Will Bekele still be after the marathon WR?

"will he continue collecting appearance fees?"

We all know Bekele is the worlds greatest runner. He has had bad luck but he will turn that around. First of all he did have the wr for 2 years considering Kimetto was doped to the gills. It is a question of getting the WR back again since he already technically had it in the first place. I for one believe he can do it. First of all he should wear the same shoes Kipchoge had. Amsterdam should be a big confidence boost for him when he gets the course record. He is capable of 2:01:30. He evan said it himself once that that was his eventual goal.

Banana Bread wrote:

We all know Bekele is the worlds greatest runner. He has had bad luck but he will turn that around. First of all he did have the wr for 2 years considering Kimetto was doped to the gills. It is a question of getting the WR back again since he already technically had it in the first place. I for one believe he can do it. First of all he should wear the same shoes Kipchoge had. Amsterdam should be a big confidence boost for him when he gets the course record. He is capable of 2:01:30. He evan said it himself once that that was his eventual goal.

You do realize there isn't any evidence that Kimmeto doped right? You're just talking out your butt dude.

Gggggggg wrote:

We know Bekele has been interested in the marathon WR more than anything else. Will he still be after it after it is no longer 6 seconds from his PB but 1:24 minuets now?

Or will he retire?

Or will he continue collecting appearance fees?

After Bekele’s fast Berlin a couple years ago he stated he thinks he could go ~1:01:30...most people here thought this was doable...as I did as well.

Of course since then he has been fairly mediocre. I do think he is capable of a couple good races but from what we’ve seen lately doubtful.

Even if he does think out of reach, I think Olympics are still a goal for him

Let's imagine he just concentrated on racing and winning for a bit. Maybe it improves his consistency to have this world record business off his shoulders.

This would set us up for a really fun race to watch one day when he battles the goat.

Pillow Case wrote:

Let's imagine he just concentrated on racing and winning for a bit. Maybe it improves his consistency to have this world record business off his shoulders.

This would set us up for a really fun race to watch one day when he battles the goat.

That is what he will start doing now, starting with Amsterdam in a few weeks. If he doesn't win with a course record at least, I will leave letsrun for good.

Banana Bread wrote:

If he doesn't win with a course record at least, I will leave letsrun for good.

Bekele at this point has very little chance at the marathon WR. It's pretty clear that Amsterdam is not being set up as a WR, and that means the next time he can attempt it next spring (Rotterdam perhaps?) he'd be just about 37 years old. There's just no way a 37 year old is running 2:01:30, even if that person had run 12:37 in their prime.

In retrospect, he should have went after the half WR in 2008 or 2009. Wanjiru had set the mark in 2007 at 58:33 (still the second fastest performer ever), and I wager that Bekele could have run quite a bit faster than that, fast enough that Tadese would never have been able to get it. I don't think he could get it now at his age.

Gggggggg wrote:

We know Bekele has been interested in the marathon WR more than anything else. Will he still be after it after it is no longer 6 seconds from his PB but 1:24 minuets now?

Or will he retire?

Or will he continue collecting appearance fees?

When he was in his prime it might have been possible, but at age 36 or 37 it is not going to happen. Kipchoge's time is so amazing it makes me think that he could break Bekele's 10K record. Based on Bekele's 10K record I had thought, based on other world class runner's ratios, that he was capable of 2:02:30 so Kipchoge's time is astonishing.

Nobody is going near Bekele's wr's so they can back the hell away. Bekele ran 26:17 and according to Renato he wasn't evan fully fit for his 2 10,000m wr's. He was sick and unprepared so his potential was close to 26:00. Nobody can beat him.

even if he wasn't ancient and washed up, he wouldn't be good enough without going back on epo

Banana Bread wrote:

We all know Bekele is the worlds greatest runner. He has had bad luck but he will turn that around. First of all he did have the wr for 2 years considering Kimetto was doped to the gills. It is a question of getting the WR back again since he already technically had it in the first place. I for one believe he can do it. First of all he should wear the same shoes Kipchoge had. Amsterdam should be a big confidence boost for him when he gets the course record. He is capable of 2:01:30. He evan said it himself once that that was his eventual goal.

The irony talking about Bekele and claiming Kimetto was doped to the gills. Hardly ever seen anyone more doped up than bekele in his 5k run in the Netherlands..... irony indeed!

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Gggggggg wrote:

We know Bekele has been interested in the marathon WR more than anything else. Will he still be after it after it is no longer 6 seconds from his PB but 1:24 minuets now?

Or will he retire?

Or will he continue collecting appearance fees?

