Is Clayton Murphy the GOLD MEDAL FAVORITE in Tokyo?

amos ran close to 4 min mile at age 16 and he has a 44.9 400

murphy from the progression for the season, was easy 144 low, today's race is beyond the best reasonable speculation here.

brazier, condolances,

life is pretty random/

congrats to you americans on a fine 800 team.

you have a dude that can threaten the WR in Bendenark , well not threaten quite, but the 2x 9.75 is a 19.5

brazier was actually a betting fav for gold.

injuries, and health issues, what can you do.?

I think all you can say about Murphy is he found stability and what worked for him back at Akron with the college coach. He seemed confident all year even though his 1500 races were more encouraging than his 800 ones. I thought he looked the class of the field through the first two rounds but was not expecting a sub-25 3rd 200 and a negative split 1:43 low. He's back in Olympic form.

No he is no. Nigel Amos, Giles of the UK and a few others will beat him easily. I wish him well.

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

I think all you can say about Murphy is he found stability and what worked for him back at Akron with the college coach. He seemed confident all year even though his 1500 races were more encouraging than his 800 ones. I thought he looked the class of the field through the first two rounds but was not expecting a sub-25 3rd 200 and a negative split 1:43 low. He's back in Olympic form.

you noticed the 25 flat 3rd 200.

cool.

murphy looks to be peaking at the very perfect time.

he was obviously setting it up, and training through.

still the 800 is such a crap shoot.

getting to the final is maybe a hard as metaling.

DC Wonk wrote:

It would be a major victory for Murphy to medal. Olympics ain’t the same thing as OT. You have to be mentally and physically ready for an unpredictable final.

He ran low 1:43 in a negative split race, pulling away at the end. Best he’s looked since winning a medal at the last Olympics. He is a real contender now in my eyes. It feels like we lost brazier but now we have Murphy back

longjack wrote:

still the 800 is such a crap shoot.

getting to the final is maybe a hard as metaling.

It certainly can be! One thing in his favor is he’s got the right tactical brain for the rounds in my view. He’s got a strong closing 200 we know that. Knows how to position himself. What about the other guys?

Korir? Struggles to put himself in the right spot

Saruni? Falls asleep in the 3rd 200 at times

Rotich? OK he’s rock solid

Giles? Unknown

McBride? Too much of a front runner not a good kicker

Arop? Promising for sure

Amos? Complete head case

Hoppel? Promising but perhaps won’t be at full fitness

Rowden? Unknown, but good tools for sure

Webb? Unproven as well

I always thought Clayton Murphy was the real deal, is good at peaking at the right time, and mainly cares about the Olympics.

Of course anything can happen in the final, but I say he is a strong contender for the gold. Right now he is easily in 1:42 shape. He ran 1:43 with several gear changes and a mad sprint at the end.

That doper Makhloufi is going to come out of nowhere and wind Gold. Mark my words.

Iron Bars wrote:

That doper Makhloufi is going to come out of nowhere and wind Gold. Mark my words.

I don’t doubt that

You guys seem to be forgetting about Patryk Dobek. Guy just started running 800m this year, already EU Indoor champion and last weekend he lowered his PB by over 1s and now is 1:43.73. He actually had the world lead before yesterday.

I would not favor Dobek over Murphy but Dobek destroyed Giles and Webb in that race and he is in his first season of seriously running 800m. So there might be some improvement left but lack of experience could also mean not even reaching the final.

With the overall unfortunate timing (and Covid) leading to very few world class meeting before the olympics, it is hard to pick clear favorites in 800m men.

Iron Bars wrote:

That doper Makhloufi is going to come out of nowhere and wind Gold. Mark my words.

Anyone know what his situation is? Has he raced at all this season. I can't imagine at his age he can do a double like that because surely he'll race the 1500 if he can too. Also wasn't he caught with a bag full of syringes and was being investigated

There's no favorite for the 800 anymore. There's a bunch of 1:43 guys and any one of them can take it on their day. Only a fool would put money on this event in Tokyo

Jo72 wrote:

I would not favor Dobek over Murphy but Dobek destroyed Giles and Webb in that race and he is in his first season of seriously running 800m. So there might be some improvement left but lack of experience could also mean not even reaching the final.

With the overall unfortunate timing (and Covid) leading to very few world class meeting before the olympics, it is hard to pick clear favorites in 800m men.

Don’t overlook the Mexican Jesus.

Well, how things change! At the end of the last indoor season, Brazier was still an outstanding favourite but people were saying that Elliott Giles could challenge. However, once the outdoor season started things changed week to week. Burgin looked terrific in beating most of Europe's best but he's now out. Then that unknown Kenyan came from nowhere and ran a great time...and then disappeared.

Elliott Giles hasn't won a top 800m race this outdoor season but seems to be getting better and he has improved his 15000m best. Dobek is really coming on. I hope Jewett makes the Olympic final because we should be then guaranteed a red hot pace.

I don't see an outstanding favourite, but an African victory is, I would say, the most likely outcome.

IMO if he's fit and healthy Amos can run away from any other 800 runner on the planet including Brazier. He does best in time trial races but the Olympics aren't necessarily time trials and Amos is frequently injured so yeah without Amos in a tactical final Murphy could be dangerous.

Les wrote:

IMO if he's fit and healthy Amos can run away from any other 800 runner on the planet including Brazier. He does best in time trial races but the Olympics aren't necessarily time trials and Amos is frequently injured so yeah without Amos in a tactical final Murphy could be dangerous.

only thing is that amos is a mystery this season. we won't know what kind of 800 shape he's in til the Olympics

Murphy is a medal lock. Experience + confidence + good form, he's got it. Hoppel and Jewitt will have to fight hard to be in the final.

There's also two dark horses: Nijel Amos and Patryk Dobek. The latter is improving with each race since his gold at the European indoors and now has run 1:43.73 two days ago.

And Nijel Amos is ..... well, Nijel Amos.

Wouldn't surprise me if Big Mac shows up for the 800m too. Both have had almost 2 years of full throttle. They could both show up in sub 1:43 form.