k. bekele vs kiprop in 1500 at hengelo

i suggest you go & watch his 1500s ( if they are on youtube - i saw them all on satellite )

there was absolutely nothing in any of them that suggested he coud run 3'30 for any of them

Ventolin, I read Geb's results over 800m in the book about him- The greatest. It might be also on the internet somewhere. If I remember correctly, both races were run in Germany in some B class meetings. One was in Cologne, I believe, in '98.

according to tilastopaja geb has a best of 149.35 in a indoor 800 on february 9th 1997 in dortmund he placed 5th in that race.

Have to agree with Ventolin on this one.

I'd be very surprised if Bekele runs 3:32.

people doubting the great kenny b??

and anyone know what was up with his injury? was it a fluke like saeed was saying?

Is it just me or is Bekele mirroring Geb's track career? Geb ran 1500s in the late 90s.

It is simply smart preparation for a 5000/10000 specialist to run the occasional 1500, especially early in the season. I don't think it's all that abnormal.

TK1451 wrote:

ukathleticscoach wrote:

The 3,200m is only run in America primarily in college races.

1. It was tongue-in-cheek humor, he's fully aware that what he was saying was false

2. Nobody runs the 3200 in college

1. Foreigners call high school, college and college, university.

The only 800m that the IAAF lists for Geb is an indoor 1:49.35 from 1997. Their lists tend to be pretty comprehensive, any chance you could find a video or results of these other races you speak of?

Geb has run 1:46 in training in Addis. This was reported by numerous commentators. He also boasts the second fastest 1500m time indoors.

Of course Bekele can run 330 -- if he is in top form. If Webb can manage 330 with 144 speed, Bekele can do it with 145 800m speed.

And of course Geb could run 146 in training. Why does the myth persist that these fellows are not blessed with outstanding speed?

geb has this alleged 1'46 ( sounds reasonable ) & can go 3'31i ( very likely close to 3'29.0 outdoors )

how does kennster get "given" 1'45 if he hasn't cracked 3'32 outdoors & had at least 3 elite race goes at it ???

Red Lobster 8.99 Special wrote:

You guys are clueless.

concurrence wrote:

There is no point to it, and it takes him away from continuing to run well at the 5, 10, and longer distances.

I absolutely agree with the Lobster, you guys are clowns. No benefit for a Bekele running a 15? I guess you all know his seasons plans then.

It is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that Bekele, who has just about achieved everything possible over 5000 and 10000 meters, might want to have a look at taking on Komens 7.20 for 3000m this year - especially given that the 3000m is also part of the mens Golden League events this season.

In that case, he is going to most certainly need to be faster over 1500m. Don't forget Komen was also a 12.39 5000 guy (2 only seconds slower than Bekele), but also a 3.46 miler (sub 3.30 equivalent), and El G who is the #2 AT had mid 12.40's potential (12.50 PR) and 3.26.00 wheels.

Whats the best way to get faster over 1500m? RACE 1500m.

This is of course all conjecture (regarding Bekeles intent on that 3000m record), but then again why the hell wouldn't he? If he managed to get it, he then goes down as the greatest distance runner EVER, holding records that Gebrasalassie attempted to simultaneously hold, but couldn't manage. It wouldn't surprise me one bit to see some serious cracks at this record this season on runway tracks like Rome, Zurich, Brussels etc.

Anyway, I am pretty sure that the Olympic champion and world record holder over 5 and 10 thousand meters knows what he is doing with his training racing, and an early season blow-out over 1500m is not going to break him down to the point that he can't run well over 5000m (because don't forget there is also basically only one good 10000m a year to bother targeting anyway).

Then again, sure all you 16.40 5000m hobby running goons know better...

Hi There,

I have seen Bekele last year in the Seven Hills run in Nimwegen. I had to bring him to the doping control test. There is no doubt about it that he was injured. He couldn't even properly walk...

HAHAHAHA.......... YOUR GAY

............. wrote:

HAHAHAHA.......... YOUR GAY

HAHA YA THEIR SO STUPID!

ventolin wrote:

as for kennster, he is not a 3'29/3'30 guy & probably never will be - his intrinsic 400 speed is too slow to get him there - he's running 3'32/3'33 ( albeit poorly paced ) off his endurance ( & i've seen everyone of his 1500s - he was at his absolute limit on the last lap in everyone of them - just slow 3rd laps costing him 1 - 2s )

i can see him going 3'31-flat, but he won't go below that

geb had better 400 ability than kennster & just fractionally inferior endurance ( they wouda been ~ equal at 5k ( but with slight leaning towards geb ), but kennster is probably 2 - 3s superior over 10k ) & that allowed him to run 3'31i ( = no worse than 3'30-flat outdoors & probably nearer 3'29-flat )

I know it is your favorite routine to play your little numbers game where you write out times over various distances and then make ironclad statements about what an athlete could or could not do, or could or could not have done, at other distances if they ran/had run them. Most of the times you are pulling these predictions out of thin air.

There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Geb had better 400 ability than Bekele. They didn't run open 400's, so it is pure conjecture. As far as kicks are concerned, Bekele's is/has been every bit as explosive and quick as Geb's, Yes, kicks are related to endurance too, but as evidenced by Geb's little foray into the marathon, I would say has a little bit in that department too (not to mention his 5k and 10k times). In Paris 2003 WC's, Bekele ran away from Geb like he was standing still in the last 200. Yes, that was also related to endurance and age, but the way Bekele did it, with utter ease, leads me to believe that Geb in his prime would have still been outkicked in that race (realize that in 2003, Geb was not that far off peak condition. He ran, what was is it, 26:29 that year? And his sub 13:00 2nd 5k in Paris behind Bekele was an all time great performance of his, even though he lost.

When Geb ran his great 1500 times indoors, he spent an entire indoor season focusing on the shorter races (1500 & 3k), culminating his double WC victory. He even took on El G, and targeted in the indoor 1500 record which he just missed. Bekele on the other hand, has only run 1500's as afterthoughts. We don't know what he can do there, but I highly doubt his ability in that race is much different than Geb's. But we may never know his full ability unless he spends a whole season, like Geb did, focusing on the 1500/3k. This is a season opener, and after an injury, so even this race won't tell us his full potential in the 1500.

You know what the beauty of running is? - it's a very simple sport.

Hence the simple and ONLY answer to this remedial debate about how fast Bekele is over a metric mile, is to wait and see how fast he ACTUALLY runs. As I mentioned earlier, I have a feeling he will be very keen to run extremely fast over 3000m this year and therefore we might some time in this season see an answer to this question.

I am tending to side with Lance here, because the bottom line is, NONE OF US really have any idea what Geb and Bekeles top end speed was/is over 400m, and let's be honest - neither do they. The only way to find that out is if both of them had dedicated a couple of years to 400m running to see what they could achieve.

Raw speed is also hardly the defining factor for a good 1500m runner. Seb Coe could run under 22 seconds for 200m and ran 3.29.88 and Steve Cram would be lucky to break 23 seconds for 200m and ran 3.29.67

The 1500m is a funny distance and there are so many intangibles required to being a fast 1500m runner - ones we really have no idea about, and ones that are not quantifiable with pure numbers. A lot of it (obviously) comes down to the ability to run economically at race or "just-faster-than" pace, and for an elite like Bekele it's just practice and how much he does of it.

Who knows what he's been doing in training - I don't. In my opinion I don't think he'll be busting anything under 3.30.00, but outside of that I have truly no idea.

And neither do any of you.

i like running just as much as you do. the fact that i run 16:40 does not make me an idiot, nor does it diminish my right to talk about professional running.