Yeah, that's light. When I did my best marathoning I was about 3 cm shorter and 3 kg heavier than this, and I looked mighty skinny. But this guy may just have a very small skeletal structure, and he's also very young.
Japanese are built smaller. You can't compare them to Westerners. Avg American male is like what 180 lbs? I would be at least 30 lbs lighter for Japanese male.
If Kiyoto is really 168cm/44kg or 5'6 and 97 pounds that would give him a Body Mass Index according to the US CDC of 15.6. That would mean he would have to gain nearly 20 lbs to even be considered a healthy weight. Yes, the BMI is primarily geared towards obese Americans, but my understanding was that a BMI of around 19 was usually ideal for marathon runners.
Although it is an uncomfortable question, I do think it is relevant to question whether Kiyoto's weight is healthy. Yes, undoubtedly he is fast and the weight works for him for right now for running very fast, but is it unnaturally low that it will endanger his future running? I don't know, but following Mary Cain's travails, among many others, I think it is a question worth asking.
Like many, I have become disillusioned with the prevalence of doping among elite distance runners in recent years . I have not seen anything suggesting that Kiyoto is doping, but it would be similarly quite sad if the reality of modern competition is that you need to be an unhealthy weight to achieve elite times.
Similar questions about weight were asked about Fiona O'Keefe after she won the US woken's trials. Like many, I was disturbed by how skinny she looked in the pictures from the race, even compared to how skinny she looked at Stanford.
Shockingly, Kiyoto actually looks even skinnier than Fiona.
Agreed, no one career about speculation about weight (or doping) on Letsrun, but the reality is that Kiyoto is likely now going to be a hero and role model for young Japanese runners, so thinking and questioning whether his weight is unhealthy certainly has merit.
Yes, many Americans are obese, and marathon runners need to be lean to run fast. But, runners being too skinny and having health problems and eating disorders as a result is also a common problem. Despite limited research, eating disorders are increasing in Japan.
I think he still has an adolescent frame at age 21, being 5'6" and 97-98 lbs. But I bet he's very conscious of being at race weight and hopefully outside of races allows himself to put on 8 pounds. That would be reasonable.
An Asian person gets diabetes at a lower BMI than the standard so you have to scale it down by around 2 points. 16-17 on the low end is probably fine on most Asian people.
The depth of runners in the 5,000m and up is just insane in Japan. It’s interesting how although there is the depth there they don’t seem to produce many super elite athletes that are capable of world records. But they will have as in this example 25 runners break 2:10 or in a similar race I recall from a while back 20+ break 28 minutes in the 10km.
Too much weight discussion. Not fat. Great. Enough said. Talk about the performance.
This is huge. If it was a US citizen - Ethiopian/Eritrean/Kenyan heritage or otherwise - he would be on a black page. You'd have to click to get to the regular front page.
This dude is in college AND traditional US college age. This run would be praised by some including me, but ridiculed by many if he was US-based. The notion of "You can only run a road race or any event longer than 10k if you're out of NCAA elegibility" will hopefully die. Right now however, it is almost universally believed and adhered to in North America. As I suggest, I am completely in favor of what this guy did.
This was a debut. I realize Kiptum changed what many believed possible. It's still hard to imagine he was real. But wouldn't this be the US debut record by a good margin?
He is a non-Nike-shod Japanese runner. This is rare. Actually, that is misleading; let me rephrase: This is EXTREMELY rare. Yuki is the only other I'm aware of since Seko. Just look at any pro starting line including their Trials.
The depth of runners in the 5,000m and up is just insane in Japan. It’s interesting how although there is the depth there they don’t seem to produce many super elite athletes that are capable of world records. But they will have as in this example 25 runners break 2:10 or in a similar race I recall from a while back 20+ break 28 minutes in the 10km.
I think it's the lack of pure miler speed. They're running those times off super endurance and feather weight (especially in the marathon). Has any Japanese men broken 3:50 mile?
actually there is a pretty significant difference in how you get your calories. Oral glucose intake triggers a larger insulin surge than IV glucose intake because glucose in the stomach triggers release of incretins GLP-1 and GIP. If you slip some glucose in a vein, then it bypasses the stomach and you dont get the same response.
Something about Asian men excelling at anything makes a certain demographic very insecure. Why is your first inclination to take him down a notch by ridiculing his weight?
Like others have said, that’s just how he’s built. If he actually had an eating disorder or was malnourished, he probably wouldn’t have even made it to the start line at all; if you have an eating disorder, I can’t imagine you can handle marathon training in most capacities, let alone being able to run 2:06.
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