600m TT: the carnage of Nijel Amos

This was entertaining to watch. Amos is a lunatic when it comes to pacing. He's got some tactical issues, but if he is healthy he is formidable. It probably helps him that Wesley Vazquez is around now. He should look to key off him and copy Brazier's tactic except beat him to the punch and hang on for dear life. He is his biggest enemy when it comes to the first lap. If he can run no faster than 23.5 and 49.0, he is a 1:41 high or 1:42 low when healthy. Brazier can maybe beat that, but it is far from certain.

His form is looking way better.

Amos looks like he's rigging even when he's not, so this was a joy to watch.

And you'd think with all the time we have sitting around with nothing to do, someone would have realized that at least 'filming' these races both from the track side, or both from the infield side, would have been better than one trackside, one field side.

And I guess it was 90 degrees in Atlanta? That was buried in the write-up here, but might have been worth mentioning either in the broadcast, or further up in the story.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

This was entertaining to watch. Amos is a lunatic when it comes to pacing. He's got some tactical issues, but if he is healthy he is formidable. It probably helps him that Wesley Vazquez is around now. He should look to key off him and copy Brazier's tactic except beat him to the punch and hang on for dear life. He is his biggest enemy when it comes to the first lap. If he can run no faster than 23.5 and 49.0, he is a 1:41 high or 1:42 low when healthy. Brazier can maybe beat that, but it is far from certain.

Definitely, and I will add that in my opinion he is a sub 1:41 athlete on the right day.

I actually don't think 48.5 is too fast for him when he is fit. What we saw in the DL final was Amos just back from injury, managing to hold onto a 1:42.98 despite the 48.2 first lap and he was dying badly.

For me, that showed he can break the WR when fully fit and sharp.

lukingmeets wrote:

naughtystatman wrote:

If that dude who ran 2:53 for 1200 lost 10 pounds he could probably run a decent 1500.

Good for Amos to run like that. Even if he misjudged it, he was going for a historically fast mark when opportunities in track are so scarce right now—it was a bold and painful way to approach it and it made for an interesting run.

Vince has lost weight. In HS he was much heavier running 4:09. At VA tech he was probably 10lbs heavier.

Maybe he should get salazar coaching him so he could shame him into losing weight.

Overall that was a waste of an hour that I'll never get back. Make these virtual races a little more interesting.

And how do you propose to make a single person running around an oval “more interesting”? Dress them up in purple tutus and put alligators every 100m? Any suggestions, or are you just one of those people that like to complain? You either love the sport or you don’t. Kudos to OTC and ATC for making the effort.

Dang that was painful to watch.

ex-runner wrote:

Amos ran 1:14 enroute in that race.

With a more sensible opening 400 I could see Amos running 1:12.0 or even sub 1:12.

One thing you can say is Amos is willing to push himself to a pain threshold I've never seen any other 800m guy attempt.

If he gets fit and healthy and avoids injury Amos will break the 800m WR. He has the guts to go for it.

Brother not without the Jama Aden special sauce that helped him run 1.41.7 with "frog-in-a-blender" running form at the "age of 18" like he did in London.

Ain't nobody touching Johnny for a few years yet.

Salvatore Stitchmo wrote:

ex-runner wrote:

Amos ran 1:14 enroute in that race.

With a more sensible opening 400 I could see Amos running 1:12.0 or even sub 1:12.

One thing you can say is Amos is willing to push himself to a pain threshold I've never seen any other 800m guy attempt.

If he gets fit and healthy and avoids injury Amos will break the 800m WR. He has the guts to go for it.

Brother not without the Jama Aden special sauce that helped him run 1.41.7 with "frog-in-a-blender" running form at the "age of 18" like he did in London.

Ain't nobody touching Johnny for a few years yet.

He ran 1:41.8 last year. I think it was a more impressive performance from Amos than his 2012 1:41.7.

He got injured shortly afterwards.

Was I the only one who watched the race?

assistant to the regional manager wrote:

And how do you propose to make a single person running around an oval “more interesting”? Dress them up in purple tutus and put alligators every 100m? Any suggestions, or are you just one of those people that like to complain? You either love the sport or you don’t. Kudos to OTC and ATC for making the effort.

I live and breathe T&F and will readily admit this meet wasn’t worth watching. In fact, I turned to my wife at one point and apologized for having her sit through it. Races were dull, athletes were slow (go look back at those atrocious 4x4 splits) interviewers were clueless, no times or splits were shown, etc etc.

And as for the ‘you either love the sport or you don’t’ well, that’s grade school logic. It’s entirely okay to be critical of something you love.

