Mo Farah told us today he thinks he could have run 12:45 in his prime.... Agree or disagree?

From memory, Geb was the only athlete complaining about the track being too hard, which I think had something do with his previous shin or achilles problems. The 10K heat had no affect on the top athletes, for athletes like Geb and Tergat, it was less than a training run. The 10K heat only eliminated athletes who really shouldn't be there. Some of the top athletes would jog half of that 10K and run hard the last couple laps. Some athletes didn't even spike up for those 10K heats. It was hard on the 10K/marathon double, but otherwise a training run or a nuisance. The extra 5K heat was a similar situation albeit perhaps to a lesser extent. I really doubt the extra heats would have affected Mo.

The 5k and 10K records are really strong, I don't think Mo at his peak could have come close to either of those records. Btw, AlSal has said on several occasions that his training was geared towards winning championships and staying healthy. That was the goal. Setting world records is a big deal, but nothing trumps winning.

12:45 sounds about right.

For everyone complaining about the 5k/10k records being too doped up to approach, why is it that the 1500 and 800 times the last several years have been historically great?

Anybody remember Kiprop nearly breaking the 1500 WR just the other year? Along with several other guys in the 3:27-29 range? Or the 1500m race where like 8 dudes broke 3:30?

If you think the 5k/10k records are untouchable because of dope, then you'd clearly also think the same with El G's 1500m record.

Fact is Mo has softened and ruined the sport. He ruins every race he runs by sitting and kicking and this has festered throughout the rest of the sport. Nobody ever tries to run fast above 1500m because they choose not to try. Mo is just the biggest offender of that and capitalized to win medals.

Mo has definitely geared his racing towards the big events and has successfully stayed healthy which i think is one of the more surprising aspects of years of dominance.

I was reading an old Letsrun article on Bekele at the end of the 2009 where it stated he won 17 5,000m races in a row in the span of 3 years...not sure how accurate that is but that's a lot of racing (not to mention other distances like 10,000m, 3,000m, etc...) and perhaps lead to his injury problems he developed soon after that season.

DickleRick wrote:

For everyone complaining about the 5k/10k records being too doped up to approach, why is it that the 1500 and 800 times the last several years have been historically great?

Anybody remember Kiprop nearly breaking the 1500 WR just the other year? Along with several other guys in the 3:27-29 range? Or the 1500m race where like 8 dudes broke 3:30?

If you think the 5k/10k records are untouchable because of dope, then you'd clearly also think the same with El G's 1500m record.

Fact is Mo has softened and ruined the sport. He ruins every race he runs by sitting and kicking and this has festered throughout the rest of the sport. Nobody ever tries to run fast above 1500m because they choose not to try. Mo is just the biggest offender of that and capitalized to win medals.

The sub 3:30's have only been in Monaco, which is clearly a tuned track for the middle distances; apart from something like 3:29's elsewhere in the last 10 years!

There have been several seasons when no one has broken 3:30.

This year we're back to what one 3:28 high and one or two 3:29's.

in the 800m no one has broken 1:43 this year and I don't think anyone's broken 1:42.3 since 2012.

I think it's clear that the testing is becoming more thorough and more athletes, including previously little tested Africans are not subjected to similar levels of testing out of competition. Look at the form of Kiprop and Suleiman since Rosa and Aden were caught and interrogated.

Never considered Geb better than Mo till I read this. +1.

this haha

Kiddiidyyd wrote:

Londoner wrote:

Gold medals are remembered long after world records.

Ok, quick test.

Who holds the 5000m world record?

Who won the 5000m at the 2000 Olympics?

Just saying...

golden league days, pretty sure you had to win every race to be in the running for the money, and you were competing with men & women, and every event

winning the golden league was pretty hard, couldn't afford to falter once

I think Farah's answer is honest, without pride, and probably pretty accurate. makes me respect him a little bit more...just a littlebut he still probably doped to get so good and he still never went after it, so we'll never know, will we?!he sure was good at winning since 2011 though, wow

LetsRun.com wrote:

Jonathan Gault caught up with Mo today in Zurich:

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2017/08/big-tidbit-zurich-mo-farah-thinks-run-5000-1245-800-144-5-time-trialed-one-prime/

Gotta bee wrote:

this haha

Kiddiidyyd wrote:

Ok, quick test.

Who holds the 5000m world record?

Who won the 5000m at the 2000 Olympics?

Just saying...

...and in which Olympics did Roger Banister win his gold?

Querfeldein wrote:

Out of competition testing for EPO and later the biological passport did not, and does not prevent doping, even when it is administered effectively, but they do set upper limits, at least for the highest profile athletes.

