Mo Farah only 12.9 100m time in BBC Superstars Show

His 12.98 would rank him 50th in the UK in 2012.... in the under 13 boys category!

Yet somehow, through his 'incredible endurance' he can run 1.48 in the 800m. Wow!

boubatronic wrote:

His 12.98 would rank him 50th in the UK in 2012.... in the under 13 boys category!

Yet somehow, through his 'incredible endurance' he can run 1.48 in the 800m. Wow!

It's not just that he has good endurance. His 100m time is surprisingly slow because he has poor acceleration. His top end speed is probably just fine. It just takes him forever to get there.

boubatronic: "Right, so my 14 year old former self could out sprint the Olympic 5000m / 10000m champ, who also has a 1.48 clocking to his name."

That is absolutely correct, assuming your 14-year-old former self could go sub-13 FAT in a block start 100m.

Assuming you are genuine, why do you find this impossible to believe?

kdkd--

"Surprisingly" is a concept that is relative to expectations.

To me, his time is not at all "surprisingly slow".

His top end speed is absolutely nothing compared to sprinters, absolutely nothing. It is "just fine" for distance, unless he is battling it out on the last lap with a guy like Jeilan.

Sprintgeezer - why do you get a fattie about FAT?

Because it's the only reliable timing system, assuming it is set up and operated properly, that will allow comparison between athletes not running in the same race.

Also, because I have seen such bogus results from other timing systems. You would not believe the times I have produced from "trained" hand timers, and from photocell setups. Most recent are the magnetic technologies that are in vogue, which can be good for timing flying intervals.

Meanwhile, you can rejoice in the proposition that you were once faster than the double Olympic champion.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Unless anyone can definitively prove otherwise, I assume that photocell timing was used, which likely means you can add around .2 for RT, and another .1 or so for the arm or hand crossing the line rather than the torso.

I admit that I could be wrong about the timing. Anyone with good info?

The elapsed time clock displayed in the video clearly starts running before anybody moves. If you step through frames, it shows at least 0.28 before anybody has visibly reacted. That's not definitive, but it doesn't fit neatly with your presumption that reaction time isn't included in the results.

So... 49 twelve year old boys in the UK ran faster than Mo's 100m time in 2012.

Meanwhile, only 20 GROWN MEN could beat his 800m PR.

Even if we accept Ventolin's quite modest 51s prediction for a 400m, that still requires some sprinting power.

And don't even begin to try and convince me he runs a FLAT OUT 100 in 13, then somehow negative splits the next three 100m sections to hit 51. Absolutely ridiculous.

Boub--

You don't think a guy like Farah, with absolutely no sprinting ability, could negative-split say a 200, 300, or 400, with respect to the first 100m?

But forget that--you seem to believe that there is some 1:1 relationship between the 800m and the 100m from the blocks.

ABSOLUTELY there is not. Which is why Rudisha would also suck at the 100m, only not as much as Mo.

Citizen--

While I haven't checked that myself, I will take your word for it.

I already thought about that, and posted on this thread about microphone triggers, and photocell timing potentially being good on the start, but not so good on the finish.

So let's assume you're correct, that means that we should probably add only around .10 I assume also that there were in fact no false-starts, as it "looked good" to me, and that there was no tailwind, as the rain "looked good" to someone else.

So those assumptions put Mo at around 13.1--which, I must say again, is more than good enough to win double Olympic gold.

For my part I just round his 12.98 to 13 for purposes of convenience.

But that means that Joshua ran a pretty great race! Again I don't believe the assumptions are true without better verification--but assuming they are, that means he went 11.63, which is tremendously fast for a guy his size.

And in anticipation of the inevitable disagreement, YES, it IS tremendously fast, even though he is young and trains power.

Sprintgeezer wrote:

Boub--

You don't think a guy like Farah, with absolutely no sprinting ability, could negative-split say a 200, 300, or 400, with respect to the first 100m?

But forget that--you seem to believe that there is some 1:1 relationship between the 800m and the 100m from the blocks.

ABSOLUTELY there is not. Which is why Rudisha would also suck at the 100m, only not as much as Mo.

