K. Bekele's 5000m PR Progression 1999-2009

irun wrote:

2009 12:52.32 Zürich 28/08/2009

2008 12:50.18 Zürich 29/08/2008

2007 12:49.53 Zaragoza 28/07/2007

2006 12:48.09 Bruxelles 25/08/2006

2005 12:40.18 Paris Saint-Denis 01/07/2005

2004 12:37.35 Hengelo 31/05/2004

2003 12:52.26 Oslo 27/06/2003

2002 13:26.58 Milano 05/06/2002

2001 13:13.33 Sevilla 08/06/2001

2000 13:20.57 Rieti 03/09/2000

When Bekele was 18, he ran 13:20

When Bekele was 19, he ran 13:13

When Bekele was 20, he ran 13:26

When Bekele was 21, he ran 12:52

What happened in Bekele's life between 2002 and 2003? I'm not implying anything suspect, because obviously runner's sometimes have huge drops in PR. Tegenkamp went from 13:25 to 13:05 in one year, Ritzenhein went from 13:16 to 12:56 in one year, and Rupp went from 13:30 to 13:18i in one year.

Bekele went 7:30.67 in 2001....there's your answer. He was a sub 13 guy in 2001, just hadn't done it. Just because someone has a pr, doesn't mean it's reflective of their ability or even close to it. Obviously going 7:30 indicates much faster than he had run.

Well I can't be sure but judging from the fact that he won world xc in 2002, he probably got hurt in the late spring or early summer of that year. By this reasoning it seems the really big jump was in 2001 to 2002, but it doesnt seem as tall an order since it really took him 2 years to go form 13:13 to 12:52. Of course its just a guess that he may have been injured/sick sometime in 2002.

I understand that, but he still never ran a comparable time at 5k until 2003. So if Bekele was a sub 13 guy in 2001, why did it take 2 years to run sub 13? obviously he could get into fast 3k races, why not any fast 5k races?

Maybe its becaue the federation didn't allow him to compete in any 5k races.

spot on!

irun wrote:

I understand that, but he still never ran a comparable time at 5k until 2003. So if Bekele was a sub 13 guy in 2001, why did it take 2 years to run sub 13? obviously he could get into fast 3k races, why not any fast 5k races?

He was hurt in summer '02. That 13:20 was the only track race he ran that year besides the Eth champs. He ran a 13:07 5k split in an ekiden in November after coming back. His WXC double shows he probably could have gone sub-13 in '02.

How can you not remember Bekele's season ending Achilles injury in 2002?

you are correct!!! ... Bekele was injured in the spring of 02.

on the runs wrote:

How can you not remember Bekele's season ending Achilles injury in 2002?

well, it looks like irun got you guys to bite and defend Bekele.....doesn't feel good does it?

ok, so your little implied thesis (don't be suspicious of Ritz's giant improvement if you are not going to suspect Bekele) just got destroyed by several posters.

Got anything better?

Didn't think so.

German Muenster wrote:

ok, so your little implied thesis (don't be suspicious of Ritz's giant improvement if you are not going to suspect Bekele) just got destroyed by several posters.

Got anything better?

Didn't think so.

no it didnt...

bekele still went from being a 13:20 guy to a 7:30 guy in one year

still applies

are you kidding when you looked at this his 02-03 looked suspicious? What about the following year from 03-04 that is a huge drop at 22 years old especially since he had been on the top of the world already. What happened that year it took him 4 years to drop 28 seconds then he drops 15 seconds in one year and flattens out after that?

Long Run wrote:

are you kidding when you looked at this his 02-03 looked suspicious? What about the following year from 03-04 that is a huge drop at 22 years old especially since he had been on the top of the world already. What happened that year it took him 4 years to drop 28 seconds then he drops 15 seconds in one year and flattens out after that?

By that reasoning he should be running 12:00.

I'm sure he could have run no faster than 12:52 in 2003. Especially considering that he ran 12:57 for the final 5000m at the World Championships.

You have answered your own question:

When Bekele was 18, he ran 13:20 2000

When Bekele was 21, he ran 12:52 2003

+'What happened in Bekele's life between 2002 and 2003?'

2001 ran 7:30 3km + 2nd world cross short

He missed a great part of the 2002 track season through an Achilles injury (aged 20)

Check you facts properly