I'm guessing he meant to be faster and didn't realize it was *that* slow.
While it's easy to question, it's also a matter of being only ~a second off that first 200. Go try to run a 200 at a certain pace and see how accurate you can be...guarantee you'll be that far off on many of them
I can see thinking don't get out fast in that field to not get caught in jostling, but he was way too slow.
Even if he even split he runs 1:42.4 which doesn't win.
With that field I don't think there is much of a middle ground.
Last year in Monaco his sauce hadn’t kicked in. Same this year. By Paris, his crew had it dialed in for a ridiculous negative split performance. By Tokyo, they’ll have it dialed in for a negative split 1:40.4, and people will defend him because he’s a “nice guy” and a POC.
Similar to Hocker.
But yeah, Arop is protected here by the Brojos (he's their favorite). I'm surprised your post hasn't been deleted.
I don’t get all the down votes for your post. You pointed out facts. If Hoey or Hoppel or literally anyone but a runner of the always sacred African origin had run a 51.1/50.1 they’d never hear the end of doping allegations. Yet last year Arop goes from getting mugged in Monaco to an amazing display of negstive splitting a few weeks later in Paris(especially amazing for someone with a relatively poor 1500 background at the time) and not a peep. People truly are sheeple and subject to media controlled peer pressure.
I can see thinking don't get out fast in that field to not get caught in jostling, but he was way too slow.
Even if he even split he runs 1:42.4 which doesn't win.
With that field I don't think there is much of a middle ground.
I said on the live discussion thread re Arop - he's becoming one of the most enigmatic and strangest 800m runners of all time.
I've never seen a guy at his level (World/Olympic champion level) in this event (or maybe any) change their race tactics so often for no apparently good reason and execute them in such extreme fashion.
At one point he was straight to the gun, old school sort of stuff. Basically David Rudisha'ing every race. Then that seemed to change overnight and he was the modern Borzakovskiy - off the back through 300/400m and relying on a big final 250.
But he's never seemed to get the balance right or commit to any one way. Now it's getting problematic because instead of him having settled on a way that is best for him and perfecting the art of that execution, he's putting out bad/bizarre versions of each. He's got two of the weirdest DL 800m races in recent history now - last year Lausanne (the weirdest race I've ever seen for a guy of his ability), and Monaco a few days ago. And no matter what anybody says, when you lose the Olympic title by 0.01 seconds and you ran the entire second lap in lane two and the guy that beat you ran basically the entire way in lane one? - you've f-d that up and botched away a gold medal.
It wouldn't shock me the next time we see him in a big race he blasts out and goes straight to he front in the most extreme fashion to compensate for whatever that was the other night. I'd put odds on it now.
I don't think so - he still ran 1.42.73 and ran 38.0 from 400m-700m. The problem was he had to round 2/3 of field with almost all of those guys starting to slow/flail in the final 200, so was completely spent by the time he got to the final 100m which is why that segment was an less-than-stellar 13.5.
His bad day was that he doesn't seem to know what he wants to do out there.
I can see thinking don't get out fast in that field to not get caught in jostling, but he was way too slow.
Even if he even split he runs 1:42.4 which doesn't win.
With that field I don't think there is much of a middle ground.
I said on the live discussion thread re Arop - he's becoming one of the most enigmatic and strangest 800m runners of all time.
I've never seen a guy at his level (World/Olympic champion level) in this event (or maybe any) change their race tactics so often for no apparently good reason and execute them in such extreme fashion.
At one point he was straight to the gun, old school sort of stuff....
One advantage of being all over the place is that his competitors have little idea about what he's going to do. Being 6'3", frontrunning makes sense to avoid of getting legs caught up, but after fading badly in Tokyo he switched to starting at the back. It worked for the 2023 world champs and he's also no longer providing a cube-van like draft for everyone. Problem is, everyone else has levelled up since then.
I read somewhere he's now trying to adapt based on how his body feels and how his competitors are running, but he's a self-described overthinker and that may be why his tactics seem like he's just following an astrological horoscope. idk, not having a single hyper-focused strategy seems best for when racing through heats like WC and Olympics, but sticking to a strategy might be more reasonable for one shot diamond league events.
One advantage of being all over the place is that his competitors have little idea about what he's going to do. Being 6'3", frontrunning makes sense to avoid of getting legs caught up, but after fading badly in Tokyo he switched to starting at the back. It worked for the 2023 world champs and he's also no longer providing a cube-van like draft for everyone. Problem is, everyone else has levelled up since then.
I read somewhere he's now trying to adapt based on how his body feels and how his competitors are running, but he's a self-described overthinker and that may be why his tactics seem like he's just following an astrological horoscope. idk, not having a single hyper-focused strategy seems best for when racing through heats like WC and Olympics, but sticking to a strategy might be more reasonable for one shot diamond league events.
I do understand what you are saying - and I think you are getting at an ability to be flexible given what the race/your competitors deal you. And sure, that's not a negative at all. But right now if you went to him and said "you have to win one 800m race to save your life" - do you think he knows what would be the best way for him to win it? That just seems incomprehensible to me considering he is one of the best 800m runners ever.
Re the single hyper-focused strategy at WC/OG - again I agree you need to be able to adapt because sometimes these races are unpredictable but in general, we are living in an era of 800/1500m running which really isn't that at all. A lot of these races no matter who wins them are following the same script. And again, I'll always maintain that when you lose the Olympic 800m by 1/100th and you've run nearly 7 meters further in the second lap alone, how have you not botched away winning that race?
I don’t get all the down votes for your post. You pointed out facts. If Hoey or Hoppel or literally anyone but a runner of the always sacred African origin had run a 51.1/50.1 they’d never hear the end of doping allegations. Yet last year Arop goes from getting mugged in Monaco to an amazing display of negstive splitting a few weeks later in Paris(especially amazing for someone with a relatively poor 1500 background at the time) and not a peep. People truly are sheeple and subject to media controlled peer pressure.
Good points. He also has very little confidence in comparison to most world class athletes. That’s why he keeps changing his tactics. Wanyonyi is the oppoaite. Great confidence in his training, PED stack, and officials who look the other way when he shoves, grabs, or cuts off another athlete whenever he is in a tight finish.