Absolutely no sprinting ability? I'm not sure about that...

People with "absolutely no sprinting ability" do not run 1:48.69, 3:33.98, or even 26:46.57. Period.

In order to produce times, such as the above, one must possess a combination of both tremendous endurance and considerable speed. There are plenty of runners that have great endurance, but have no sprinting ability whatsoever-- these runners do not become Olympic champions.

Now, regarding the 100m:

I am certain that, given Farah's world-class times in the distances, he is capable of running faster than 13 seconds.

For instance, take his 800m time of 1:48.69, this is clearly more elite than a 13 second 100m-- which is commonly run by high school athletes with very little training. Regardless of event specific variables, such as starting blocks, elite times require elite ability; hence, I am 100% certain that a motivated and prepared Farah is a faster than an average high school athlete, no matter the distance.

Alpha0 wrote:

hence, I am 100% certain that a motivated and prepared Farah is a faster than an average high school athlete, no matter the distance.

So just because it's an average high school performance means that Farah should be able to do it? Can he also beat an average high schooler in the field events?

So just because it's an average high school performance means that Farah should be able to do it? Can he also beat an average high schooler in the field events?

In response to the first part of your post: Yes.

The ability that is required to run (note the word "run".) elite times in the distance events is applicable to other distances, such as the 100m, to an extant that makes it reasonable to assume that Farah is faster than an average high school 100m time.

As for the field events, I don't think that's a fair comparison. Running times are, naturally, a poor indication of success in the field events. But running times are a serviceable indication of success in other [running] endeavors.

Boubatronic wrote:

I take it your pr for 800m is nowhere near 1.48. I would suggest he can sprint 'adequately', you moron.

An 800m is a middle distance race, bube. A 12.9 100m is not anywhere close to an adequate 100m sprint. A low 11 is sometimes seen in girls high school races and a high 12 is usually beaten by a lot. How do you get 12.9 as adequate? Don't pull the ad hominem against me. Treat the argument on its own terms. Mo is a great, great distance runner. And as I said this result says something about just how different are the requirements of distance running and sprinting, since Mo is currently the best kicker in the world in the distances.

Alpha0--

You are completely incorrect, and you have no understanding at all about sprinting.

I just talked to a guy who does a lot of timing, and he estimated from the observable setup and race that .20-.25 would be a reasonable time to add to Joshua's time, due to unknown microphone position and his hand sweeping across the finish line as much before his torso as possible.

So, let's say that gives 11.75 That is a believable time, and is absolutely smoking. What looked great about his race was his apparent SE. He may have chopped his stride a bit, which indicates that if he learned to relax more over the last half of the race, he could probably evolve to an honest 11.4-11.5 FAT 100m.

That is great, I now want to see this guy with a real belt, if he doesn't already have one! (don't follow boxing much anymore)

Oh, and a personal post:

HEY GALLAGHER YOU F-TARD, WHERE ARE YOU?

Come out and fight, you loser.

According to

http://www.thesuperstars.org/comp/75eurofinal.html

, Mariano Haro ran 13.2 sec for 96 metres in the 1975 Superstars European final. (The backmarkers who ran the full 100m were the 400m hurdler and the pole vaulter - pole vaulters did very well in these Superstars events).

Following is the blurb about Haro from the same site (

http://www.thesuperstars.org/athletes/haro.html

):

The diminutive Spaniard was twice in the running for an Olympic medal, he finished fourth in the 10000 meters in 1972 and sixth in the same race in 1976. Ranked a high of fourth in the world by Track and Field News in 1972, Haro finished second at the I.A.A.F. World Cross Country Championships for four straight years from 1972 to 1975, each time second to a different man. At the 1968 Olympics, he failed to advance out of his heats in the 3000 meter steeplechase and Haro also failed to finish the 5000 meter final at the 1972 Olympics.

It is humanly impossible for someone who can't run faster than 12.9 to be a world class 5K runner. Humanly impossible. There is NO WAY that he can't run faster than that.

I can't explain his slow time other than to guess that he probably just didn't try.