11 of the 20 fastest 800m in history have been set in the last month or so

The new tech had been around for years.

A group of special athletes (or doped athletes, whatever you want to beleive) comes along and times plummet.

And you assign it to the tech that's been around...for years.

You realize that all of this happening in the last month is an argument AGAINST it being the tech (which again, had been around for years) being behind it....right???

Yall seriously 2 stupid 2 function on here....

Still waiting for the day you have something intelligent to say.

15 days ago, Marco Arop's PB was 1:42.85

Then he tried bicarbonates for the first time and his slowest time in 3 races since is 1:41.86

It's clearly the bicarb thing (or that's just code for a new illegal PED out there). There are also more negative split fast times or fast 200m kicks in the 800.

Did Arop actually say that he just started using bicarbonate 15 days ago? Or you're just guessing?

Yes

nationalpost.com

Marco Arop claims silver in 800m: Canadian misses Olympic gold by one hundredth of a second

That’s what separated Edmonton’s 800-metre man Marco Arop from Kenya’s Emmanuel Wanyonyi in the Olympic final Saturday at Stade de France.

Open link

It's funny how just last year people were talking about how weak the men's 800m is at the moment.

And then, lo and behold, an Olympic year comes around and it's the strongest it's ever been.

It's the same group of guys, but they're all running 3 seconds quicker.

Nothing suss!

If it's doping then it's weird how a bunch of clean runners all happened to coincidentally decide at the same time to take up doping to improve their times. Was there a meeting or something?

There has been no recent change to tune the new shoes for the 800m?

I thought that they had changed something recently.

The super shoes did not seem to affect the world class 800m times until this year

Bicarbonate is not a “new” thing. I remember a teammate using it in the 80s (of course, he was guessing the dosage/timing…), but he was using it

Lol I remember an excellent 1500m guy back in the day, he still holds some big-school records. Around 1988/89 he tried bicarb and a bit of coffee for a big race, the biggest of his life. He was ready, all he needed was an edge. Would have elevated him to world status that season.

Instead, he missed the race entirely, and ended up on the john under the bleachers for hours, sitting there doing his thing, while drinking bottle after bottle of gatorade!

Those were the days😁

Lol I remember it so well! The porta-potty was under the bleachers by the exit from the finish line, and while he was in there, the sun came around and full sun came to bear on the john, so he absolutely cooked along with all the crap! So f’n funny, he tried coming out once, but immediately ran back in after grabbing a Gatorade 6-pack.

It became a tradition, everyone from our team who crossed the line would jog by the john and slap it hard to make sure he was still conscious!!!!

Lmao, no respect whatsoever

The world record for the 800m in 1981 was 1:41:73, and has improved by less than a second since then. For comparison, in 1981 the 10000m world record was 27:22, in the same amount of time it has improved by over a minute (the 5K time has improved by 30sec since 1981). We can debate the role of supershoes, training, pacing lights PEDs etc... but I do not think it should be surprising that several athletes are now running times that were run over 40 years ago. To me it was more surprising that a few years ago 1:43 could win a major championship.

You have missed the point. It isn't that there has been little improvement in the event since Coe, it is that, as the OP says, 11 of the 20 fastest times have been set in the last month or so. That is incredible. It is like a mass stampede through a doorway. It isn't explained by changes in tracks, shoes, or training in that period. Those have long been a constant. That leaves one thing. This sudden out-of-nowhere surge in performances is being observed throughout the sport. It speaks of a kind of "breakthrough".

They don't have to collectively decide anything if the individual advice they get is something that works for which they won't be caught.

You can be doping and not running 1:41’s.
these guys don’t train as hard in non-Olympic yrs.
800m training is physically and psychologically brutal.

It seems bicarb usage (without having to poop your pants like in the old days) has helped quite a bit as we've heard Arop and Attaoui touting its benefits. There's no question we have seen guys more capable of kicking off of fast paces than ever before. Gabriel Tual's coach suggests the new generation of 800m spikes have been better this year, which also helps.

The timing and health in the event is particularly good this year. Only guy injured of any significance from 2023 is Slimane Moula, and later in the season maybe Adrian Ben and Ben Pattison/Djamel Sedjati** (after dropping crazy times). In a more typical year, 1/3 of the top 800m guys are dealing with something before hitting a fast time. But it does feel even if you added health and natural progression for guys in their prime like Wanyonyi, Arop, Attaoui, Tual etc. that it's still about 1s fast. However, it is an Olympic year and considering Seb Coe hit 1:41.7 so long ago, the 800 has been more of a stagnant event than anything else besides the 100 with Bolt's times.