When he was in his prime it might have been possible, but at age 36 or 37 it is not going to happen. Kipchoge's time is so amazing it makes me think that he could break Bekele's 10K record. Based on Bekele's 10K record I had thought, based on other world class runner's ratios, that he was capable of 2:02:30 so Kipchoge's time is astonishing.

Not trying to belittle Kipchoge's performance, but according to Jack Daniels's VDOT table, Bekele's 10K record is worth 85.1 VDOT, which is on par with a 2:01 flat marathon.

And Kipchoge had been on the track for a long time before he finally turned to the road. I think he's pretty maxed out at least in the 5k with his 12:46. Granted he didn't race the 10k a lot, so I can see him run somewhere in the 26:30 with his 5k and marathon times, but even that is still far off Bekele's mark.

Kimetto's performances after the wr indicate that he was on epo but stopped taking drugs after the wr. Bekele was always consistently good. Look at his track. Kimetto came out of nowhere so that is suspicious. Bekele had Geb as his idol and mentor so it is natural that he could expect to go after Geb's times.

Banana Bread wrote:

Kimetto's performances after the wr indicate that he was on epo but stopped taking drugs after the wr. Bekele was always consistently good. Look at his track. Kimetto came out of nowhere so that is suspicious. Bekele had Geb as his idol and mentor so it is natural that he could expect to go after Geb's times.

Bekele is the GOAT, no doubt about it. And you're the worst troll ever, no doubt that either.

Banana Bread wrote:

Kimetto's performances after the wr indicate that he was on epo but stopped taking drugs after the wr. Bekele was always consistently good. Look at his track. Kimetto came out of nowhere so that is suspicious. Bekele had Geb as his idol and mentor so it is natural that he could expect to go after Geb's times.

Banana Bread, I don't know how old you are, but Bekele is suspicious because of the era he competed in (at his peak). There was effectively no test for EPO. There was no biological passport. There was surely no effective anti-doping agency in Ethiopia (in fact I think that is true even now). He beat the 5k times of Komon and Geb (and those records were set in the totally wild 1990s when EPO was being used at dangerously high levels and with literally no way to test for it).

Banana Bread wrote:

Pillow Case wrote:

Let's imagine he just concentrated on racing and winning for a bit. Maybe it improves his consistency to have this world record business off his shoulders.

This would set us up for a really fun race to watch one day when he battles the goat.

That is what he will start doing now, starting with Amsterdam in a few weeks. If he doesn't win with a course record at least, I will leave letsrun for good.

have you thought about the possible weather conditions in amsterdam, october? top or flop.

Stopcecil! wrote:

Banana Bread wrote:

We all know Bekele is the worlds greatest runner. He has had bad luck but he will turn that around. First of all he did have the wr for 2 years considering Kimetto was doped to the gills. It is a question of getting the WR back again since he already technically had it in the first place. I for one believe he can do it. First of all he should wear the same shoes Kipchoge had. Amsterdam should be a big confidence boost for him when he gets the course record. He is capable of 2:01:30. He evan said it himself once that that was his eventual goal.

You do realize there isn't any evidence that Kimmeto doped right? You're just talking out your butt dude.

Exactly. This is exactly what Jos Hermans claimed in 2016. The reasons was that Kimetto started running crab after running 2:02:57. He is a former world class athlete himself and has handled many top class athletes and he doesn't know there is something called injuries? Was he insinuating that Kenenisa has been doping since 2009? Because he has performed dismally since then except for his 2:03:03. The truth is Jos is himself a doper and believes in doping. Kenenisa's 2:03:03 was doped and he himself(Jos) facilitated that. He and Al Sal drink from the same well. Kenenisa is done and will just disappear from here. I have doubts that he will start Amsterdam. If he does, he could be beaten by a no-name.

MUMBAI wrote:

Stopcecil! wrote:

You do realize there isn't any evidence that Kimmeto doped right? You're just talking out your butt dude.

Exactly. This is exactly what Jos Hermans claimed in 2016. The reasons was that Kimetto started running crab after running 2:02:57. He is a former world class athlete himself and has handled many top class athletes and he doesn't know there is something called injuries? Was he insinuating that Kenenisa has been doping since 2009? Because he has performed dismally since then except for his 2:03:03. The truth is Jos is himself a doper and believes in doping. Kenenisa's 2:03:03 was doped and he himself(Jos) facilitated that. He and Al Sal drink from the same well. Kenenisa is done and will just disappear from here. I have doubts that he will start Amsterdam. If he does, he could be beaten by a no-name.

I wish I could perform as dismally since 2009 as Bekele:

26:43 in 2011

Sub 13 5,000

4th at Olympics

2:05 Paris debut

2nd and 3rd at London Marathon

Yes, not as dominant as he once was but hardly terrible