Odira and Hunter-Bell ran more even splits: 56.27/1:54.62 (58.35) +2.08 and 56.08/1:54.90 (58.82) +2.74. It was law of diminishing returns for everyone else who went out too hard including Hodgkinson 55.85/1:54.91 (59.06) +3.21. It may have also been difference between first and second. For Odira it was the best paced effort. Keely likely wanted to control at the front and not let Moraa get away but it made a difference over the final meters. These are 400m splits:
1 Mary MORAA KEN 55.67 2 Keely HODGKINSON GBR 55.85 +0.18 3 Audrey WERRO SUI 55.86 +0.19 4 Sage HURTA-KLECKER USA 56.06 +0.39 5 Georgia HUNTER BELL GBR 56.08 +0.41 6 Lilian ODIRA KEN 56.27 +0.60 7 Sarah MORAA KEN 56.48 +0.81
This is what I was looking for thank you. You can completely see the mistake Keely made. And then with the lack of speed work training in her legs she lost it in the last 20m or so. See Werro got sucked in to that pace too and paid for it.
Running a more even paced race and holding back really worked for Odira and GHB.
Mary Moraa clearly got to Keely once again.
Fair to say the lack of speed training wasnt optimal, but its not lack of speed-training you need the last 20meters...
Hardly a teen phenom. She ran 2:14 at 18 and 2:11 at 19. Georgia Hunter Bell ran 2:08 at 15. Keely ran 1:55 at 18.
Not to mention that Odira might be older than her stated age.
2:07.8 in an unpaced Trials race at age 17, 2 months shows promise. We also don’t know her full competition picture as in the mid-2010s few races make the WA database. And schools races never do.
This is what I was looking for thank you. You can completely see the mistake Keely made. And then with the lack of speed work training in her legs she lost it in the last 20m or so. See Werro got sucked in to that pace too and paid for it.
Running a more even paced race and holding back really worked for Odira and GHB.
Mary Moraa clearly got to Keely once again.
Fair to say the lack of speed training wasnt optimal, but its not lack of speed-training you need the last 20meters...
To be fair her legs went more in the last 5 meters. Her coach said she’d done no speed training or even any of her usual 400m races. She’d missed a huge chunk of her usual training. It was pretty impressive that she came back and ran in the 1.54s so soon.
Not sure if this is true but they said on BBC 5 Live this morning that she’d been suffering from a stomach bug in the week. Whatever the reason I do think she looked more fatigued/puffy and red faced than usual.
That could purely have been lack of training. Running rounds of 800ms in the Tokyo heat is. Wry different to a DL race with lots of recovery.
Keely’s lack of speed training was significant because it determined her race strategy. She said she didn’t have confidence in her kick and was therefore committed to wrestling the lead from Moraa. I suspect that was also why, when she finally got the lead at 600, she pushed on immediately, rather than running controlled around the bend, letting the rest come into her shoulder and kicking hard with 100 to go.
No you wouldn't. 1:54 is a time that barely gets touched. We went years without any non-DSD woman breaking 1:55 and now three have done it in one race. It's extraordinary. It's believable from Keely because this is now her third time running clean under 1:55. But those question marks will hang over Odira and GHB. You can rationalise this all you want, but dropping 4 seconds from an 800 PB in a single year, to run possibly the third fastest time ever by a non-DSD athlete, at the age of 26, is at the very least remarkable. As Mo Katir showed us, if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.
Don't forget super shoes have become a huge factor in the 800m since Semenya & co were running. Do not underestimate the significance that has had.
and I forgot to add.....bicarb has been used for YEARS & YEARS, I don't know why posters are suddenly having this fixation with it. Super shoes have not though, they are recent.
I pointed out that GHB also had a long break from the sport after being a teen phenom. I just said I wanted to know what happened for like the 5 years when she didn’t break 2:10 and assumed she had a kid.
As for Moraa, I can’t stand the way she races or comprehend it. It’s the worse consistent tactics I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how a coach, agent or sponsor doens’t explain 6th grade tactics to here. Like it’s really absolutely unbelievable to me.
