethiopians at the Olympics and herald a new era of dominance. This is an idealistic fantasy which may, but more likely, will not happen. We should take what talent emerges (clean of course) and run with it (pardon the pun)

You guys may be right about Sanchez, but I think he is owed the chance to prove himself.

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