The Dingo^3 wrote:
you ok bro? wrote:
It's not exciting because every year there's a 14-15-16-17 year old E. African that runs a super fast time...then that ends up their lifetime best or close to it. You can speculate as to why that is. Only a one off star runner-type may change that typical scenario, but hard to say if that would be G.M.
+1
Within the last 5-6 years:
Isaiah Koech ran 12:53 INDOOR as a 17 year old
Hagos ran 7:32 and 12:47 as an 18 year old
Kejelcha ran 12:53 as an 18 year old
Those three were lauded as being the next big threats to Bekele's WRs. Hagos and Kejelcha are still competitive though certainly not the world beaters everyone thought they would be, and I don't think Koech is even on the circuit anymore.
A random Norwegian (or any non-African country) running that type of time at 17 is much rarer. That's why it's being talked about more.
Honestly this, and I remember LRC going "nuts" for all 3 of those runners. Kenya may have modernized to the point where everyone is born in a hospital with a proper birth certificate. But, still hard to get excited about these performances given the past.