Bolt vs Bekele in a 600m

wellnow wrote:

Bekele never ran 200m in 24 and 100 in 11xx, in Lausanne, it never happened. And what is 11xx anyway but a statement of stupididity and incompetence.

You guys don't understand how Bekele races he can add a super fast sprint (by his standards)at the end of a race, because that is what he practices. But he isn't as fast as you imagine.

Yes, his incredible speed is partly an optical illusion stemming from his tiny stature. Bolt would look super slow running a 50sec quarter.

I also think they'll tie.

Splits

Bolt: 23, 24, 29 = 1:16

Bekele: 25low, 25low, 25low = 1:16

At the finish they hi-five, bolt lies down on the infield feeling terrible for a little while, bekele jogs around waving to the crowd.

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzSpPaCIG0g

Well I don't know about Bekele I'm sure he can run a solid 48 or 49 because he can run a good mile... but a cooler thought ( although it couldn't happen) would be El Guerrouj in his prime vs. Bolt at 600 meters... even if Bolt trains, it's all El Guerrouj in my mind.

Does anyone think that Wilson Kipketer could beat either or both of these guys. He seems perfectly suited for the distance. I saw that in his indoor 800 WR he went through 600 in 1:16.47. Noah Ngeny went through in around the same time in his 2:11.96 1k WR. Finally Jeremy Wariner may be the best suited for the distance. I think MJ might be able to run under 1:12 if he trained specifically for the event during his 43flat days. I was curious who people thought could have run the absolute fastest ever had they trained specifically for it. And what would be the time. I say MJ at 1:11 flat.

Dwex wrote:

Does anyone think that Wilson Kipketer could beat either or both of these guys.

... Kipketer, the world record holder at 800m could definitely beat the 200m world record holder and the 5000m world record holder over 600m. Bear in mind if we are assuming Bekele has 50.X speed.. that's like Kipketers 800m pace.

wellnow wrote:

I've never seen Bekele run faster than 12.5 for any 100m section of any race.

I put him at 51 for 400

Pretty sure even near-elite high school boys can run 51 sec for an open 400m and they have nowhere near the amount of speed endurance and aerobic conditioning as Bekele.

I would think KB would be capable of something in the 46/47s.

However, I think you guys underestimate Bolt. 600m, though far for a typical 100/200 guy, would not pose a problem to Bolt - who actually IS NOT a typical short sprinter, obviously...

You are officially an idiot if you think Bekele's top speed is 50sec/400m. I coached high school boys who could run sub 50 in an open 400 and also ran 4:20/9:20 for the mile/2mile. For the WR holder at 5k/10k... 50sec @ 400m is a hard effort but absolutely NOT top speed.

Bekele closed the bejiing 10k in 1:53 for 800 meters. i think it's safe to assume he can go under 1:50, and well under 50 for 400 meters. i would say that 48.0 open is certainly a reasonable expectation.

in a 600, i don't think he would come through much off of that. and he would not be tying up as badly as bolt.

that is of course assuming that bolt ties up at all. honestly, i don't think the man is mentally fit enough to run the 600 meter his body is capable. physically, there is no doubt in my mind that if he trained for it, bolt would beat bekele - like someone mentioned it is simply too close to his primary distances. but look at bolt's past - the guy has mentioned how ridiculously hard the 400 is, the most painful thing he's done, and he is running much better times in the 100/200...honestly i don't think he's learned how to run it mentally

T&F is a phony sport. Ramzi has been caught. Willis, Symmonds, Dawn Harper, Rupp, Shawn Crawford, Shannon Rowbury, Kerron Clement, Usain Bolt, Kara Goucher, Ritz, Ryan Hall, Jeremy Warriner, you name them, might be dirty too. There's no tests to prove that they are not taking synthetic PEDs. The testers never caught drug cheats Marion Jones nor Lance Armstrong either. T&F is in deep shit now.

Check out the new thread & read Johnson's opinion!!!

Check out the new thread & read Johnson's opinion!!!

Haile G could only muster a 50flat..no matter how fast he ran. And Kenny B is much faster than him, i wouldnt put him past a 48 or so, but even in a race against Bolt...Kenny B could hold on alot stronger than Bolt could. Kenny knows the feeling of over 400m...Bolt doesnt.

bolt has run 600s in training. not sure if he's time trialed the distance but probably.

if you think of bolt only as a 100 guy it's hard to find examples though xavier carter, wallace spearmon and a few others come to mind, but if you include his 200 speed and his 400 time then he probably runs sub 1:50. a lot of college 400 guys who don't run nearly as fast as bolt at 400 open seasons with 800s and run right at 1:50s, ask the LSU or Baylor guys sometime, they don't seem to enjoy it but it gets done

BEKELE:

FACTS:

Bekele slows from his 10000m pace to his 5000 pace by 3 seconds/lap. (63.2-60.5)

Bekele slows from his 5000 pace to his 1500 pace by 4 seconds/lap. (60.5-56.5)

CONJECTURE:

He would probably slow from his 1500 pace to his 800m pace by 3-4 seconds/lap.

That would give him an 800m pace of 52.5-53.5, not unlike what he closes 10000m races at.

He would probably slow from his 800 pace to his 400m pace by 3-4 seconds/lap.

That would give him a 400m race at around 49-50 seconds, about the same as Haile could do (Jos Hermans said Haile did 49.9)

BOLT:

FACTS:

100m pr 9.69

200m pr 19.30 seconds wind -.7

400m pr 45.28 (45.3 as a 16 year old)

CONJECTURE:

Capable of 43.high in the 400m based on 45.3 as a junior, lack of tries at the event and vast improvements in the 200m since then.

Could run a 400m of 600m at 47-48 lap pace. THe next 200m could be anywhere from 24-30 based on aerobic fitness-which is the biggest question. I have no doubt that Usain takes this if he has time to train for it, but if not he probably crashes and burns from 400-600m as his leg turn to jelly and he churns out a 28+ second 200m-it would be a very strange sight to see usain struggling to run at that pace!

That is what makes this question such an interesting one. We know Bekeles speed (not 46, idiots!) due to his other prs and what they converge to. And we know he has phenominal endurance. Bekele could probably run right around 1:16-1:17, with very little margin for error. He sure as hell isn't going sub 1:15, but he could run 1:20 any day of the week.

Bolt is a different matter. We know he has 100/200m speed and can run a solid 400m, but speed only takes you so far. After 400m, you need aerobic endurance, and there is no way of telling how much of that Usain has. He could have a large heart and lungs, or he could have somewhat pathetic lungs and heart. There is no way of knowing based off of his 100-200m times. So Bolt has a great margin of error. I say he could run anywhere from 1:13-1:20, based mostly on how he holds together in the last 200m.

Anyone who says they know 100% who would win is biased towards either sprinting or distance running and is probably an idiot as well. There is just no way of knowing what kind of time Usain could run, because no one knows how good of endurance he has. That is why it is such a good question.

No idea who would win between Bolt or Bekele. We don't know Bekele's top 400 speed, and I don't know how different, physiologically, a 600 would be compared to a 400 at that level.

But as for El G or Kipketer vs. Bolt or Bekele... are you kidding me? El G or Kipketer would DESTROY either one of them in a 600. The 800 world record holder and a guy that closed 1500s in 1:46... not even close.

We do know Bekele's top speed, he has demonstrated it many times it is 8 meters per second, however what you see looks much faster becasue he is so small, thus his top speed is much much slower than most posters realize.

This thread has its answer:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/6117774/Kenenisa-Bekele-is-the-Usain-Bolt-of-distance-running.html