Nijel Amos: 1:41.73 World Junior 800m record

On an unrelated note, I personally believe that if Amos gets his act together (he is rumoured to like parties) and also stops doing the 80km a week of jogging he has started in recent years and focuses on best utilising his clearly fast twitch muscles in the way Rudisha does, we will see the world record go down in a couple years.

He is that talented. His 44.1 relay split in Beijing was unreal. He needs to teach that speed to last. He still looks raw and ragged, as if he isn't quite properly trained. His jogging won't help his speed last in the 800m.

Amos ran 1:42 the last two years.

So that's three different years running sub 1:43.

And he consistently runs 45. for the open 400 every year.

But he didn't make the WC final in 2013 or 2015.

Last year he ran the second fastest time in the world and 3 of the 6 fastest times on the world list.

In 2014 Amos ran the fastest 800m time in the world for that year.

So, it's not like Amos really slipped after running that 1:41 in London.

That race will be lifetime best for almost everyone in that race.

thats what i had thought but his iaaf profile had that as his HS pr, anyways thats more spot on as to what amos did

so yeah brazier could possibly hit a 1:42 this year

The thing about age cheating is that we assume cheating by default. Everyone said Haile was 25-30 when he won WJrs in 1992.

But then, he ran 2:03:59 in 2008 at 35 -- but according to speculative ages -- he would have been 41-46.

And later still, he ran 61 min in 2013, which would have been at 46-51.

The real case was probably that his age was correct -- he was just light years ahead.

I never really cared about junior records because people peak and mature at different ages.

The idea is that a fast junior will be a fast senior and it isn't always the case.

Once you're hitting world class times all that matters is how you do at the very top of the sport and for how long.

In Amos' case I didn't care so much that it was a world junior record but that he became the third fastest 800m runner ever in that race, tying Seb Coe.

That's impressive on it's own.

Metric Miler wrote:

On an unrelated note, I personally believe that if Amos gets his act together (he is rumoured to like parties) and also stops doing the 80km a week of jogging he has started in recent years and focuses on best utilising his clearly fast twitch muscles in the way Rudisha does, we will see the world record go down in a couple years.

He is that talented. His 44.1 relay split in Beijing was unreal. He needs to teach that speed to last. He still looks raw and ragged, as if he isn't quite properly trained. His jogging won't help his speed last in the 800m.

The general consensus from AW readers at the time is that the 1st and 2nd leg splits at Beijing were out! 1st legs given too slow, 2nd leg (Amos's) too fast.

See: -

44.1 does seem unrealistic, but canT say for sure without seeing the video!

Anyone have a link for that heat?

Not sure I believe that about inaccurate splits, the timing systems at Beijing are nothing to be sniffed at.

Believe me, if you find a video of the race you will see how insane that run is!

Oh wise Metric Miler how would you train Amos? 80km is not that much. Seb Coe ran more than that. Since you think you know so much about his training and what people can do based off of other performances. Still watching for Slagowski to break 1:48. Don't let anyone tell you that you aren't the #1 troll on Letsrun. You are

Just like we do with every other phenom in the United States, I believe we are hyping up Brazier too much. There is no denying he is an exceptional talent, but hyping up to be the best 800 runner in the country and expecting him to do well in Rio could put a lot of pressure on such a young kid. I wouldn't blame him for not intending to run the trials, he's had a long season and is in peak form now. Will it last for the Trials and can he survive three rounds?

Thanks for the reply.

Star wrote:

In Amos' case I didn't care so much that it was a world junior record but that he became the third fastest 800m runner ever in that race, tying Seb Coe.

That's impressive on it's own.

Great post, Star.

It was exactly that that impressed me in Amos' time.

what say you wrote:

Don't know a whole lot about world junior records but saw the extreme excitement when it came to Brazier's 1:43.5

Is 1:41.73 really the world record? This seems insane. This is light years faster than Brazier. What's the deal? Is this record the product of doping?

Amos wasn't a junior. A great talent but yet another lying African. Amos was claimed to be a teen so he could go after youth and junior titles. Most of the time it isn't the runners, it's their federations making them do this - one Kenyan steepler was quite funny remarking on his junior races that took place when he was in his mid 20's.

Look up what was done with "junior" soccer, the Junior World Cup etc. to stop African Federations lying about the ages of their players - all kinds of guys in their 20's and 30's who were claimed to be 18 and under. Track needs to do the same, revamp junior records if necessary to be age 18 and under and then use the MRI wrist scan. This will clean up a lot of messes at the World Youth and World Junior Championships.

All the SWJ's will grab grab their manginas in horror at these truths but things are the way they are because of sissified officials and third worlders who protected for a variety of political reasons. Lots of talent in Africa, and lots of cheats as well.

TrackCoach wrote:

what say you wrote:

Don't know a whole lot about world junior records but saw the extreme excitement when it came to Brazier's 1:43.5

Is 1:41.73 really the world record? This seems insane. This is light years faster than Brazier. What's the deal? Is this record the product of doping?

