GALEN RUPP 13:06.86 PB!!!

Don't get fired up at Track Critic, he clearly is trolling. Nobody can claim to be that intelligent on the sport and not understand the needed requirements to run sub 13.

Rupp is ready and if he can get through the rounds at worlds and keep close and make the jump on Mo, he will be in contention to medal. He and Mo appear to be very similar in ability and closing speed, Mo had the position and jump today.

And let's all remember there are about 50 days (to train) until the 5000/10K in the worlds. One does not need to peak or be in sub-13 shape so much now as then.

I am a Rupp fan (GO DUCKS!!) however, kicking 54 off of 13:20 pace is nothing inless you run back to back 13:20, which would give you a world class 26:30 10K. Not since Pre or Bob Kennedy have we had an American with guts. Time will tell if Rupp has what it takes to make America proud.

Absolutely Blazing!

As a UK onlooker at the US resurgence in distance running I am utterly impressed with Rupp after this race. Was not sure he could hang so close to Farah especially on a last lap sprint out but he proved it here.

Even though his finish is not meant to be that good he was strong enough to outkick:

1) Merga, 12:54 5k this year

2) Alimerew, 7:27 3k this year

This indicates Rupp is probably in sub-12:53 shape since his strength is not even his finish but a rather a fast even pace race.

steve "red" wrote:

I am a Rupp fan (GO DUCKS!!) however, kicking 54 off of 13:20 pace is nothing inless you run back to back 13:20, which would give you a world class 26:30 10K. Not since Pre or Bob Kennedy have we had an American with guts. Time will tell if Rupp has what it takes to make America proud.

The US has several runners who are better than Kennedy (Pre isn't even worth dignifying with an answer) -- Rupp is just one of them. Kennedy could never have closed in 1:53 off that kind of pace, as Rupp did.

The true test comes at the World Championships, of course. Still, this shows that Farah was telling the truth when he said that Rupp was in just as good shape as he was. Beating Merga in the kick is big.

Rupp and Farah were both very impressive today. They handled the lead changes and jostling very well in the closing laps. They stayed patient, they paced well and kicked very strongly. There's every reason to believe they will be very competitive at Daegu.

steve "red" wrote:...however, kicking 54 off of 13:20 pace is nothing inless you run back to back 13:20, which would give you a world class 26:30 10K.

That's awesome! This thread is full of ridiculous claims and outright fabrications, but this one takes it to a whole new level. So to be "world class," you have to run a 26:30 10K while closing in 54? There are only three runners in history who have run sub-26:30 (Geb, Tergat and Bekele), and NONE of them closed in 54, or anywhere close to it, while doing so.

I can't wait until, someday, the world finally sees its first "world class" 10K runner. I just hope I'm still alive when it happens.

Farah was brilliant. Rupp was very impressive as he hunted down Merga.

however, this was a field of 15 representatives:

2 English, 2 American, 1 Irish, 2 Australian, 2 Norwegian, 1 Spanish, 1 Somalian, 1 New Zealander, 3 Ethiopian

don't get me wrong, but it isn't this field from a few weeks ago

5000 Metres - Men

Pts

1 Chepkok , Vincent Kiprop KEN 12:59.13 4

2 Merga , Imane ETH 12:59.47 2

3 Kipchoge , Eliud KEN 12:59.71 1

4 Cheshari , Jacob Korir KEN 13:03.73

5 Gebremeskel , Dejen ETH 13:05.52

6 Kuma , Abera ETH 13:07.27

7 Kiptoo , Mark Kosgey KEN 13:10.96

8 Bekele , Tariku ETH 13:17.74

9 Kigen , Mike Kipruto KEN 13:20.00

10 Choge , Augustine Kiprono KEN 13:21.24

11 Tanui , Paul Kipngetich KEN 13:25.69

12 Medhin , Teklemariam ERI 13:27.51

13 Mesfin , Hunegnaw ETH 13:38.92

Perhaps, but it was the same 12:59 Merga, no? And then there was a 7:27 3K runner. And we know what Mo ran recently at PRE for 10K.

