Will coop wrote:
Pacers below:
It's aggressive however still looks slower than last year in Tokyo when the leaders split around 60:20. I do wonder if the first group men's pacers can execute that pace for that long though. They are good athletes but Shadrack Kimining (59:27/2:08:29) and Ismael Kiprono (60:46) are not guys I'd automatically feel confident in running 2:01 pace for 30k.
Do you guys think Cheptegei goes with the lead group? I know he's the biggest name in the field and perhaps like Bekele or Kipchoge would be expected to go for the win from the gun no matter what but I'm actually thinking he goes with the 2nd group here. He's been downplaying his aspirations and in the press conference essentially said if he runs 2:04 he'd be happy. Maybe I'm misinterpreting it but it made me think he'll run more conservatively
We talked about this on the podcast. 1) Yes Cheptegei will go with it.
2) The paces are insane. Wouldn't the race be better if the lead group went out in 61:30? Plenty of Japanese would go with it and then if the top guys can negative split it, the course record could still fall.