He shouldn’t and if he doesn’t the IOC Paris will create a new rule saying the most recent olympic champion gets an automatic berth and doesn’t count towards a country’s team. He won’t embarrass himself as much as he would in another major though because there would only be a few other Kenyans/ethiopians/ugandans
Consider this for a moment: if Benson Kipruto, Timothy Kiplagat or Vincent Ngetich had gone out in sub-61 and run 2:06 or DNF’d today you wouldn’t think much of it, and you wouldn’t discount them from bouncing back and running 2:03 their next time out. Same goes for Sisay Lemma, Evans Chebet, basically anyone, but Kipchoge has such an unprecedented profile and level of consistency that a bad marathon for him is a BIG DEAL. Yes he’s aging, he should stop going out in 28:30 and his “off” races will become more frequent, but his success rate is still incredibly good and he won Berlin in 2:02:42 only 6 months ago. Plus he’s the 2-time defending Olympic champion, including a dominant performance 3 years ago.
Take Timothy Kiplagat - 2:02:55 PB today, 2:11:25 for 13th place at the Budapest WCs. I’ll take Kipchoge on my Olympic team over him in a heartbeat.
Kipchoge screwed up. When he realized that today wasn't going to be his day, instead of falling back he should have dropped out and claimed to have gotten a mild injury, or that he was running while having the flu, or some other excuse.
It's a lot easier for the Kenyan Olympic committee to pick a 2 time Olympic gold medalist who had the bad luck to be sick or slightly injured, rather than pick an old man who finished several minutes behind the winner in his most recent marathon.
Kipchoge should be hauled before the Kenyan parliament to answer for his failure, and then stripped of his honors and buried up to his neck in a hole to be mocked by children.
Why not? I don’t know much about what goes into selecting someone or how quickly athletes can decline, but there has to be some stock in his berlin victory still.
4 months ago he ran 2:02 for the win while visibly sick. Even adjusting for the course, he was about 2.5-3 minutes slower today. Do you really think he would lose that much time that quickly, or is it possible that he just had a bad day or bad buildup?
I think the merit is still there, at least for the third spot if nothing else.
No. Father Time is coming. When Bekele clocked a 2:01 everybody expected more to come and we all know what happened a few months later. Father Time showed up.
Kipchoge is a legend but I think he has entered the Masters Age groups as well.
Agree, but I would rank Evans ahad of him and Benson (who surprisingly has never lost to Kipchoge). It is likely another Kenyan will run 202-203 in London
Why not? I don’t know much about what goes into selecting someone or how quickly athletes can decline, but there has to be some stock in his berlin victory still.
4 months ago he ran 2:02 for the win while visibly sick. Even adjusting for the course, he was about 2.5-3 minutes slower today. Do you really think he would lose that much time that quickly, or is it possible that he just had a bad day or bad buildup?
I think the merit is still there, at least for the third spot if nothing else.
I would not worry much about todays performance. He has been having alot of stress the last 3 weeks after Kiptum's death. Stress is a performance killer. Give him 3 months and he will be back to GOAT status.
Why not? I don’t know much about what goes into selecting someone or how quickly athletes can decline, but there has to be some stock in his berlin victory still.
4 months ago he ran 2:02 for the win while visibly sick. Even adjusting for the course, he was about 2.5-3 minutes slower today. Do you really think he would lose that much time that quickly, or is it possible that he just had a bad day or bad buildup?
I think the merit is still there, at least for the third spot if nothing else.
I would not worry much about todays performance. He has been having alot of stress the last 3 weeks after Kiptum's death. Stress is a performance killer. Give him 3 months and he will be back to GOAT status.
Except Kiptum's training partner finished 2nd today. I would say he has more stress and grief than Kipchoge. Kipchoge should still make the team though.
Why not? I don’t know much about what goes into selecting someone or how quickly athletes can decline, but there has to be some stock in his berlin victory still.
4 months ago he ran 2:02 for the win while visibly sick. Even adjusting for the course, he was about 2.5-3 minutes slower today. Do you really think he would lose that much time that quickly, or is it possible that he just had a bad day or bad buildup?
I think the merit is still there, at least for the third spot if nothing else.
I would not worry much about todays performance. He has been having alot of stress the last 3 weeks after Kiptum's death. Stress is a performance killer. Give him 3 months and he will be back to GOAT status.
He has been running at the highest level for over 20 years. He knows how to deal with stress when preparing for a race. But the effects of aging on performance are unpredictable. Sometimes decline in performance is gradual and sometimes it happens more suddenly. I think his GOAT days are over but he should still be good enough to compete for a medal in Paris.
I think that his Berlin win is enough to keep him on the team. Bad races happen.
What about his debacle last year in Boston? This wasn’t just one bad race. He has now failed to finish top 5 and lost by over 3 minutes in two out of his last three races. He is no longer the supreme consistent racer he once was.
EK isn’t washed up yet, and he will be on the Kenyan team, but no, he’s no longer the prohibitive favorite to win. The EK of today is like most of the top elite marathoners, capable of a very good race, but a mediocre race or stinker is possible too. For more than a decade he ONLY had a great races, an unheard of feat, now he’s just another guy who might win a big race if things break right. That’s what all of the other top guys are like after Kiptum’s death. Like an aging fastball pitcher, what EK needs to do is adapt and survive. He cannot start races at wr pace, he figuratively needs to mix in the off speed pitches, and if he’s willing to do this, he’s still a contender for the podium, if not gold, in the watered down Olympic field.