I’m honestly not that suspicious of Odira. If Sage can run 1:55, then I’d expect a former teen phenom from Kenya to run at least 1:54.
Hardly a teen phenom. She ran 2:14 at 18 and 2:11 at 19. Georgia Hunter Bell ran 2:08 at 15. Keely ran 1:55 at 18.
Not to mention that Odira might be older than her stated age.
Can we conclude:
- Brits also dope
- even track and field athletes
- even distance runners
- even white people
But white male British distance runners don't know about doping at all.
2:07.8 in an unpaced Trials race at age 17, 2 months shows promise. We also don’t know her full competition picture as in the mid-2010s few races make the WA database. And schools races never do.
Should be revised to 2:04 apparently to win Schools champs.
Was watching RoJo and Gault's recap show. I can understand their dsapointment at their favourite Hodgkinson losing again. But had to log off after they started talking about how Lilian needs to explain her absence from the sport whining about Kenyan doping when simple journalistic research would've revealed she became a mother of two.
RoJo can barely conceal his contempt for Mary Moraa who he depicts as a spoiler, so that made Lilian Odira's win extra sweet for me. Also, calling Kenyans "suspicious" when we now know US authorities hide their violations is rich!
I think I'm due another hiatus.
I disagree with your assessment of what happened.
I pointed out that GHB also had a long break from the sport after being a teen phenom. I just said I wanted to know what happened for like the 5 years when she didn’t break 2:10 and assumed she had a kid.
As for Moraa, I can’t stand the way she races or comprehend it. It’s the worse consistent tactics I’ve ever seen. I don’t know how a coach, agent or sponsor doens’t explain 6th grade tactics to here. Like it’s really absolutely unbelievable to me.
I’m honestly not that suspicious of Odira. If Sage can run 1:55, then I’d expect a former teen phenom from Kenya to run at least 1:54.
"If Sage can run 1:55"...
That doesn't make the point you think it does. Just as unbelievable. Nothing can now be assumed to be clean at this level.
As for a "former team phenom" going from 2 mins to 1:54 this year in less than 6 months - farcical improvement. That she is Kenyan is saying the same now as if she were E German in the 70's and 80's. All juiced.
This post was edited 8 minutes after it was posted.
Andrews gets a lot of accusations around here because of her "huge" drop in the 5000m. She dropped from 14:43.36 (1196 WA points) in 2023 to 14:254.37 (1231 WA points) this year. That is a 35-point drop in two years as opposed to a 30-point drop in one year.
I'm not one to throw around accusations and I personally think that probably at least 95% of all pros are clean, including Andrews, Hurta, Mu, Wilson, and Wiley whom I mentioned above, but the accusations are extremely biased here. If you are going to accuse Andrews, you need to accuse Hurta.
Even the IAAF had to admit that at least 30% are dopers. At least 95% clean?? LOL
These races are scarcely different from when we saw E Bloc athletes dominating in the 70's and 80's. It inspires disbelief. Nothing on the track today can be trusted.
These races are scarcely different from when we saw E Bloc athletes dominating in the 70's and 80's. It inspires disbelief. Nothing on the track today can be trusted.
So many clouds to shout at and you have to come here. Sheesh, what a drongo.
These races are scarcely different from when we saw E Bloc athletes dominating in the 70's and 80's. It inspires disbelief. Nothing on the track today can be trusted.
So many clouds to shout at and you have to come here. Sheesh, what a drongo.
And your head is in the clouds. A bunch of women runners - many of whom were nonentities - running times that would have won all the global championship titles until a few years ago arouses no scepticism in you in a sport known for its doping.
So many clouds to shout at and you have to come here. Sheesh, what a drongo.
And your head is in the clouds. A bunch of women runners - many of whom were nonentities - running times that would have won all the global championship titles until a few years ago arouses no scepticism in you in a sport known for its doping.
And your head is in the clouds. A bunch of women runners - many of whom were nonentities - running times that would have won all the global championship titles until a few years ago arouses no scepticism in you in a sport known for its doping.
It's past midnight. Stop drinking and go to bed.
You should take your own advice. Especially about the drinking.