Does today's race mark MO FARAH as competitive on the world stage?

Bekele is the best. He will win the Olympics in 2020. He opened Berlin with a 1:01:10, and got a 2:03:03, so I think he is the best. The scary thing was, he wasn't even fully fit that day(he said 80%). He has been unlucky with sickness, bad running shoes, blisters, falls, so when everything comes together next time, he will destroy the field. I predict a 2:02:40 in Berlin.

If I was Bekele, I would do the Great Manchester Run before Berlin this year(like in 2016), and try and get the course record. That will sharper the fukk out of him. If he also finds a half mary in the summer, he will be laughing going into Berlin in September.

One has to be a total idiot to think third place at london isnt already competitive on the world stage. There are maybe 25 marathoners in the world who might be able to beat him ...

well, there's this: wrote:

It WAS the world stage, and Mo was NOT competitive. There's no point in the race where anyone would rationally think Mo was going to win. He showed he can place, though.

Running with the leader for over half of the race, and placing third, is "competitive."

The London Marathon is the "world stage."

Bye-bye.

Zuck wrote:

With his first split being close to 61:00, surely he would have run much faster had he gone out more slowly, such as in 61:45-62:00. Can Mo break 2:04, or win Olympic gold in 2020?

yes, i think Farah can run 2:03.xx. he ran 2:06 the hardest way this weekend

i know this is a massive bunch of speculation (hey, that's what we do here), but if the weather had been cooler and they went out sensibly at 61:45-62:00, he would have run 2:04 and I think Kipchoge would have broken the world record.

jkgkubk wrote:

Zuck wrote:

2:04: highly wind-aided

Ran London faster: did not go out well-below WR pace, Farah is clearly capable of better

WR pace? Hall went out around the WR pace. Farah needs to run fast and then we'll see if he's clearly capable.

Hall's top finish in London was 5th.

This was one of the best fields EVER for a marathon and Farah got 3rd. Great, great run. And he survived going out 4:22 1st mile.

history major wrote:

- You noted that Hall ran faster at London than Farah. (By four seconds, hahaha.)

- I pointed out that Farah opened in 1:01:03, and that Ryan Hall did not open that fast.

- You made some moronic remarks about how Hall opened fast in 2008, "on WR pace."

This is the part where I tell you that the leaders opened in 2008 with a 1:02:13 (which wasn't even WR pace AT THE TIME).

Being a world renow history major thanks to Justin Gatlin, I did a little research.

The world record in April of 2018 was 2:04:26. So they opened exactly on WR pace, unless of course your factoring in the drop the first few miles.

I agree with the rest of what you said however.

Yes, we can now safely say Mo is competitive at the world stage.

His 2011-2017 were the greatest streak of championship distance running of all time, and it's not even close. (Caveat that Geb may have had a similar record if the 10K didn't have rounds as his peak). So we know he's an expert at peaking when it counts and is a great racer.

Now he has a very competitive marathon under his belt.

Probably not going to dethrone Kipchoge on a day where they're both firing on all cylinders, but, you know, 'even Homer nods...' Kipchoge is likely to falter at some point. (Right now he's more like a God than a man at the marathon, in my eyes.)

I'd think Mo has about equal odds of winning Gold at the 2020 Olympics as of winning a Major, as the Olympics tend to produce more variable results (e.g. 2004 & 2012) -- unless the organizers stack a major for him one year, which could totally happen.

I was surprised by his performance at London overall.

ScottEvil wrote:

I was surprised by his performance at London overall.

Same for me.

Anyone hating on Mo's performance has no clue. It was warm, they opened at sub 2 pace and the first half is just insane. He hung in there and raced 2 win. He didn't. But this run was a superb performance. He did what most letsrunners thought he would NEVER do: Go out in a major race at a major distance and go for the world record for a significant amount of time.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him go at least 2:03:xx very soon if he catches a good run.

Anyone who thinks Bekele is still good is a moron. His career is over.

Lets Run Logic - Mo SMOKES Bekele in London.

Mo sucks and will never contend at a WMM only running 2:06.

Bekele is the best no matter his last race and will be back in Berlin for the World Record.

PUHHHHHHHHHHHHLEASE BRAH

Mo's PR is better than Kawauchi's PR by nearly two minutes. No competition.

The lack of brains here never seizes to amaze me. Clearly some people didn't get the memo of Bekele's 26:17 and 12:37. He is the best ever, and he will be the best again. He has just been really unlucky.

I never said Mo won't contention. I'm sure he will do plenty of good marathons, and go faster, but so will Bekele. Bekele is a 2:02 guy in my mind. Nobody expected his 2:03:03 in Berlin, so he can do it again. I'm going to try and contact him, because I have more brains than any coach. I can motivate him, and tell him what races to sharpen up with for Berlin. Manchester for starters. Try for a course record. He should do 2 other races before Berlin too. A 10 miller, and a half marathon.

Subway Surfers Addiction wrote:

Bad Wigins wrote:

You make a good point. The 1500 was his best chance for the world record he'll regret not getting for the rest of his life. Very much correct.

Did you actually see him run 3:28.8&9? He was way off WR pace both times. His 1500m bests came after he was 5 & 10k Olympic champ. He showed more aptitude over longer distances before he showed anything over 1500m.

Here is some simple arithmetic to help the numb skulls compare Mo's PB's to the WR's in each event:

2.8s /1.5km = 1.87 s/km

15s/5km = 3 s/km

29s/10km = 2.9s/km

204s/42.195km = 4.83 s/km

relative to the world records, marathon is Mo's worst event by far, despite having focused on it for a couple years. The 1500, which he only attempted twice on a lark and never trained specifically for, is his best event. Salazar was a bonehead for not realizing his potential and steering him into middle distance.

Not even going to bother with the snide idiots who think WC marathon is top tier. Don't kid yourselves.

The Monaco 1500s were Mo at full tilt. Look at last year's 10,000m he mucked around waving to the crowd, pumping them up until a couple of kms to go and still did 26:49. The idea that he can't run faster than 26:46 is preposterous. 10km is his best event, pretty sure he was unbeaten between 2010-2017.

More Mo in to the future:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/23/mo-farah-london-marathon-return-2019

jkgkubk wrote:

Not quite as competitive as Ryan Hall who ran London faster than him and who also ran a 2:04

I like Hall but you are posting junk.

Your post is simply wrong. If Farah focused on the 1500m he would still have no world records and wouldn't have won nearly as many medals, if any.

You are wrong on all measures of this subject. PBs mean nothing. Farah clearly didn't care about improving his, much to the dismay of fans.