Bad News for Bryce Hoppel? 4 Kenyans under 1:44.8 at Trials race (none Wanyonyi)

It was a good race and fast thanks to Tuwei taking it out. Also worth noting it was the 2nd race in 2 days for these guys with the likes of Ferguson Rotich and 1:44low guy Kelvin Loti not making the final.

Another interesting result from this meet was Amos Serem upsetting Simon Koech 8:22 - 8:24 in the steeple. Koech stuttered hard into the 3rd to last barrier and Serem kicked away. Serem's brother Edmund was 3rd

What was the testing protocol for them? Wouldn't they almost certainly have been tested at World's?

One good sign for Hoppel that I haven’t seen discussed much is his progression on three consecutive rounds of the 800 at world indoors. 1:46.15, 1:45.08, and 1:44.92. OK, none of those are scaring 143 so it’s not like they’re crazy fast. But nothing was slow in there and I think this is a decent indication that he has succeeded building the strength talked about with his new training. Let’s see how it plays out for the rest of the year.

Not that we're ratifying any records here, but when you have parts of the rail removed like in this case, does that disqualify times from official recognition?

Looking for people with rules, officials or event organization experience here. does a partial rail still count?

1:43.23

That is Hoppel's 800 PR if you weren't aware.

Yeah I was surprised to see Koech lose, though those are pretty good times at altitude and Koech was doing the work. Maybe more a sign that Serem is going to be back to where he was (sub-8:10 in 2022), then too bad a sign for Koech.

The top 2 in the 800 here were in the quick heat the day before too I think so 1:46.3/1:44.0 is a very impressive 2-day double. Kipngetich really loves the inside pass, which he'll have to be careful about in other races.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Hoppel rip a 1:42.xx this year. This year has probably been his targeted all-time peak for his entire career, the moment he's been shooting for since he was dominating the NCAA.

Thread title aside, I am high on Hoppel this year. I think it just got stale for him training solo in Kansas. I would put some of Arop's breakthrough itself in picking up talented training partners (e.g. Navasky Anderson) through Mississippi State's pipeline. Hoppel trying altitude and getting to work with Kessler is a huge plus.

From this Kenyan race, the big thing to note is Aaron Kemei. We saw Mary Moraa explode the last couple years, and Kemei is a similar story being a converted 400m runner learning the event and under the same coach/management. This is a monster breakthrough for him, and he has the prototypical 800m build/mechanics. Now he's starting to put together the race and fitness instead of going out too hard every race and dying in the last 200.

So Kenyans are doping and don't go to indoors for fear of being caught by testing but according to LR Ethiopians are also doping but go to indoors anyway despite testing? So which one is it then?

Exactly!

Dude just won world indoors in 1:44. He's an experienced world class 800m runner and should be a podium finisher in Paris.

LFG!!!!

That's a very good question! I've seen this before and it has never made sense.

Hoppel won with a 1:44, was capable of running faster. He sat where he needed to and turned on the jets to take a controlling lead in the final 50 meters. His change of speed at the end showed he had a lot left and could have pressed harder earlier if there was anyone going a faster pace in front of him. He's on track to be running 1:43 outdoors

1) Have you ever gone from greater Denver, CO area to Pueblo, CO for a week or two? Only (500 or 700) ft. decrease in elevation from greater Denver, CO area, but when I have returned to greater Denver, CO area, I noticed a loss of altitude fitness. Why go to Scotland for (three to six) days, lose a bit of altitude fitness? Most training camps in Kenya for elite runners, between (6000 & 9000) ft. elevation. It makes it more difficult when one returns to higher elevation. Forget HIGH LOW Training, if one is at (6000 to 9000) ft. elevation and experiencing no higher elevation health issues, stay at higher elevation as much as possible.

2) Indoor tracks seem to be designed for fast 1500m to 5000m times. Turns are too tight for long striding 800m runners. The risk of injury on indoor track is not worth it.

And Kipngetich ran decently in the XC 2k on the weekend

It might not be too bothering for Hoppel, but I'd say this might really be bad news for Emmanuel Korir's Olympic title defense; I think its going to take a real return to form from Korir to make this team (assuming top 3 at trials are chosen) and no signs he's healthy again?

Shocker, it is not like that have an advantage that is not fair to others not from that country

We've tried explaining this but he still doesn't get it. That Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Reynold Cheruiyot would rather do cross country should tell you everything about what Kenyans think of indoor racing - nothing!

Unclear they did have cones/officials monitoring, but I don't even see the meet on the World Athletics calendar...so it might not count at all time-wise unless it is added retroactively. For Aaron Kemei, that's maybe a bummer to not just have the standard in his pocket (Kinyamal/Kipngetich do have it).

And yes for Emmanuel Korir, it feels like a real long shot at this point. Pretty much radio silence since after Worlds when he started undergoing medical treatment. If he's not running an early race at Kip Keino or in the US, it'd be pretty discouraging. A shame that the two big talents of the era (Brazier/Korir) basically had half-careers.

No testing at African games

It's an A-level meet, so there will be testing. Not to mention, World XC has testing. The Kenyan athletes competing to get into the African Games literally in their protest (that they won to expand to 2 spots/event) said why would you limit us to 1 athlete per event when you are testing us thoroughly?
Kenyans just don't particularly like Indoors and they do like Outdoors/Cross Country.