Meet 800 phenom Patryk Dobek - He's undefeated at 800 and just won Europeans after picking up the event less than a month ago

I bet Rojo Bot could also say wow. He actually has a tremendous background for the 800m.

This was a great achievement for him, but let's face it, this was no tactically brilliant race. He put himself boxed in back and was given not one but two huge gifts in his opponents moving aside for him to go through. As a 400m hurdler he knows how to run fast in his lane, and that is what he did. He took advantage of his opponents' bad judgment. But there are a lot of 400m hurdlers and 400m runners we have argued should move up to the 800m, so this was not an enormous step for him to do so. The long hurdlers have more endurance than the 400m runners and so have long done well in the 800m when they have tried it.

Oh yeah, I see big future for this guy too. 46 low for 400m and 48 low for 400m hurdles. Beautiful stride and deadly kick. If he works on his stamina for the heats, you might be looking at an olympic medalist.

Also he weirdly passed everybody on the inside of lane one in that EC final all the way from 6th position to the lead. Is the inside the new outside?

It seems on the pro level the inside usually opens up in championship races. Many runners want to drift over to block incoming runners but they’re running slightly more distance and leaving the inside open.

Amazing checked on his previous 800m and couldn't find anything.

https://worldathletics.org/athletes/poland/patryk-dobek-14389330

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Amazing checked on his previous 800m and couldn't find anything.

https://worldathletics.org/athletes/poland/patryk-dobek-14389330

Yeah, but we know you are not very clever.

ukathleticscoach wrote:

Amazing checked on his previous 800m and couldn't find anything.

https://worldathletics.org/athletes/poland/patryk-dobek-14389330

He had never run an 800 until February 12th according to tilastapaja.

I've actually wat ched every single 800 he's ever run now (at least finals).

Here is his debut race. This is my favorite race. He gets passed by Ksczot about 550 meters into it and you just sort of assume, "Oh the 400h guy is going to fade big time" as a slight gap opens up. Then he storms back and wins the thing.

Here is his win at the Polish champs.

And the win at Euros is above.

I added this line to the first post as it just hit me, he may be the greatest 800 phenom in history.

"Serious question, has anyone in the history of the world ever run 1:46 in the third 800 competition of their life?"

Amazing. Please be in the Olympics. What a story.

rojo wrote:

Here is his debut race. This is my favorite race. He gets passed by Ksczot about 550 meters into it and you just sort of assume, "Oh the 400h guy is going to fade big time" as a slight gap opens up. Then he storms back and wins the thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfwccp9tqf0

That's Rozmys, not Kszczot.

rojo wrote:

I added this line to the first post as it just hit me, he may be the greatest 800 phenom in history.

"Serious question, has anyone in the history of the world ever run 1:46 in the third 800 competition of their life?"

I’m pretty sure that Alberto Juantorena ran 1:49.8 in 1973, 1:50.9 in 1974, and then 1:46.1 in 1976. That 1:46.1 had splits of 49.8, 56.3!

Those were outdoor races, which made it a little easier for Juantorena. Let’s hope Dobek can continue to improve as fast as Juantorena did.

The recently retired Chris Giesting ran 1:46 a couple months into his first season as an 800m guy. That didn't exactly pan out.

rojo wrote:

I added this line to the first post as it just hit me, he may be the greatest 800 phenom in history.

"Serious question, has anyone in the history of the world ever run 1:46 in the third 800 competition of their life?"

The reason I doubt that he is the greatest 800 phenom in history is that he is 27 years old and has essentially been training somewhat like an 800m runner for a long time. Look at Harold Schmid who got a WC Silver and an Olympic Bronze in the 400m hurdles. He also happened to run 1:46 at age 20 and 1:44 at age 29 and several othe 1:44 efforts in between. Schmid also ran 20.68 for 200m.

Another rojo thread of great substance.

Loved him commentating and watching the second place instead of first and thinking that was the winner and record. LoL

Seriously...did he really go to an Ivy league uni, or did wojo double up as him?

if you care to look, or are a great follower of T&F as an owner/editor of a running forum should be, then you shouldn't be asking the question.

Marthinus btw, ran 1:46 in his first competitive 800. He was already 29 though

Two Minute Thousand wrote:

rojo wrote:

I added this line to the first post as it just hit me, he may be the greatest 800 phenom in history.

"Serious question, has anyone in the history of the world ever run 1:46 in the third 800 competition of their life?"

I’m pretty sure that Alberto Juantorena ran 1:49.8 in 1973, 1:50.9 in 1974, and then 1:46.1 in 1976. That 1:46.1 had splits of 49.8, 56.3!

Those were outdoor races, which made it a little easier for Juantorena. Let’s hope Dobek can continue to improve as fast as Juantorena did.

Juantorena ran much faster than 1:46.1 in 1976.

schweddy ballz wrote:

Two Minute Thousand wrote:

I’m pretty sure that Alberto Juantorena ran 1:49.8 in 1973, 1:50.9 in 1974, and then 1:46.1 in 1976. That 1:46.1 had splits of 49.8, 56.3!

Those were outdoor races, which made it a little easier for Juantorena. Let’s hope Dobek can continue to improve as fast as Juantorena did.

Juantorena ran much faster than 1:46.1 in 1976.

Of course he did. He set a WR in the Olympics, and he ran even faster the next year. The question asked was whether anybody had run as fast as Dobek in his third 800 ever. That’s why I stopped at his third race.

I apologize for posting fake news. Jonathan Gault - our reporter with unbreakable ethics - has had to let facts once again get in the way of a good story.

He has learned that Dobek actually raced one 800 prior to this season as a kid. According to a Polish database, he ran 2:08 at age 15 in 2009.

https://domtel-sport.pl/statystykaLA/personal.php?page=last&nr_zaw=32851&r=2&sezon_Z_L=L

Interesting. Anyone ever gone from a world class 400 hurdler to a world class 800 runner?

pablo x2 wrote:

Interesting. Anyone ever gone from a world class 400 hurdler to a world class 800 runner?

Well arguably Harald Schmid was both as you can see in my post earlier in the thread. There are a couple other cases I believe.