He's literally approaching Jim Ryun status!
Ok. We merged two threads into 1 and kept Rojo's title. Here is our article on the race: https://www.letsrun.com/news/2...
Update. Here is the race video for US visitors:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Race highlights for others:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
He's literally approaching Jim Ryun status!
Teen Racers wrote:
1:42.7, 2nd fastest time of his life.
Takes down Arop. Wow
An American winning a DL is extremely rare, no matter the age.
Update. Here is the race video for US visitors:
Race highlights for others:
1:50.79 age 15
1:44.98 age 16
1:42.53 age 17
1:44.45 age 18
1:43.65 age 19
1:45.41 age 20
1:44.51 age 21
I wouldn't say it's unbelievable or he had an incredibly fast drop off. Kitum that is.
Was just a young talent. Amos was still running 44.99 and 1:41.89 7 years after the 2012 Olympics. If he age wasn't accurate and even if he was 25 in 2012 and age 32 in 2019 it's much more unlikely, but not quite out of the realm of possibility I guess to go 1:41.89 at age 32. The fastest time for a 32 year old I can find is 1:42.80 by Gray. Also the women's world record in the 800m was set by a 32 year old. Gray was amazing only .2 of a sec slower 7 years later.
I'm not sure how CL gets the AR, a couple ways I guess, but I think he needs to go out closer to 50 flat and follow a pacer through 1:15 leading to a 1:41.5.
I’m not sure why, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, but this kid makes me appreciate how good Jim Ryun was.
MilesOfTrials_ wrote:
Amazing I didn’t know they did this now
Nakaksnshizjsisjsjnsnwnsnsnne wrote:
Forget the fact that he has enormous potential to improve. The scary part is, I think he can squeeze a significant amount more out of even his current fitness.
First of all, he ran a lot of extra distance being in lane two for so much of the race.
Secondly, his 1500m capabilities mean he should be running his races like a true 400/800 runner. He almost even-split this race. He was racing like a Nick Symmonds and he needs to be racing like Rudisha.
I don’t particularly blame him, I don’t think he assumed he would run so fast, and I don’t think he assumed that he was faster than the entire DL field. Going out mid-pack is a reasonable strategy for a 17 year old.
But he needs to stop being reasonable. Forget his age, he’s clearly one of, if not THE best 800 runner in the world, and as a speed based guy, he needs to be in 1st through 400, not 7th or whatever it was.
I just looked up Marco Arops 1500m time, he’s ran 3:35. No way should cooper have been behind him through 400.
We should see some massive improvement from Cooper just from him racing how he should be. Add on an actual increase in fitness and it’s all over.
I think many here fail to understand the speed based guy running the 800. As a former speed based guy who ran 800s, it's actually much easier and more likely we win if we sit and even split. The distance of the 800 is way more taxing for a speed guy vs a distance guy. So the goal is to draft off someone and get pulled through the first 500. Then utilize your speed to finish strong. The first 400 is supposed to feel so slow and relaxed that it didn't take anything out of you. You lose this if you front run. I think arop would benefit from a coop strategy but unfortunately there's not many people fast enough to really pull him through so he's stuck hitting it hard the whole way by himself.
I agree coop could run faster. But it will require a faster race that pulls him through faster. This is why he was only running 145 last year. Suddenly when he got to usa and hoey pulls him through in 50, we (and coop himself) finally saw what he was really capable of. For him to get the wr and break 140 it will require his aerobic ability to increase and a significant reduction in his 1500 time. He's still only 17. There's plenty of time for that improvement to happen. Right now he should keep doing what he's been doing until he start to stagnate