Mary Moraa Goes from 1st to Last to 1st in Commonwealth 800 - Has this ever happened before in an elite 800?

No. Moraa had her chance to challenge Mu 2 weekends ago at the biggest race of the year, and she was soundly defeated.

Heart of gold.Congrats. What a talent. If she gets proper coaching, watch out.

I can't believe it.

She went out like like 25-26, then probably ran like 31 and wen back to nearly last at 500, then came storming bacn and won it. I'm going to watch it again and type up splits.

At 600, I was like, "What an idiot."

I still think it was the worse tactics ever but she is the winner.

Wow. What a talent.

OK. I've rewatched the race and here are her HT splits.

She lead 300, was dead last at 500 and was the winner at 800!!

13.15
12.8 (25.95 for 200 and a big lead that's HT so add .24)
30.76 (she had already given up the lead)
16.65 (dead last at 500)
14.8
28.66

Adds up perfectly to 157.82 ass an HT is supposed to be off by .24. Add 0.24 to 1st 100.

So she went out super hard - 26.2. Then takes a break and runs 47.41 for 300 and then closes it out in 43.46.

You and your genetic equal just started almost the exact same thread… 🤦🏼‍♂️

oh well,she did enough to win,convincingly.ran a super fast 300,slowed right down,then charged home towards the end.she used her greater leg speed,to down the others.

Yes, Moraa is going to be a problem for Mu. Her closing speed is ridiculous. She has a year to figure out smarter tactics and if she does, she can take anyone on the home straight. How rare is it to have three prodigious talents of roughly the same age emerge in a single event? The question is, where does that leave people like Rogers, Goule, and Wilson? It's hard to see anyone getting in among My, Moraa, and Hodgkinson

Hodgkinson would have beaten My if she wasn't squeezed.

That was crazy. I hope someone interviews her and finds out if it was planned. Maybe she knows she can torch the field, rest, and then do it again.

It's a mystery why she runs the way she does. She also jogged during the 400m heats at these Games, to the chagrin of many.

Goule, Muir, and Hodgkinson really played into her hands though by, I think the first lap was 56.5 (Goule in first)? Moraa is crazy enough to be able to fall to dead last and then sprint home for gold with her strength and raw speed, but the other racers probably shouldn't have followed her into that fast first lap. She was always going to come back.

great minds think alike

I just realized she reminded me of Asbel Kiprop. He used to do stuff like that.

Nah she'll be fighting for Silver with Keely. Athing will continue to pigeonize both of them for many years to come.

Keely improved greatly this year but I hardly see her a consistent 1:57 800m runner in the future. The Kenyan is improving and getting more experience on this distance.

She didn’t improve greatly this year, she ran faster last year, 1:55 at the Olympics. She ran a superb first race indoors this year (1:57.2) but then got injured and hasn’t really kicked on this summer season. More to come from Keely I’m sure.

As many know on here, there are four basic tactics to win 800m, T&F: 1) Go hard from the pistol, take the lead, race positive splits and manage gradual deacceleration. 2) Race in the pack (2 through 7) along the rail and hope something opens up for a late move over final 150m. 3) Race in the pack (2 through 7). Race wide in lane 2 or 3. Take the lead when one feels up to it. 4) Race in last place through 500m. Go for it the final 300m. This may mean deaccelerating less than everyone, may mean racing at an even pace or may mean a change in speed.

Mary Moraa may have intended to lead the entire race. No doubt anaerobic difficulties gave her a scare around 300m to 350m into the race. She slowed enough to return to aerobic state.

Jarmila Kratochvilova raced fairly even 200m splits to set w.r. Mary Moraa's splits were all over the place but Mary Moraa comes from a 400m background. One-hundred meter splits for 400m athletes are rarely close to even. Mary Moraa did what she felt she had to do to win today. Could Mary Moraa race faster if she tried to race 14.3 100m splits? Yes. Racing to win and racing for time are different.

Well, I don't know what to make of that! Mary ran the first 200m faster than advisable, and then drops back, and then runs the final 200m far, far faster than Keely. I can't make sense of it. Remember, I'm pretty certain that Keely ran the fastest last 200m in Eugene. Very strange.

Last year Tokyo final was an exception for Keely but this year she proved to be a consistent 1:57 runner for the 800m.

who knows the future, but that 1:57:07 win is (still) only Third Place at Worlds!

Well, injuries certainly knocked Keely back this year. She was injured early in the indoor season, at which point, her coach reakoned she had been in 1mi 56sec form ( for indoors ) but came back and ran 1min 57.2 sec ( the fastest indoor time for nearly 2 decades ), then gets injured again. If Keely can stay injury free, I expect next year ( with no big championships ) to be a year when she runs personal bests all over the place. Then, it's on to Paris.

The winning time would have been helpful, if you wanted a genuine response.