It was certainly plenty tough of a field for Rupp to notch a 2nd place in.

I only stated my opinion (which everyone here is intitled to) Pre went to the lead as did Kennedy late in an Olympic race, that's guts! "It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all"

My take on it wrote:

How is it a sad post? I said 2007 had better performances, Lagat and Teg, and 2009, Ritz's 5k. Rupp just outkicked Merga for 2nd place off a fast pace. I never said this was the best performance by an American ever, simply the best 5k performance since 2009, calm down.

it said because you appear ignorant of Lagat and Solinsky's multiple sub-13 clockings last year.

steve "red" wrote:

I only stated my opinion (which everyone here is intitled to) Pre went to the lead as did Kennedy late in an Olympic race, that's guts! "It is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all"

Don't get me wrong, Kennedy was great, but he would most likely have been destroyed in a race like this. You are trying to re-write history a bit here; it seems like you're trying to give the impression that every race he ran was like the 96 Olympic 5000. That's just not the case.

Track Critic wrote:

... Still not sure Rupp has the leg speed to run under 13:00. And usually I do know what I am talking about.

Really? Doesn't have the leg speed? That may be true, but I think his real strength lies in his foot speed, not his leg speed. So perhaps you are not looking at the right thing. My roommate would claim that we are both wrong and that it is tummy speed that really matters but that is a different story.

Anyway, take another look and be careful to note the foot speed that Rupp displays (try not to get too focused on the leg speed). I think you will see that his foot speed looks great and that with such great foot speed he is sure to be competitive on the world stage.

Perspectivation wrote:

Perhaps, but it was the same 12:59 Merga, no? And then there was a 7:27 3K runner. And we know what Mo ran recently at PRE for 10K.

It was certainly plenty tough of a field for Rupp to notch a 2nd place in.

Merga and Kuma, yes. and the field had "some" competitors. but Rupp's 2nd place finish in a Diamond League race does not "appear" to be the average DLL.

your typical top meet and WC event will look much more like below. Zurich last summer:

Pos Name Nat Result

1 Tariku Bekele ETH 12:55.03

2 Imane Merga ETH 12:56.34

3 Chris Solinsky USA 12:56.45

4 Vincent Kiprop Chepkok KEN 12:57.77

5 Mohammed Farah GBR 12:57.94

6 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KEN 12:58.91

7 Moses Ndiema Masai KEN 13:02.45

8 Vincent Yator KEN 13:04.50

9 Lucas Kimeli Rotich KEN 13:04.85

10 David Kiprotich Bett KEN 13:06.06

11 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 13:07.06

12 Galen Rupp USA 13:07.35

13 Titus Mbishei KEN 13:13.81

14 Jacob Cheshari KEN 13:15.93

15 Sammy Alex Mutahi KEN 13:16.60

16 Christopher Thompson ENG 13:28.43

In my memory (1972 and later) Pre and Kennedy were the only Americans with the guts to lead a Olympic track distance race. And yes I will be the 1st to admit that 1996 was Kennedys' finest and really only gutsy shining moment.

Here is the results from the past 3 global championships so one person broke 13 in all of them and the medalist were decided by who had the best kick not who was the fastest time trialist. Galen Rupp is starting to show that he is mentally tough and has the closing speed to handle a tactical race. If he goes out and runs 12:55ish for 5k with his strength over 10k I think few people will be able to doubt that he is a real medal contender now. Some times things are too good to be true but what result are we looking at the shows that he isn't a medal contender? He ran 13:11 indoors, 60:30's in the half marathon and now a 13:06 with a 1:53 final 800. Yes Bekele can close with a 52 on a similar paced race but his final 800 and 1200 isn't any faster then what Galen just ran today and galen beat two guys that many people consider the best in the world. I think that either Mo Farah or Galen will come home with a medal this year and could possibly be a winner next year. Nobody has 12:40 5k speed or sub 26:20 10k strength in the world right now so everybody on any given day is just as good as the next 26:50 guy.