It is almost universally understood that every youth and junior record over 400m is false and is the result of age fraud. Amos' 1:41.73 was supposedly run at age 18, that is still his PR 4 years latter. Nearly all of the Africans on the junior 800m top-10 list never improved much beyond their junior marks, which suggest they were probably in their mid-20s when competing as juniors.

True. For instance, Aman was supposed to 17/18 in the same Oly final and his OWN AGENT said Aman was likely 24 or so, and he said same likely could be applied to Amos, with Kitum probably about 22 or 23 at the time. Talented liars and fast runners.

Old Kids wrote:True. For instance, Aman was supposed to 17/18 in the same Oly final and his OWN AGENT said Aman was likely 24 or so, and he said same likely could be applied to Amos, with Kitum probably about 22 or 23 at the time. Talented liars and fast runners.

Realistically they likely don't know how old they actually are. For a kid who might be 19 but could be anywhere from 17 - 22, going by the age they would be if they'd followed their country's standard education path does not seem unreasonable. Does it give them an advantage at world junior sporting events? Sure. That being said, I doubt there's any malicious/dishonest intent involved; the kids legitimately do not know their biological age.

cali boy wrote:

Old Kids wrote:True. For instance, Aman was supposed to 17/18 in the same Oly final and his OWN AGENT said Aman was likely 24 or so, and he said same likely could be applied to Amos, with Kitum probably about 22 or 23 at the time. Talented liars and fast runners.

Realistically they likely don't know how old they actually are. For a kid who might be 19 but could be anywhere from 17 - 22, going by the age they would be if they'd followed their country's standard education path does not seem unreasonable. Does it give them an advantage at world junior sporting events? Sure. That being said, I doubt there's any malicious/dishonest intent involved; the kids legitimately do not know their biological age.

You seriously doubt that there's any malicious/dishonest intent involved? You haven't been following athletics very long, have you?

This is one of the dirtiest sports in history and I'm not solely referring to the rampant PED usage.

Lol lol wrote:

cali boy wrote:

Realistically they likely don't know how old they actually are. For a kid who might be 19 but could be anywhere from 17 - 22, going by the age they would be if they'd followed their country's standard education path does not seem unreasonable. Does it give them an advantage at world junior sporting events? Sure. That being said, I doubt there's any malicious/dishonest intent involved; the kids legitimately do not know their biological age.

You seriously doubt that there's any malicious/dishonest intent involved? You haven't been following athletics very long, have you?

This is one of the dirtiest sports in history and I'm not solely referring to the rampant PED usage.

Let me clarify: I don't think the kids that are somewhere between ages 17 and 22--maybe 24?--go into world junior championships thinking "ok, I'm six years older than these guys, easy medals."

I think that most of them legitimately do not know how old they are, but realize that they are good at running and then have a coach tell them to run world juniors.

From the coaching side, I assume that there's a significant amount of corruption--that doesn't mean I consider the ~20 year old kids being coached to be "liars" for not knowing how old they are.

I assume Aman and Amos were in their early 20s in the London Olympic final. I also doubt that Amos knows where in that ~17 - 24 range he fell in 2012.

Spot on! Plenty of other guys it's the same for

There is as much racist about this as in suspecting Russian athletes. Look at the evidence: African federations have not been testing their athletes. When there are tests, there is advance notice. When positive tests occur, there is extortion and corruption. We have actual evidence of all this. As for the age cheating, the fact is that there is or was no rigorous procedure for issuing and maintaining birth certificates in much of Africa. I saw that bit about what level of school Amos was in. I had a student in the secondary school I taught at in Malawi who had been three years ahead of one of my fellow teachers there. The teacher had advanced through the national exams and graduated from college while the other student had advanced only to the senior year of secondary school. The student was about 29. The average age of a senior was well over 18. There were many reasons for age cheating in school (sometimes students fail exams and don't advance for year, while at other times they don't start school until late or their parents lack money for school fees and need them on the farm) and having nothing to do with athletic performances, but that adds a new dimension. If you are "18" and running in the 1:45-1:47 range, you look much better to an agent than if you are really 22 or 23 at the time.Open your eyes. Here's just the latest story about Kenyan age cheating where their under 20 team was banned for it:http://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00042650.html

El Keniano wrote:

The troll miler meter wrote:

For someone who slanders African athletes based on suspicion of drugs and age cheating on nothing more than being fast and from an African country, you Metric Miler should be banned for being a racist. A racist troll

+1

TrackCoach wrote:

what say you wrote:

Don't know a whole lot about world junior records but saw the extreme excitement when it came to Brazier's 1:43.5

Is 1:41.73 really the world record? This seems insane. This is light years faster than Brazier. What's the deal? Is this record the product of doping?

It is almost universally understood that every youth and junior record over 400m is false and is the result of age fraud. Amos' 1:41.73 was supposedly run at age 18, that is still his PR 4 years latter. Nearly all of the Africans on the junior 800m top-10 list never improved much beyond their junior marks, which suggest they were probably in their mid-20s when competing as juniors.

Which make Legat and Geb setting masters records at 47 instead of 40. Amazing!