YOMIF KEJELCHA JOINS NIKE OREGON PROJECT

I kind of got the vibe that Centro was on his way out of NOP (re the posts that this might help Centro training partner wise). No?

Shahjdksksjsjs wrote:

PrZ wrote:

I don’t mean to sound stereotypical or anything, but does he even speak English? I’ve seen a bunch of interviews from him with a translator but I’ve never heard him speak a word of English. However, this is an interesting move. Dude’s run 3:32, 7:28 and 12:53, so Jenkins and even Centro will probably benefit from having him around. He’s got monster range.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AMjvxFNDIJ8

Wow, that guy is a marketing nightmare.

I had hoped Jenkins/Cheserek would be the next Galen/Mo training couple, but maybe we can at least get something like Jenkins/Kejelcha. It could be that Nike is betting big on giving somebody a training partner. The goal is to help American talent, but I'm sure Nike is pleased with how the Galen/Mo thing went.

NOProblem wrote:

PrZ wrote:

I don’t mean to sound stereotypical or anything, but does he even speak English? I’ve seen a bunch of interviews from him with a translator but I’ve never heard him speak a word of English. However, this is an interesting move. Dude’s run 3:32, 7:28 and 12:53, so Jenkins and even Centro will probably benefit from having him around. He’s got monster range.

Was thinking the same but just realized that Sifan Hassan also speaks Afaan Oromo, the language that Kejelcha speaks.

How about Soguru Osako?

experienced eye indicates to me his line of fit at his peak was

~ 50.50 / 1'47.00

->

3'30.83

4'47.33

7'24.16

12'47.89

26'50.79

albeit he's never run a 10k

my feeling is that Sal, training him like mo with plenty of weight-training to beef up that stick-insectness can get him within year or 2 to

~ 50.00 / 1'46.00

->

3'28.95

4'44.83

7'20.41

12'41.64

26'38.29

he will certainly have very good shot at 3k WR but will likely be well outside the 5k,but Sal might tighten up the endurance to get him under 12'40 at expense of some 1500 speed pushing that out to 3'29, such as :

~ 50.25 / 1'46.25

->

3'29.00

4'44.63

7'19.55

12'39.08

26'30.03

somewhere in the the last 2 series of estimates lies his expected improvement as long as he stays 100% holistically

vivalarepublica wrote:

shorters stache wrote:

My guess is it would look pretty good on NOP if he breaks the 5km world record in a NOP vest. They got medals with mo, maybe they are thinking of shooting a bit higher with this guy... plus it'd add someone to chase for Jenkins

Lol, the dude will need to run under 12:50 (or even 12:45) before you start tossing around world record.

Mo's accolades before joining NOP did not point to him become a 4x Olympic gold medalist but obviously Salazar seen potential. Same probably goes for this guy

shorters stache wrote:

vivalarepublica wrote:

Lol, the dude will need to run under 12:50 (or even 12:45) before you start tossing around world record.

Mo's accolades before joining NOP did not point to him become a 4x Olympic gold medalist but obviously Salazar seen potential. Same probably goes for this guy

To me he seems plenty talented, but kind of weak.. I think he could benefit a lot from the kind of strenght training regime AlSal puts his track runners on. Just look at how much better and and stronger Sifan Hassan looks now.

Scorpion_runner wrote:

Wow. This is huge. They have 2 Ethiopians under their belt, and I'm sure this is a move to have an image to replace the big image that they lost when Mo left. Considering Paul Chelimo is supposed to be the next big gun for american distance running. here is an american company training and polishing a foreign runner to be the best in the world.

I thought the Nike Oregon project was just going to focus on American runners, because american running has regressed. NOP seem to be focusing on foreign runners as of late, and what does that say about the status of american running when you get past the elites?

In case you've forgotten, Mo Farah is not American. Were you complaining when he was part of NOP? Cam Levins is not an American. Ditto. Nike is an American company but is a multinational. NOP is basically publicity for the Nike brand, which does business all over the world. Who do you think would be a better face for the brand in Ethiopia, Kejelcha or Eric Jenkins? Hassan is NOT an Ethiopian athletically. She moved to Holland when she was a teenager before she even started running. She might have joint citizenship because of where she was born but she has never represented Ethiopia. This is like calling Mo Farah a Somalian because he was born there.

Wow this is awesome. Hope to see good things.

He's Somalian. Don't delude yourself.