Except when the IAAF does not open a case. We have many reasons to believe at this point that is how they handle athletes they consider valuable. Mo would be one of those athletes.

He's a great ambassador for the sport. He's great on camera. Apparently a nice-enough guy in person when doing promotional stuff. If I were the IAAF, I'd be sure he would never test positive.

bekele wrote:

Nothing about the fact that Farah got great at age 28 and has ties to Salazar, Aden and some kid buying EPO in Kenya .

It should be remembered the Bekele did run in the era of BP. He's still running fast marathons now when healthy.

And when the BP came along he went from being a 12:40 runner to a 12:50 one. Obviously there is no way to figure out how things like injuries (bad luck or caused by him not doping as much and therefore being unable to handle the workload) and aging also played a role. And yes he has run a couple decent marathons. But they are the marathons of a 26:50 runner not those of a 26:20 one.

I would still go for Bekele as the GOAT given his 6 year run of dominance but it is pretty darn close. A lot depends on if you place any value on XC titles or not.

Kiddiidyyd wrote:

Londoner wrote:

Gold medals are remembered long after world records.

Ok, quick test.

Who holds the 5000m world record?

Who won the 5000m at the 2000 Olympics?

Just saying...

You are comparing current data (WR) vs. historical data (2000 Olympic Champ). That makes it an improper argument.

An easy counter would be who won the gold at 2016 Rio 5k, who held the WR in 1989? This, however, would also be an improper argument, but it serves the same purpose as your statement.

When I grew up, I dreamed about winning the Olympics - maybe breaking the WR later.

But ask Keni Harrison which one she would rather be known for right now.

Prime Addict wrote:The sub 3:30's have only been in Monaco, which is clearly a tuned track for the middle distances; apart from something like 3:29's elsewhere in the last 10 years!

is this a joke ?

tuned what ??

in '11, big-Man ran 1'42.61 in monaco but 1'41.33 !!! in rieti

so that obviously means rieti is 1.28s faster for 800m than monaco ?!

so that obviously means monaco isn't "tuned" for 800, but "magically" gets tuned for 1500 ?!

This year we're back to what one 3:28 high and one or two 3:29's.

in the 800m no one has broken 1:43 this year and I don't think anyone's broken 1:42.3 since 2012

eh ???

you forget 1'42.15 to win gold last year ???

what about the 1'42.61 with huge amount of wide running on bends by maloofi for silver ???

murphy's 1'42.9

all these run after rounds & fast rounds

2 points about mo

- he hasn't a clue about his ability

he thought he coud run 3'30 in '13 but ran 3'28 !!!

that is 2s out there which means 6 - 7 out for 5k by just proportion

- it woud be churlish to say he coud break 5k wr because then he woud be hugely pilloried for making such a bold claim & never even attempting it

as it is, i regard him as having abilty to have broken every record from 1500 - 5k but not 10k & '15 looked peak when he couda run 3'27-flat at worst if smoothly drafted to bell

i reckon in '15 his line of fit was with 49 to 50s speed & 10k of probably 26'25 - 26'30

i'm just doing the range & not 10 different sets with 49.0, 49.25, 49.5, etc , 26'25 , 26'30

49.00 - 50.00 / 26'25 - 26'30

->

1'44.20 - 1'45.86

3'25.92 - 3'28.44

4'41.00 - 4'44.00

7'15.10 - 7'18.85

12'33.74 - 12'38.39

all of above off 5k/10k training

he is right about 1'44+, but that i think was just a wild stab in the dark type of number he threw up

i am absolutely certain of 1 thing

if mo in '15 or even this year had trained just for for 5k/1500 not even full time 1500 training, he couda broken the 1500 wr

if he had trained exclusively for 1500 those years, he had potential to run about

3'25-flat

This is pretty correct. Mind you sub 1:42 races are pretty rare with big gaps in between. Willis was on here a couple of years back claiming that the fast times in the Monaco 1500m were due to its close proximity to the warm up area and the quality of pacing.

Uh no, he didn't and that is it. People always say I could have done this or that better. Well if he had everything to run those times he would have. He didn't, he was a miler that took advantage of his speed to win titles. Also is the reason he won't do well in the half or marathon. Those others before that ran faster we're true long distance runners and proved it all the way to the marathon.

Kiddiidyyd wrote:

Gotta bee wrote:

this haha

...and in which Olympics did Roger Banister win his gold?

...and in which Universe is being the first to run sub-4 min no different than setting any other world record?

But that would make him faster than Jim Ryun.