Wycliffe Kinyamal repeats as 800m CG Champion

Kinyamal knew that he has the best finish in the field if it’s either a hot pace (sub-51 first lap) or a really slow one. Since there was no frontrunners (miss you Max Burgin) he ran hard the first 150 to secure the pole and it was tactical excellence from there. 55.5/26.2/25.74 easing up. For as good as the Brits ran tactically in the heats, they completely let Bol/Kinyamal outfox them in this one. An 8 meter gap in a 1:47 race should not happen.

* If an 800m athlete does not have a low 46 F.A.T. 400m or faster, splitting first 400m in 48.9 to 49.4 will not work out well. Do any of the non-medalists today have legit F.A.T. sub-46.40 400m speed?

* The men all know what 51.00 400m feels like. If someone were to split 400m faster than 51.0, why follow they guy? We know there are no sub-1:42 men competing currently.

* S. Coe split 49.xx first 400m, 1978 European Championship, 800m. It earned S. Coe a bronze. Except for world record attempts, I do not believe S. Coe ever split sub-51 first 400m of an 800m race after 1978 European Championship. If a guy splits sub-50 400m in an important 800m, he is going to lose most likely.

If the world really wants to see fast 800m races, I have been stating for years on here, four turn stagger. Eight-hundred meter men will routinely split 600m, 76.xx or 77.xx, sometimes faster with a four turn stagger. We sometimes see world records at Olympic and World Championship S&D meets in semifinals and finals. Four-turn stagger 800m races, we will routinely see men racing 1:41.xx or 1:42.xx and we will routinely see women racing 1:54.xx or 1:55.xx.

One of the main points objecting to four turn stagger by other posters: Eight-hundred meter runners will not know what pace they are racing.

That's hogwash! Eight-hundred meter runners do 200m repeats in 25.5 or 26 all the time. They know what is their 800m pace. The 400m split we see is not the pace you are running anyway. When we see 100m splits of 800m runners, they are changing speeds every 100m due to fighting for position. The only way we are going to see fast 800m races consistently in big meets, four turn stagger.

Coe could never do this.’impressive.

It's weird that we aren't doing well in the 1,500m but doing quite well in the 800m. That said, we now have the new young guy Cheruiyot who ran a great race in Cali.

Good points. There are some guys who are fast at 400 (Dobek, Van Diepen, Korir, Arop, Kinyamal, Moula), but there seems to be little eagerness to tail pacers nowadays let alone lead one out which only works if you’re really that good. I’d like to see the group above go out in 50pt and work hard the next 200 like Monaco last year. It would also help if they stop with the huge fields

Another theory: Being the guy who runs well chasing the pacer for 500 meters in a fast race is pretty much fool’s gold. It will lead to shiny PBs but ultimately you’ll be SOL in a championship race unless you a) can lead the race fast yourself and hold on (Burgin the only active athlete who believes this and we don’t know if he’s correct) b) get lucky and an athlete like Wesley Vazquez becomes your de facto pacemaker. So I wonder if some of todays guys look at it and figure attaching themselves to the pacers and just time trialing in tactic-free races is not how they should use Pre-championship races.

Well when your world and Olympic champions like Kiprop amd Manangoi get busted, and new guys such as Taki too, it's hardly 'weird' that you're not winning so much.

He is such a find. Going by just raw talent, it's possible he's as good as, if not better than, Asbel Kiprop.

I have the race of the young Kenyan yesterday. Great potential.

Kenyan also lost their hands on track distances (5000m+) in favor to Ethiopian.

And it sound Moroccan have a new disciple in the 3000m SC.

Before the U20 World this young runner from Rashidia had the best U20 3000m SC performance of the year.

Image:www.jadidinfo.com/mob/imafich/anchita/...

In the 1500, Europe & Oceania have massively improved/came closer to the glory days over the last few years. For example, this year there's 8 guys 3:31 or better, compared to a grand total of maybe 1 between 1995-2015. Of course its going to look like you're not doing well. In the 800, its dropped off in talent/+ had some bad luck with illness & injuries for both Europe & USA so yes, it will look better for you. Kenya is stagnant in the 5000 & 10000. Getting beat by Ethiopians or Norwegians. 800 is Kenyas bright spot.

Brits and Nordic have always only sworn by the mile (the Queen distance for them), even the intriguing Morcroft was a 1500m expert the whole of his carrer.

Unless Nordic find a better endurance based milers (kind of Mo Farah) they will stagne in the mile and for me best names close to it are Ingerbrigsten and the Australian that won the commonwealth.

For all the talk here Ethiopia got no WC medals or top 4 finishes even in the 5,000 or 10,000 and Kenya got 2 silvers.

I always have confusion between Ethiopian and others East African countries like Uganda.

But Ethiopia had impact on the distance for years.