TheTruff wrote:
just sayin wrote:i dunno
it obvious he not good enough to compete for medal at 5000
he may as well stick with 10000
he past his best and all the problems he been havin with the blood passport since 09 not helping his preparations
^^^This is the correct statement. End of Tread.
How is it obvious that he is not good enough to compete at the 5000? If he's good enough to compete at the 10000 then he's definitely good enough to compete at 5000.
He won the Pre 10k and dropped out of this 5k
For all the people who are saying that Bolt is going to struggle to defend his title, he has a far better chance than Bekele.
The old Bekele I think could have handled the field easily. But I'm thinking Mo Farah is the favorite again going into the world championship.
I don't think Mo Farah though is a dominating favorite. Several people can beat him.
Mush wrote:
He won the Pre 10k and dropped out of this 5k
His Pre 10k was on par with the finishing time of this 5k. If he couldn't handle 13:07 or whatever for a 5k then he wouldn't have won the 10k at Pre.
It has been very sad to watch Bekele the last few years. An incredible champion reduced to mediocrity, running way too many races with far too little recovery in between, trying to chase standards and qualify for his national team like some 2nd tier athlete and always talking about how he is rounding into form and will be his old self any day now.
Sad.
Shows you how special Geb and Lagat are. Then again, they didn't have to deal with the tragedy that Bekele did.
It wasn't just that he couldn't run 13:04, he couldn't even stay with the pack to 3k.
Pace was supposed to hit 3k in 7:45 but Edris only hit 3k at 7:49. And he was way out in front. Choge was leading the chase pack and probably came through in 7:53-4. Big group behind him, then a gap, then Bekele, who must have been close to or over 8 minutes at 3k.
It could just be exhaustion from the 10k and the long trip. He's getting older so it takes him longer to recover. That doesn't mean he can be in top form in Moscow.
But it rules out the double. He won't be able to run 3 races in 6 days.
That said Edris is now third by time in Ethiopia. Merga or Jeilan could run faster (both have about 13:09). The 5k is after the 10k so it won't hurt. If he could get a race around 13-flat he could qualify
Honestly I'd rather see Bekele just take it slow and getback to really good form next year