Kiptum announces he will go for it in Rotterdam

Very confident

This whole thing is a complete farce. How can we continue to pretend that it’s not? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

Obviously he plans to get sauced on EPO as he usually does.

rEPOrtedly going to dEPOsit his old time in the bin

Dudes, you just...

An athlete that showed the potential for sub 2, a HUGE FEAT, bravely announces that he'll go for it at his very first window of opportunity...

...And you are pointing "EPO, EPO" at him?

Kiptum's boldness is great for the sport, this guy is amazing and aiming for the amazing.

You are the same people that booed INEOS 1:59, which was awesome.

Sub 2 before the Olympics would be EPIC, setting the bar for the young talent (Kiplimo, Kejelcha...) that could commit to the roads after Paris.

Does Kenya ever host sporting events with major prize money and prestige for Dutch athletes to go compete in? Maybe ice skating or cycling?

Agreed! I love this boldness and I wish that Americans would embrace this attitude.

They won't. Why go for it when you can convince yourself that running a 2:12 is a solid debut. Then, let's find a course that is conducive to breaking 2:10 but also gives me some money. After that, I'll try to finagle a trip to a really fast European race in hopes of getting a 2:09. By age 38, if all goes right, I might be in a position to drop a 2:06 on the world! (Meanwhile, WR has progressed to 1:58:46 and even hilly New York requires a 2:03 clocking to sniff the podium.)

Could you imagine a left hander with 102 mph velocity committing to a decade long stint in the minors or a Heisman QB opting to skip the NFL Draft to hone his skills in the XFL first? That's American distance running for you! Minor league mentality.

Could be he's juicing.

They are all juicing.

Yeah, I get it. It’s just too good to be true though. I want to believe him, but I just can’t bring myself to think this is not somehow fueled pharmaceutically.

I don't know about "major prize money/prestige," but the Kip Keino Classic has been good enough for Sha'Carri Richardson, Fred Kerley and Yaroslava Mahuchikh amongst others. Would be great to see Neils Laros compete there as he is training in Kenya right now, and the 1500 should be strong up front with Kipsang and Reynold Cheruiyot.

Lol. Where were you when Kipchoge went sub 2 in a pace line? That was “incredible” but Kiptum is a farce. It has been a farce for a very long time. Since before Kipchoge started racing.

Kipchoge's stunts (I'll add the Monza one) were ballsy and awesome.

Kiptum is awesome and what he's aiming at is aswell.

20336 Course Record. World records were set twice there in the past.

Hubris comes with the PED usage. Secretly knowing you had an advantage to make you perform in a superhuman form would do that.

If he does, he's not winning París OGs.

Too much pressure after sub 2 (interviews, appearances, money to spend, etc), plus Paris is another monster: hilly circuit, no pacing, Bad weather...

In my perfect scenario, Kiptum achieves sub 2 but Kipchoge three peats at the Olympics.

My curiosity would be, then, what's the next move for Berlin, Valencia and London.

Nah, you’re representing the “want to believe” end of the spectrum, so the “bullshi t” end of the spectrum should be allowed to exist as well.

Forget the name Kiptum. the amount of absolute nobodies coming out of nowhere and taking major paydays is what is setting off alarm bells for people. people that know that historically to rise to the top meant sharpening your tools against the best in the world, under scrutiny of increasing levels of testing as you became the best.

The number of athletes debuting in the marathon setting Top 20 all time times is ridiculous when you consider the fact that some (admittedly not all) of them were not even in the testing pool to that point, period.

Consider, if you will, an up and coming US high school distance prodigy. Stay amateur, skip college, don’t race, and train full time on hgh/test/epo for 5 years. then stop, microdose for maintenance like everyone else, and race marathons. They would be Kiptum.

Nike being stand-off-ish with Kiptum raised alarm bells. the “want to believe” crowd doesn’t get to say “wow, I’m shocked” if it all falls apart in the end.

It's hilarious that Kipchoge fans thought he was some type of different plateau, instead of an old guy placeholder who just happened to hit his marathon peak at the onset of the shoes era