And how do you propose to make a single person running around an oval “more interesting”? Dress them up in purple tutus and put alligators every 100m? Any suggestions, or are you just one of those people that like to complain? You either love the sport or you don’t. Kudos to OTC and ATC for making the effort.[/quote]

I love the sport, but on an early saturday evening there was other things to do besides watch a time trial. The only reason I considered watching was that I knew vince in HS.

Put some cash up to make it more than watching someone work out

ex-runner wrote:

Salvatore Stitchmo wrote:

Brother not without the Jama Aden special sauce that helped him run 1.41.7 with "frog-in-a-blender" running form at the "age of 18" like he did in London.

Ain't nobody touching Johnny for a few years yet.

He ran 1:41.8 last year. I think it was a more impressive performance from Amos than his 2012 1:41.7.

He got injured shortly afterwards.

Was I the only one who watched the race?

No I saw it. The old "bust sub 1.42" then 8 days later withdraw after 100m with an injury so bad it makes you withdraw from the World Champs that were 70 (hold on let me type this in bold) SEVENTY DAYS later. Yep, okay. Sure.

He still is the only sub 1.42 runner in history that has magically been able to overcome atrocious running form - especially in the final 150m - Rudisha, Kipketer, Coe, Cruz (probably the worst form of that list but still infinitely better than Amos) all being beautiful, efficient movers.

Yeah I just don't want to hear about Nijel Amos - I'll exercise my first amendment right and call him full of sh$t thanks.

Amos is very, very fast in the 400m, first of all. He split low 44 or even high 43 in a relay. So, he is going to use his speed advantage to get out at paces others can't touch, and he has the mentality of someone who wants world records. So far the ability hasn't quite matched that, and he went out way too hard shortly after running 1:41 a second time, and got himself injured, but you have got to like the excitement it brings. He went 7 years between 1:41s, which is astonishing. And he is one of those guys who looks like he has given everything he had and more by the end of a race. Sure, he probably needs to relax to get that low 1:41, but he is obviously one of the best ever in the event.

He had a magical 2012 and seems to be making his way back, but all-time greats do not have overwhelmingly bad career championship results. Amos's championship record since 2012 -- 2013 World Championships: DNS, 2015 World Championships: didn't make the final, 2016 Olympics: didn't make the final, 2017 World Championships: 5th, 2019 World Championships: DNS. Over his entire senior career Amos has performed well in only 1 out of 6 championships he's competed at.

Les wrote:

all-time greats do not have overwhelmingly bad career championship results.

Kipketer says you're wrong, and everyone agrees with him.

Nijel is a 1:42 machine who has ran 1:41 twice. You're gonna call someone like Coe better than that?

Looks like he won this one despite the rigging. That's the skill that makes him great, most others would have folded like Duane that one year.

His atrocious form is most likely why he gets injured so often.

You are welcome to your opinion that he is "full of sh*t".

That doesn't change the fact that he is a great athlete and a danger to Brazier for Tokyo 2020. A very real danger.

And he can likely break the 600m WR on the right day. Form is irrelevant when the guy is actually running 44.1 and 1:41.

ex-runner wrote:

Amos ran 1:14 enroute in that race.

With a more sensible opening 400 I could see Amos running 1:12.0 or even sub 1:12.

One thing you can say is Amos is willing to push himself to a pain threshold I've never seen any other 800m guy attempt.

If he gets fit and healthy and avoids injury Amos will break the 800m WR. He has the guts to go for it.

It also could just the way he swings his arms like that to make you think that.

He needs to work on his arm swing.

I also want to point out that Amos' story was eerily similar to Daniel Komen's- immediate success (Amos only began training in 2009) followed by ego, complacency, and laziness.

From 2013:

This was his first championship title but since taking up running as a 15-year-old in 2009 progress has been swift – helped, he says, by watching Rudisha’s races on YouTube. He was rewarded for his silver medal at London with six cows, but last year he suffered with a thigh strain and a potentially more pernicious problem: fame.

His elder sister Francinah warned he was becoming hostile to his family and was bragging that he could win races without training. He launched into a music career, calling himself DJ Zoroski. He crashed his car. Some feared he was losing his way. But watching men he knew he could beat win medals at the world championships last year from his room – an experienced he described as “painful” – reignited the fires. And how.

Amos has also been injured quite a bit. However, I think he still has WR potential, and given Vasquez continues to rabbit races, Amos could potentially challenge it in a year or so.

+1

Absolutely correct. Amos is a fraud. He was called out by his own national paper in Botswana for purposely fleeing and missing the testers on several occasions.

His whole career projection is fishy.