Holy $&*$ America Jonah Koech runs 3:31 to win Rabat Diamond League

Tooth Ugg Eels

I’d say he’s in a dark horse in either event. Brandon Miller is no slam dunk with his tactics. But the US had 3 in the top 5 in Paris. It’s way harder finishing top 3 here than in a wild DL 1500 missing all of the events top tier.

It does make me think Koech/Festus Lagat should permanently move up to the 1500. Koech has a good finish and maybe he gets Kessler rigging. For Festus Lagat it’s a no-brainer to move up and avoid the Kenyan gauntlet in the 800.

Liked your front page where you said "when a diamond league".

Has he made any extended trips to the motherland or whereabouts…er, thereabouts?

Jonah Koech said, "I am not a 1500m runner, I'm just using it to get stronger for the 800m because those guys (800m runners) aren't playing.". So obviously he think he can get down to 1:42 or faster this year. The thing that puzzles me Is he is running another 1500m next and then 800m. I think his coach is considering moving up to the 1500m as an option.

I hope his next 1500m is in a big meet and sub 3:30 pace.

Come on, if you're a 1:44 guy, 3:31 isn't such a stretch.

Also, speaking of 800, did anyone notice Brandon Miller (mentioned above) ran a PR 1:43.52 today in 4th?

Okay but let's get real here for a second. If this was a North African, or a North African living in Europe (hint hint) or a Kenyan living in Kenya, people would quite rightly be beating the pots and tins and ushering words of caution - and fairly so given how we have seen a lot of history play out with cases like this. But because we are Baltimore "based" we are all good? Nothing to see here?

This is not quite a "friend of board" Mo Katir situation - yet, at least, but it's not that far off. Because in running 3.31.4 first race of the season, it's not unreasonable to think that with a few more of these under his belt (and this is now real because when you win a DL race over a distance you can now pick and choose what you want to do) he might run under 3.30 this year and then we have a guy going from 3.37 to under 3.30 across a season?

I don't really subscribe to the "just happened to maybe stumble across my best event" narrative if I'm honest. I look at his profile and he has 1500m performances on his portfolio as far back as 2016. He ran 3.40 in 2021 and 3.37 last year - thats an indicator of some level of competence so he/his coach/his agent know about - it's not like his 800m career has been so stellar it's kept him from running the distance because he's run between 1.44.8 and 1.44.3 across 2022, 24 and 25. And when I hear "been back in Kenya recently training" I won't lie, that is how could I put it nicely, "interesting".

I honestly don't know what to think, I guess I will still give benefit of the doubt but gawd damn if this guy didn't have an American connection the narrative on him right now would be very different and we all know this, right?

Yes, this year is weird.

25 year old Hoey goes from 3:38 to 3:33.

Now, 28 year old Koech one ups him by going from 3:37 to 3:31. He ran the mile pretty much every year since 2016. He was already running 4:00 back in 2016, yet has never broken 4. His PB is from 2022 (4:00.2).

He did run 13:45 in a Kenyan 5K heat and sub-1:45 indoors, so there were signs but of course overshadowed by Hoey and unnoticed in Kenya.

But to your point this isn’t too different than Brian Komens emergence last year. This field today was worse and he had better opportunities in past years than Komen who ran 3:33 to win a gold level meet and 3:35 on a dirt track I believe in 2023. People were skeptical of Komen and such just like some people are here. I think the key thing is to not overrate what we saw here. I don’t really doubt that Habz or Cheruiyot win that race under different circumstances. Habz was a de facto pacer, and Cheruiyot had to come from nowhere and simply gave himself way too much to do in a bloated field. It’s possible Koech is merely an Elliott Giles level guy who will be exposed in future Diamond League or National meets when the competition is better.

What's weird is you don't recognize that a 1:44 guy could run 3:31.

Didn’t Burgin run a PR as well (1:43.34) in second? Was that Bergin’s opener?

The other amazing thing about this race was how far back Koech started. He was way off the pace early at the back of the pack with 800m to go in 15th place 1:41. He started to move up slowly around 600m to go and was in 12th place at the bell 2:38 (57). Then finished 3:31.43 (53). Lagat had similar trip early but started his move with two laps to go.

Dude... just make a thread about that. Don't change the subject on a thread about Jonah Koech

Because what, all 1.44 guys are automatically 3.31 guys? So are all 1.43 guys 3.29 guys? The 1.42 guys are 3.27 guys? What exactly is your logic here.

And if this was true for Koech who first ran under 1.45 back in 2022, why wasn't he running the 1500 meters on the circuit already? He's not making a single Diamond League 800m field as a 1.44.3 guy (and never has) - but he just won a DL 1500m, why wasn't he using this supposedly automatic 3.31 to make a hell of a lot more money than he has in the past (I would almost guarantee that the 10k he won today exceeds the total amount of prize money he's won in his entire career combined).

....

Okay Brandon Miller is a 1:43.5 guy can he run 3:31? Oh, oh Bryce Hoppel is a 1:41.7 guy has he run 3:31? That's not even adding the three 2024 Olympic 800m medalists who haven't come close to 3:31...so ummm🤔

Shades of David Krummenacker with a 3:31 out of nowhere. Plenty of 1:43-44 800m guys have run in the low 3:30s when they tried a 1500m.

Koech is ranked 27th US all time at 800m. Only 2 guys ahead of him ran faster than him at 1500m. Kessler and Webb.

However, Kessler has also run 7:35 for 3000m and Webb has run 13:10 over 5000m. Webb’s 1500m PB is 3:30.54, less than 0.9 faster than Koech’s.

So no, 1:44.3 guys are not “typically” 3:31 guys

There were 4 athletes of Under Armor, it must be a good deal with the agent. Nowadays it happens a lot I saw plenty unknown runners from ON in Shanghai.