Bekele vs Kipchoge is on!! But will either one of them be in shape?

why do you hate the relaxed form? you need to relax

wrong, her relaxed form is key like with brazier. she only started running in 2011 at 17 which means the first few years the progression would be expectedly huge for such a talent, then it started getting slower. not saying she's on nothing but to guarantee she is is wrong.

and most importantly she wouldn't be running that without relaxed form, buddy

You have to put it into context. Batman is based in the gothic era, where 13 year olds were considered adults.

so do you like relaxed looking runners or not?!?

I'm not sure it's that obvious, talentes like bekele, kipchoge, dibabas etc. would likely have similar trajectories if they started at 17

wejo wrote:

Tin foil wrote:

Just remember the article was written by a notorious Kipchoge fanboy. Read with caution.

Well couldn't you say that about anyone who has covered marathon running the last 4+ years. Kipchoge has been unbeatable.

My take from the article was it sounds like neither one of them might be in top form.

My take is that these are two distance stars & odds are that one of them will get fit in 2 months. Interested to see who else gets added but there isn't anyone else out there who can touch 2:01.

Oh Please wrote:

I predict that Bekele will not feature in the finish of the race, likely dropping out around 30km.

I second this.

there's literally only 1 route, look it up on google maps ffs.

obviously they didnt say "it's shitter than vienna": they're not going to slate the park if they may want to use it in the future for something else.

any Americans?

By the sound of the interview it doesn't look like Bekele has put serious training yet. He may be a little short when the race comes.

"Summer is Ethiopia is the worst season to train. It's dark, rainy and windy all summer. According to wikipedia source, the rainy day average in Addis in July is 27/31 days, with a relative humidity of 78%, and an average sunshine of 3.6 hours. Ethiopians have numerously complained about this in interviews. Take the pandemic and the civil state of the country right now, I can't imagine."

I put this in another thread regarding Monaco. I'm not saying all Ethiopians are out of shape, but Bekele in particular does a lot of support work in his country. The social climate and literal climate for that matter isn't optimal in Ethiopia right now. Couple this with his struggle with motivation in the past and I really question his fitness. I surely hope he's doing well right now and wish him the best. Idk how he does Oct 4th, or if the winning time is 2:04-2:05, but in times like these, top athletes like him, Kipchoge, and Kosgei at least attempting to bring light to the sport is all we can ask for.

StJames'Mtn wrote:

VLM Organisers host a road mile event there every year (bit shy of a lap) - 3/4 corners have smooth turns and good paving but it is certainly not flat and doing 20+ laps is going to get rough. At the top of the park theres a sudden drop of a couple meters and then before you take the next (only sharp) corner to go back the opposite way, theres a corresponding incline. No one has ever run under 4:01 on that course and I wouldnt want to deal with that almost every mile.

Yea tbh I'd rather run it around the serpentine. That little climb around St James always throws me off pace for a bit, specially when running counter clockwise.

plus it's often windy in that straight where the small climb is

I can't imagine Kipchoge being anything other than a huge favorite. He is just so much more professional than Bekele. The only argument for Bekele is that he showed some serious upside in Berlin, but I tend to think that performance will only encourage him to continue putting forth a so-so effort in training. It's awesome that they are racing each other, but I fully expect Kipchoge to win by over a minute.

Kipchoge 2:03

Bekele 2:05

I’m surprised no one has posted the photo of Bekele with a significant belly. It was from, maybe 6 or 8 weeks ago?

Definitely not boding well for him. I’ll second the dropping out by 25km , and a ‘slow’ 2:04.30 finishing time by Kipchoge.

At the Level of E. Kipchoge and K. Bekele a better question is do they ever get out of shape?

Actually we have seen K. Bekele race when out of shape, but 2:05 is out of shape FOR HIM, I can't remember E. Kipchoge being out of shape.

Can't wait to hear the ENTIRE Elite Field, since this is how they make their living and there are so few opportunities this year, I would think EVERYONE at the World Class Level will try to get in, even those not offered appearance money, lots of top runners will want in for a chance at the Prize Money as this is one of the extremely few opportunities this year, unless they have a cushy shoe contract.