2009 Berlin

1 402 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13:17.09

2 1196 Bernard Lagat USA 13:17.33

3 952 James Kwalia C'KuruQAT 13:17.78

4 1134 Moses Ndiema KipsirUGA 13:18.11 (SB)

5 726 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 13:18.95

6 401 Ali Abdosh ETH 13:19.11

7 497 Mohammed Farah GBR 13:19.69

8 1235 Matthew Tegenkamp USA 13:20.23

9 719 Vincent Kiprop ChepKEN 13:21.31

10 361 Jesús España ESP 13:22.07

11 802 Chakir Boujattaoui MAR 13:23.05

12 1229 Chris Solinsky USA 13:25.87

13 722 Joseph Ebuya KEN 13:39.59

14 813 Anis Selmouni MAR 13:44.59

15 344 Teklemariam Medhin ERI 13:44.65

16 132 Collis BirminghamAUS 13:55.58

2008 olympics

1 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 12:57.82 (OR)

2 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 13:02.80 .

3 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KEN 13:06.22 (SB)

4 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro UGA 13:10.56 .

5 Abreham Cherkos ETH 13:16.46 .

6 Tariku Bekele ETH 13:19.06 .

7 Juan Luis Barrios MEX 13:19.79 (SB)

8 James Kwalia C'Kurui QAT 13:23.48 .

9 Bernard Lagat USA 13:26.89 .

10 Kidane Tadasse ERI 13:28.40 .

11 Aelemayehu Bezabeh ESP 13:30.48 .

12 Thomas Pkemei LongosiwaKEN 13:31.34 .

13 Matthew Tegenkamp USA 13:33.13 .

14 Jesús España ESP 13:55.94 .

. Alistair Ian Cragg IRL DNF .

2007 World Championships

1 1113 Bernard Lagat USA 13:45.87 .

2 768 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 13:46.00 .

3 1067 Moses Ndiema KipsiUGA 13:46.75 .

4 1143 Matthew Tegenkamp USA 13:46.78 .

5 532 Tariku Bekele ETH 13:47.33 .

6 588 Mohammed Farah [] GBR 13:47.54 .

7 506 Jesús España [SESP 13:50.55 .

8 533 Abraham CherkosETH 13:51.01 .

9 923 Felix Kikwai KiboreQAT 13:51.18 .

10 498 Ali Abdalla [ERI 13:52.69 .

11 1101 Adam Goucher [USA 13:53.17 .

12 810 Hicham Bellani [MAR 13:55.44 .

13 340 Craig Mottram [AAUS 13:56.24 .

14 827 Juan Luis BarrioMEX 13:59.86 .

15 774 Benjamin Limo [KEN 14:01.25 .

Actually they were on 13:24 pace, which is the pace of a world class 10K either front 5k or back 5k. Heck it's barely faster than American record pace.

my six year old daughter could run fast, ruppp is sooo soft

Traditionally at championship races the problem isn't kicking off a "moderate" pace, it's kicking off a race where the pace has varied dramatically. Diamond league races tend to be kept at a steady pace and we see big packs with 1 or 2 laps to go, all in contention for the win. In championship races (unless its stupidly slow) we often see the packs disintegrating going into the final mile because of the varied pace.

I'm not sure if anyone can bring up the lap splits from those title races above? I remember in 2008 Bekele had a couple of goes at the front mid race piling on the pace before drifting back and letting it slow somewhat. For some reason, and I have no idea what it is, there seem to be a different group of athletes capable of hanging on kicking hard in this sort of race: kipchoge and kipsiro for instance have proven to be good at this. Teg, on the other hand, seems to have suffered in these races. I cant predict whether Rupp will be comfortable in a race where the laps are going 68-62-67-67-61, and thats going to be what determines his performance at the WC's up against a dozen sub 13 5k men.