It's the women's 800 a particularly weak event?

Two Russians were left out of that group where their times were annulled for doping. Savinova ran 1:55.87 beating Semenya for gold at the 2011 WC in Daegu (she beat Semenya a 2nd time at London running her 2nd fastest time of 1:56.19). Stepanova ran 1:56.99 also in 2011. Also of note were two other Russians, Poistagova (silver @ London) & Kostetskaya, who ran 1:57.53 & 1:57.82, respectively (both also served bans for doping).

The 800/1500/Steeple are the signature events for the Russian women over the last 20 yrs. It's all predicated on their state-sponsored doping program and you can clearly see the results in just the 800 alone - you don't beat Semenya twice back to back unless you're on a pretty good program.

6th man at st anthonys wins states in like 35 states

Interesting. I had no idea

You're right. I was wrong. Except by doing so you proved my original point even more lol... The 100m is even stronger on the women's side then I thought.. So... Thanks ? Lol

flvmmox wrote:

6th man at st anthonys wins states in like 35 states

Then why did 7:43 win 2019 state and it was not St. Anthony's. That's an average of almost 1:56 per man. To win 35 states I suspect it would take 1:55 or better and St. Anthony's had 6 that fast? You are also implying they are that deep each and every year.

my statement was moreso to emphasize that CHSAA intersectionals (which is only downstate NY catholic schools) is not a fair comparison to the majority of the USA, rather than to laud St. Anthony's (who i am pretty sure had 6 at at 1:56, and were the deepest throughout my HS years even when they lost to Chaminade)

If you look at 2019 state championship results, 1:59 wins in many states. plenty of kids who do not crack their 4x800 team in CHSAA, or the public school powerhouses in NY (idk, Shen, Warwick, Liverpool? not super up to date) can run well under 2:00.

go run wrote:

Without checking, I would agree that the 800 probably has more high school boys that could medal in the Olympics than any other event.

No way. 400m.

Heck - I was an "ok" 2 miler and I could still crank out a 50.0. Now imagine all the good 2 milers, milers, 800m, actual 400m and 200m high school boys.

800m requires anaerobic power. Women don't and really can't have even close to the same anaerobic power as men, due to genetics, unfortunately.

This is why female 400m runners struggle to move up because they rely almost completely on great speed to be great 400 runners.

and mile/3k/5k runners are all endurance and therefore when running an 800 it won't feel hard but due to lack of power they just can't move themselves any faster

Slavic Speedsters wrote:

Two Russians were left out of that group where their times were annulled for doping. Savinova ran 1:55.87 beating Semenya for gold at the 2011 WC in Daegu (she beat Semenya a 2nd time at London running her 2nd fastest time of 1:56.19). Stepanova ran 1:56.99 also in 2011. Also of note were two other Russians, Poistagova (silver @ London) & Kostetskaya, who ran 1:57.53 & 1:57.82, respectively (both also served bans for doping).

The 800/1500/Steeple are the signature events for the Russian women over the last 20 yrs. It's all predicated on their state-sponsored doping program and you can clearly see the results in just the 800 alone - you don't beat Semenya twice back to back unless you're on a pretty good program.

yes, it also shows again that such doping is most effective in the 800m. Because steeple was still a weak event back then and the more recent Russian 1500m times (as compared to the 80s/90s) were also no way as impressive as frequent sub 1:58 800m or even 1:55/56.

Likely, no more US women are running 800s for the rest of 2020.

Chanelle Price will have the US lead with her 2:00.12 -- albeit in a male-paced race -- while Cory McGee will have the official 2:00.16 lead.

Appears only Ajee Wilson did not race this summer.

This petri-dish-experiment of a season shows just how difficult it is for a woman to break 2-flat when gender and PED issues have been eliminated.

Despite her loss to Raevyn at Worlds last year, still have to presume Ajee is the country's best 800 gal. After her, however, anyone's guess who would come in 2nd and 3rd at the Trials and would they even be able to break 2:00.

Also, with Semenya given the heave ho, likely Ajee will never sniff sub-1:57 again, especially since she's hinted at moving up to the 1500 after Tokyo.

Her 1:55.61 AR should last for years.

OTOH, Mageean who was a bit behind the very top in the last few seasons and is more a 1500m runner broke 2 min as did a bunch of other Europeans during the Corona season. Rogers apparently didn't really get into top form in the current season. I agree that (e.g.) Monaco with Semenya as unofficial pacer yielded some uncommonly strong marks for some women and we are not likely to see them again in the near future. But if a 1500m runner like Reekie can break 1:58 (indoors), the really fast types like Wilson should also be able to run 1:56-57, at least in top conditions and top form.

This thread really got me thinking about how slow women are. There are thousands of high school boys who could crush the best American women in 200-400-800.