Cheptegei isn’t even in the same conversation as Bekele. Only comes up big during COVID year where I’m sure it was easy to beat testing
Cheptegei isn’t even in the same conversation as Bekele. Only comes up big during COVID year where I’m sure it was easy to beat testing
Cheptegei is good, but not in the same conversation than Bekele.
Bekele would have beaten Cheptegai every time in the 10 000 and the 5 000.
Cheptegei may never be an olympic champion.
yes
Bekele then Geb.
I mean Bekele is the greatest ever. Cheptegei is really good and getting silver today shows that while beatable on the track he certainly can still race as many were ready to say guys like Kiplimo and Kejelcha had too much speed for him.
Bekele is goated as hell. Bekele with pacing lights and new shoes would have run fantasy times. Master of the wind up into kick as well. GOAT for a reason.
Cheptegei has great pace, but finishing speed is not his forte. Bekele combined strength, pace, and finishing speed in one super-dominant package:
GUH wrote:
Cheptegei has great pace, but finishing speed is not his forte. Bekele combined strength, pace, and finishing speed in one super-dominant package:
Yep, a slow, medium or fast pace all play into Bekele's strengths.
I'm a Cheptegei fan, but he lacks the insane finishing speed Kenny had (and Geb had it too). That's so critical to championship races. The marathon may end up being his best event.
The real GOAT is Mo Farah, who I'm sure would've won today's race. Sadly, the Olympic was delayed and father time has caught up with him or he could've won triple-double which would be unheard of in history.
Webbster wrote:
GUH wrote:
Cheptegei has great pace, but finishing speed is not his forte. Bekele combined strength, pace, and finishing speed in one super-dominant package:
Yep, a slow, medium or fast pace all play into Bekele's strengths.
In a 27:40 race like today's, I would bet my house on Mo against Bekele. He closed a 5k in 50 while the fastest last lap Bekele had ever mustered was 53 secs.
Sledge_Hammer wrote:
Webbster wrote:
Yep, a slow, medium or fast pace all play into Bekele's strengths.
In a 27:40 race like today's, I would bet my house on Mo against Bekele. He closed a 5k in 50 while the fastest last lap Bekele had ever mustered was 53 secs.
I’d bet my house that Bekele would have run near/faster than Farah’s 3k PR to shake that parasite loose and cruise to gold.
El Guerrouj taught Bekele not to let sub-3:30 guys hang around.
Also Cheptegei’s lack of dominance in races really begs the question how many people might be able to attack Bekele’s 12:37 given the shoes, but especially the lights. It’s a real damned shame.
Sledge_Hammer wrote:
Webbster wrote:
Yep, a slow, medium or fast pace all play into Bekele's strengths.
In a 27:40 race like today's, I would bet my house on Mo against Bekele. He closed a 5k in 50 while the fastest last lap Bekele had ever mustered was 53 secs.
This is a 53:02 last lap in a 12:48 race where he only started his sprint with 300m to go. The acceleration he shows in this race is just as good if not better than anything Mo has done. Also, Mo's sub 51 lap was in a 14min 5km.
https://youtu.be/aUDJMs9NqXI?t=423Tron wrote:
Sledge_Hammer wrote:
In a 27:40 race like today's, I would bet my house on Mo against Bekele. He closed a 5k in 50 while the fastest last lap Bekele had ever mustered was 53 secs.
This is a 53:02 last lap in a 12:48 race where he only started his sprint with 300m to go. The acceleration he shows in this race is just as good if not better than anything Mo has done. Also, Mo's sub 51 lap was in a 14min 5km.
https://youtu.be/aUDJMs9NqXI?t=423
Super. Human.
People talk about having gears and changing them. Bekele always found another one when it came time to dig.
Tron wrote:
Sledge_Hammer wrote:
In a 27:40 race like today's, I would bet my house on Mo against Bekele. He closed a 5k in 50 while the fastest last lap Bekele had ever mustered was 53 secs.
This is a 53:02 last lap in a 12:48 race where he only started his sprint with 300m to go. The acceleration he shows in this race is just as good if not better than anything Mo has done. Also, Mo's sub 51 lap was in a 14min 5km.
https://youtu.be/aUDJMs9NqXI?t=423
👏👏👏 a true fan of the sport right here
Peak Bekele was a shifter as well. Mo's tactics aren't going to work against peak Bekele. It's all well and good to control the last lap vs. lesser athletes and make them go by you. Bekele could either run away from him earlier OR blast by him with 300m to go and leave him in the dust. Barega today ran a smart race that honestly resembled some of Bekele's 10,000m triumphs. He made a hard move the last lap and had nobody by his side at 200 to go, and was able to coast in the last 50.
50.9 in a 14:10 race you mean.
Bekele ran 53 in Beijing jogging the last 30m in a 12:57 race. Also closed in 51 and 52 multiple times in tactical (not jogfests) races consistently.
You would be homeless in your example.
THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:
Peak Bekele was a shifter as well. Mo's tactics aren't going to work against peak Bekele. It's all well and good to control the last lap vs. lesser athletes and make them go by you. Bekele could either run away from him earlier OR blast by him with 300m to go and leave him in the dust. Barega today ran a smart race that honestly resembled some of Bekele's 10,000m triumphs. He made a hard move the last lap and had nobody by his side at 200 to go, and was able to coast in the last 50.
I don't want Barega to go to the roads yet :(
___
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVXsHej-OYU59.9
61.3
60.8
60.9
53.9 (while wagging his finger and letting up)
~ Roughly 4:57 for final 2,000 bucking Lagat right off the back
Whoops, maybe this one will work.
Phil Ken Sebben wrote:
I don't want Barega to go to the roads yet :(
Yes, what is that about!? I know there's big money in it, but he should go for a 5K/10K double next year to cement himself as an all-time great first. Selfishly, I'd love to see him, Kiplimo and Cheptegei all wait until the 2026 off-year to start chasing HM/Marathon glory full-time.