Two random Europeans just broke 60 at Valencia Half

Valencia is a super fast half marathon course which attracts the worlds best competitors. It’s not unreasonable to see some stand-out PBs for athletes who had the ability to run those kinds of times but needed the right pacing, competition and conditions to run it.

Unless someone can show me that there's some kind of activity that runners can do on a regular basis that can lead to improved performance then I agree with the OP, they're cheating.

Yes I wonder what that could be lol..

I know better than to reply to these kinds of threads but here we are.

A couple of reasons for his improvement, 1) he just recently shifted his focus to road racing with the goal of qualifying for he Olympics. He did a 2h10 in Germany this year. 2) he signed with Puma, so he's having access to more resources than ever before, like brand new shoes and frequent training camps in altitude.

Also, his 10k PB is actually below 28: watchathleticsdotcom/page/4657/results-2023-brasov-trunsylvania-international-10k
Unfortunately this wasn't record eligible because they re measured the course and it was 25 meters short.
Finally, he's one of those guys that uploads everything to Strava: stravadotcom/activities/10081822071

You can just put your Sherlock Holmes' hat and find the evidence for your claims. Enjoy!

Yes Carlos Mayo obvious doper. Former European champion u-23, multiple national championships, olympic finalist, finalist in Eugene.. Just such an obvious doper coming from nowhere

Just because it’s faster than the old pre-shoes American record and faster than all the slow Americans these days doesn’t mean it’s doped.

I have been following Pietro's results since he posted on Letsrun and I am not that surprised by this result. A good performance, but in line with his progression.

Barata and Riva are not "random" European runners, there are among the best Europeans on 10k/half-marathon those last years.

- In 2022, Riva was 5th on 10,000m at the European Championships and was very close to get a medal here. He also ran 27:50 on the road. On half-marathon, he did 60:30 in Valencia that year, which was also the 5th best performance by an European in 2022.

- Barata is a bit more surprising but not that much. In June 2023, he won a 10,000m in Leiden in very warm conditions in 28:38. I was then thinking that this runner could be under 28 at that time with better conditions and he just ran 27:45 in September on the road. At the beginning of 2023, he was almost at the same level as Schrub during a cross-country in Portugal (only 8 sec behind over 8.5 km). This guy doesn't come from nowhere. I wouldn't have bet on a sub-60 for him, but a sub-61 isn't surprising.

Also, it's silly to compare the times of Riva and Barata with their performance in Riga, as it was a Championship race in Latvia, where you run for the places and not for a fast time.

instead of wondering about the Euros, maybe we should be asking why the American's aren't over here trying to break their own records.

There's unabridged doping going on in E Africa as clearly evident in this race as well, yet your focus is on athletes that are under more doping agency scrutiny and who are stealing and cheating far less?

Thoughts on this race.

Mayo probably underperformed. As a 27:25 10 guy he should likely be more than just a couple seconds ahead of Riva and Barata.

Also Felix Bour was in the race. One of the few guys that runs everything from 5000 (13:15 here) to marathon during the same year. Did get a nice PR here.

Kejelcha, Barega, Gebrihwet were all in this race just getting edged out by Kandie. They went fast and I have to wonder how fast would Fisher run this. Gotta think he would be right there around 57:40.

Barata is nice surprise. Actually just passed the American record for the half and it's an attestment to how specific training gets you great results. How does a 28+ guy beat the American record? Training for 10000 and half. No top Americans train for that only and certainly don't put themselves in these fast races so who knows what someone like Kincaid or Fisher could run these in.

Barata training:

I think Fisher would be more likely to be just behind Barega in the high 57s/low 58 range. Still really good, but the top 3 gapped Barega for a reason - they are specifically great at the Half Marathon distance.

If Fisher, Kincaid, and Klecker all showed up at Valencia, there's a good chance we'd have 3 under the old AR. Heck, Mantz could probably do it. Ritz ran 60:00 in a championship race before supershoes with the same marathon PB and a 10k PB 3 seconds faster.

As I mentioned Mayo's time makes the most sense, which is the reason the thread title is "two random europeans", not three.

Even based on his 27:45 on a short course there was zero indication that Barata might be able to go out in ~28:15 today (which basically is his real 10k PB) and hold this pace for more than double of the distance.

So I'm supposed to believe that Gressier would have run 58 low today?

Actually there was a American competing, Abbabiya Simbassa, missing his PB by a few seconds, but running a time way more in line with what he managed to do in Riga.

Actually, as you mentionned Gressier, he said himself after the race that, when he saw that the top-4 was too far away, he preferred to lose time and stay with the South-African to secure the 5th spot of the race. He probably lost 10 seconds here but didn't care as the time was not important in that race. Gressier thinks that he can run between 58:50 and 59:30 on HM and I also think that he could achieve that.

Stupid question, but is it possible the asfalt in Valencia's roads to be of some super hard compound so it returns more energy? These are some crazy times...

I'm not surprised that 15 dudes ran sub-60 in Valencia today. It was an absolutely perfect morning for running fast. Cool temps, overcast, very light breezes. The course is wickedly fast. I'll be back next year. It's a great event.

Aha !!! I was waiting to see allegations of dopping from you and @Coevett and the other usual suspects directed on the three Europeans . I guess because it is three Europeans you won't make the same allegations you usually make when it is some random kenyans/Africans performing well .Not surprising to say the least.