Could Mo Farah break the 10K track WR this summer?

I'm not knocking Mo Farah but he is more of a 1500m/5000m man who has been handed the right tactics in 10000m championship races to walk away with the titles. I don't see him coming close to the 10000m WR as he has a better chance at the 1500m WR then the 10000m!

So my answer is NO, as he would have a major challenge just running sub 26:35!

I'm not knocking Mo Farah but he is more of a 1500m/5000m man who has been handed the right tactics in 10000m championship races to walk away with the titles. I don't see him coming close to the 10000m WR as he has a better chance at the 1500m WR then the 10000m!

So my answer is NO, as he would have a major challenge just running sub 26:35!

You guys are making it out easier than it is. Do you really think that Rupp is able to run 26:15? That is 33 seconds faster than he has ever run, and 55 seconds faster than his next fastest 10k.

26:43 is the fastest time run in the last 8 years. only 3 guys have run under 26:30 in all of history, and they are all the "Best-all-time" types. (Bekele, Geb, Tergat). And 26:30 is 15 seconds off what a WR would be.

Look at the 5k times that were required to make it to 26:22 for Geb, and 26:17 for Bekele, and 26:27 for Tergat. Tergat ran 7:28/12:49/26:27 and 26:27 is 10 seconds slower than a new WR would be and the 10k was Tergat's best event of those three.

There is a reason that nobody has threatened 26:17 or 12:37 in 9 years.

Clearly, Farah has run spectacularly IN ONE RACE at 1500m and is faster than any distance runner in world history at 1500m. However, until he can run 7:25/12:46 for an average outing I don't see his chances as good for 26:15.

Today's runners race much less than those of the 70s, 80s and 90s. Which makes it harder to see what kind of shape they are in, and when they are in it. Because of this, it is POSSIBLE that Farah has been in 7:25/12:45/26:30 shape at various times over the last 3 yrs and just has not demonstrated it.

Even if he has been, those kind of times are the same amount of time behind a WR that he is in the 1500m (~2.5 secs/1500m or 1.8s/kilo). I don't think he has had 7:20/12:36/26:16 form the last several years and has just been hiding it from the world.

If the athletes were given carte blanche in terms of drug testing for six months or a year (like they were in the 90s) they would have a better shot at the 5k/10k WR.

I do agree with your pacing idea, and that is EXACTLY how it would need to go. They would need 2 guys to bring it through 5k in 13:08-13:10 and then a couple 12:50 level runners to bring them through 8k at the same pace (63 a lap) and then maintain on his own to the last lap and run the last one in 59-60. That would yield 26:15-16.

ventolin^3 wrote:

Their times are comparable to his. Does anyone know what Komen's pacing was like?

i need to get hold of komen's '98 indoor season vid ( it went by so fast i missed it on satellite )

he probably was in outdoor shape that brief period of

3'27-mid/high/7'17/7'18/12'33/12'34

( the 3k/5k reports are awesome !!!

jogged around for 2k in 3k & almost 4k in 5k & blitzed it !!! )

he was in hugely better shape then 7'20-rieti & still probably the best 5k guy who ever lived

he was probably in 12'33/12'34 shape in his 12'51iwr

This is a serious question:

If you want to find out what he was capable of for 1500m, why don't you plug his 7:20 / 12:39 WRs into your calculator?

Talking about what he "might" have been able to run at 3k and 5k and then plugging that in and extrapolating a possible 1500 ability out of it, doesn't make sense for a guy who set WRs at 3k and 5k. His career is over, he set a WR, the WR has stood for 15 years. That is how good he was. There is no use in speculating how good he might have been "in a perfect race" or with better pacing or conditions. Those times are what he ran under the conditions they have on the circuit.

They are the same conditions he would have encountered in this mythical 3:27 1500 you say he would have run.

I think Mo can run a huge PR at 10K. Don't know about the world record though.

With all due respect, Bekele may have had some HELP with that record.

oodk wrote:

TAA wrote:

The 5k is the most competitive its ever been. Remember in 2012 when 6 people broke 12:50?

No, it's not. Sure, these guys have fast PRs, but they haven't been in that form since that race and they have no racing skills (they keep using the same sit and kick tactic against a 3:28 1500m runner in slow races. They are idiots).

So, if you were in the race you would do better? What's your 5000m pr by the way?

newname wrote:This is a serious question:

If you want to find out what he was capable of for 1500m, why don't you plug his 7:20 / 12:39 WRs into your calculator?

Talking about what he "might" have been able to run at 3k and 5k and then plugging that in and extrapolating a possible 1500 ability out of it, doesn't make sense for a guy who set WRs at 3k and 5k. His career is over, he set a WR, the WR has stood for 15 years. That is how good he was. There is no use in speculating how good he might have been "in a perfect race" or with better pacing or conditions. Those times are what he ran under the conditions they have on the circuit.

They are the same conditions he would have encountered in this mythical 3:27 1500 you say he would have run.

err...

i see you have reading problems

i said that in that brief coupla week period indoors in '98, komen was in absolute top shape of his life

he destroyed wrs off a jog 'til more than 1/2 way

his 3k shouda been 7'22i/7'23i at even pace & his 5k ~ 12'45i or faster

if he had been running outdoors instead of indoors, he shouda been looking at 3'27/7'17/12'33/12'34 in ideal races

problem was he never kept that form for the outdoors & even his 7'58 in sydney was a serious tailing off in form

No. He isn't going to run faster at 31 than a bekele at 21. /thread