Sedjati = obvious EPO cheat: 1:41.46 800

Recall this use name?

Even Nijel Amos thinks he's dirty.

Yeah I wish... realistically that top 5 of Sedjati, Attaoui, Tual, Pattinson and Cheminingwa are probably all doped up. I'm afraid that the clean winner here will not even get a medal.

Sedjati: 1.5 second PB at 25yo, just an absurd time.
Tual: 3 second PB at 26yo after running 1:44-1:45 since 2019.
Attaoui: 2 second PB.
Pattinson: 2 second PB after running 1:44 since 2021.
Cheminingwa: 4 second PB at 26yo, ran 1:49 in 2021, 2022 -> 1:46 in 2023 -> 1:42 in 2024.

Honestly the most convincing one is Attaoui because he's 22 and has dropped time every year. Hopefully Arop can sneak at least a medal, feels like he deserves one and the dopers are gonna steal it.

Recall your reputation?

kind of things we call "cervelles d'oiseaux".

Of the 5 you listed, it's actually the two North African (I know Attaoui is Spanish, but is he really?) that are the least blatantly doping. Attaoui is 22 and only looks like he started focusing on the 800 two years ago. Sedjati has still only been running for 4 years (!) and just basically never has a bad race.

Tual is so blatantly doping it's not even funny. Massive improvement, physique change, and lack of fatigue. Probably hoping for the home Olympics to sweep his positive test under the rug?

Mohamed Attaoui born in Beni Mellal (Morocco).

Disgusting race. You could see the users leave the clean guys behind in the finishing straight.

Sedjati is especially disgusting. Anti-doping is complete bullshlt if it can't or doesn't kick out guys like him.

Anti-doping efforts target certain athletes, right? I mean, in terms of economy, it would make sense.

It is about time to clean the circus. No one right in his mind believes that recent performances are clean. Recent results in the 800m, 1500m, 2000m, 3000m as well as 5000m are only possible with steroids plus good old EPO. Some maybe clean but majority clearly not.
It is either masking agents or some federations protect their own cheats.

If we wanna save the sport, time to act: 5 year bans, criminal law enforcement, civil liability, repayment of prize money would be a good start.

If there is suspicion, just let law enforcement do a Dawn RAID at Pro Training Groups and we will easily find out if they are clean and rumours were based on false accusations and due to envy, or not.

How could you possibly know that? He is coached by OAC Europe which I thought was considered a reputable group. I guess not to some. He’s 22 and has been looking like a better athlete with every race.

Only real level of suspicion here is a VERY rapid progression, but he is 22, and the fact that he is a Moroccan-born Spaniard (not a great track record).

Most certainly not. It’s about an athlete that has fought, struggled, and done everything correctly. Getting robbed by shortcuts is a travesty.

That will never happen. Sponsors,coaches,doctors and national sporting federations protect most cheats. Nations hide their doping,sweep it under a rug and protect their sports stars very well,especially if there's prestige to be had,and money to be made . Also in America, athletes would simply sue the drug testers,and get to keep their careers.

I don't think the majority of the 800 guys are doping (* or any more than any other event). For years the 800m has sucked. Now it's finally just decent.

A mid 1:41 is like 3:28/3:29 equivalent in performance level. The 800m is just a weird event where it is harder to drop down to, or up to, from other events, at the very top level. You really need to be an 800m specialist to run 1:41. It's also a more challenging event to get the training right for. It's unforgiving if the training isn't really dialed in. The nature of it means a top runner is more likely to be off the radar in terms of being in the spotlight until everything comes together for them. I see this often at the high school level, where all of a sudden 11th and 12th graders are popping fast 800m times they weren't really getting before, either for being in the wrong event or finally getting the racing/training dialed in for themselves. Just pick your own state's top high school rankings on athletic.net for the 800m. When reviewing the prior years performances of milers or 400m, almost all clearly showed promise in prior years. So many of the top 800m are surprises in comparison, with middling performances in either the sprints, distances, or even the 800m in prior years until they really dialed in something right. I'm never surprised by runners having big improvements in 800m all of a sudden. I find it much more surprising in the sprints or mile+

When Coe ran 1:41.7 43 years ago (not even focusing entirely on the event), the world records were 44.26 in the 400 and 3:31.3. Having a handful of guys slightly under 44.2 and 3:31 after having none for years wouldn't mean that all of them are doping, it would just mean that the event is closer to being where it should be from a competitive standpoint. Having lots of guys running under 3:31 shouldn't be a surprise now, given technology and training improvements, and the same goes for having a lot of guys running under 1:42. It should probably take a sub 1:42 talent to make the US olympic team in 2024, just like it should take a sub 3:31 talent to make the US olympic team. I surmise more 1:41 talents end up in other sports compared to 3:30 talents. So many 800m talents are probably playing spring soccer or other sports in high school. Without the proper training they don't run the gym class mile that forces them into track.

I always sort of considered it a weird event because true 1:40 talent probably means you'd be competitive enough in the 400 or 1500, but often the 800m specialists often have huge dropoffs in competitiveness when moving to the 400 or 1500m, more so than other events.

If Nick Symmonds can run 1:42 clean, lots of guys should be running 1:41 clean.

I've only seen Sedjati run twice, last week in Paris and tonight in Monaco. Tonight, he looked like he was running a 1:43 semi-final, not exhausted. He's talking breaking Rudisha's WR in Paris and says he has two weeks to get that fitness, which it seems he believes he can achieve. There's a lot that doesn't seem right with him.

A lot of these Diamond League races in Paris and Monaco have been real headscratchers and this was no exception. There must be a combination of newly effective 800m track spikes and drugs because we've never seen this kind of onslaught of numerous men and women from numerous countries improving this rapidly in such a short time. Whereas we've seen Jakob gradually arrive on the scene over the course of at least the last ten years, with age-appropriate improvements year after year to the point of running .4s faster than his pr in this race over last year, we have seen 5 different 1:41s, Wanyonyi at Kenyan champs and Paris, Sedjati at Paris and Monaco, and Atal in Paris. Atal there dropped his pr massively (and backed it up with a low 1:42 here) to a level better than Cruz, Coe, or even Amos ever ran. Crestan dropped a low 1:42 last time out. Attaoui did it here, dropping 2.3 seconds. He is only 22 (born in Morocco) and what is notable is that his improvements in the 800m this year are the worst of his career! At the beginning of 2020, his first IAAF 800m mark, he ran 1:56.70. In 2021, he ran 1:52.90 at the end of the year. He was just 20. He was still 20 the following June 2022 when he dropped another six seconds to run 1:46.94. He dropped 2.6 seconds in 2023 for 1:44.35, and now he's at 1:42.04. He's the most dubious after Sedjati who reminds me a great deal of Ramzi and Katir, an obvious doper. Then there's Ben Pattison, who dropped 1.75s after all this time. He couldn't go with faster paces before. Something is up.

Totally get that but he was a 1500m runner dabbling in the 800 at 20. He also came to Spain at 6, not later in life if that matters. He was not running in major meetings and his PB comes from a win in a low-key Spanish race. So he’s in much faster races, joined the OAC Europe team and become a full-time 800m guy. Anyone watching him this year knew a 1:42 was highly possible in the right race. He’s looked very good each time out. As far as I know no weirdness with his agent or the OAC coach. So to me, I’d put him in the generic category I’d put most guys running this fast.

Don't forget what Lee Evans did in Mexico City in 1968, thirteen years before Coe set his 800m wr of 1:41.73. 43.86 for 400m.

By Atal, I meant Tual. His emergence on the scene at this level has been so rapid, I didn't even really know his name.