If it was North Korea, Kim Jong Un would have run 3:22 or so.
A 13 minute 1500 would still be enough to lap Trump. When everyone else has finished the race, Trump would still be there lying down on the track, refusing help to get up, and throwing a big fuss at referees, competitors, spectators, and Joe Biden.
It needs to drizzle before it pours. Figuratively speaking of course.
Close, 3:38.55, on June 14, 2025, at a track meet in Japan. New Korean record holder's name is Jake Ung Lee. Previous record was 3:38.60 by Kim Soon Hyung, in 1993 (!) at the Asian Games in Manila, Philippines.
Korea is not a powerhouse in track. They have a world class high jumper these days, Woo Sang Hyeok, a 2.35m monster, and anomalous extrovert for a Korean.
Korea: Soccer and Taekwondo are the national sports. Strange, Japan is just across the Southernmost border, across a sea straight of Korea, but night and day difference.
Koreans love beer, meat and kimchi, not necessarily in that order.
South Korea: High suicide rate, high depression, high divorce rate. All time bombs.
Have you worked in South Korea? Yours truly did. Mehh experience....
Sorry rojo. The problem with these “I’ll reveal at X time” threads you like is we are all on the internet.
Believe me or not, 3:38 was my guess when I read the thread title.
No it was not. It was 3:36.01. So it's not all over the INternet and even if was, you could still play the game correctly by not cheating. You must have been a nightmare for your parents at xmas. "No one is allowed to go downstairs until everyone is up. We'lll go down at 9 am as a family."
Brett Larner wrote:
Between international travel and illness we've been AWOL for a while, but it's time to catch up on what's been going on. The Hokuren Distance Challenge series rolled on with two more meets in Kitami on the 16th and Chitose on the 12th. After shaving 0.05 off the South Korean men's 1500 m NR last month at the HDC Shibetsu meet, Jae Ung Lee took the NR into new territory with a 3:36.01 win in Kitami. He was pushed all the way by Nanami Arai (Honda), who moved up to all-time Japanese #3 with a 3:36.58 for 2nd.
Close, 3:38.55, on June 14, 2025, at a track meet in Japan. New Korean record holder's name is Jake Ung Lee. Previous record was 3:38.60 by Kim Soon Hyung, in 1993 (!) at the Asian Games in Manila, Philippines.
Korea is not a powerhouse in track. They have a world class high jumper these days, Woo Sang Hyeok, a 2.35m monster, and anomalous extrovert for a Korean.
Korea: Soccer and Taekwondo are the national sports. Strange, Japan is just across the Southernmost border, across a sea straight of Korea, but night and day difference.
Koreans love beer, meat and kimchi, not necessarily in that order.
South Korea: High suicide rate, high depression, high divorce rate. All time bombs.
Have you worked in South Korea? Yours truly did. Mehh experience....
It's a nice place, I always had a good time there. I went 5 times over the last 3 years to Busan - that's a cool place. Would run every morning at like 5.30am in the Busan Citizens park, such a beautiful small park with tons of different paths to make loops on. So clean, no people sleeping in it, just people enjoying and respecting the space.
At first I thought it had the modernity of Japan (which in many respects it does) but the people not as shackled by tradition and it's imperial past, but I sort of changed my mind the more I went there. Those things you mention - I could see that.
They also love their baseball - definitely not in their track and field. Given that I guess 3.38.55 is okay. Right?
PS. Lee is a 21-year-old. HIs pb and NR coming into the race was 3:38.55. His PR coming into 2025 was 3:41.13.
Are we to believe what Tilastapaja lists for his times for past years? It says he ran 3:54.39 in 2008 when he would have been 15. I guess that could be legit. I mean Sam Ruthe did run 3:40 at age 15.
Sorry rojo. The problem with these “I’ll reveal at X time” threads you like is we are all on the internet.
Believe me or not, 3:38 was my guess when I read the thread title.
No it was not. It was 3:36.01. So it's not all over the INternet and even if was, you could still play the game correctly by not cheating. You must have been a nightmare for your parents at xmas. "No one is allowed to go downstairs until everyone is up. We'lll go down at 9 am as a family."
Brett Larner wrote:
Between international travel and illness we've been AWOL for a while, but it's time to catch up on what's been going on. The Hokuren Distance Challenge series rolled on with two more meets in Kitami on the 16th and Chitose on the 12th. After shaving 0.05 off the South Korean men's 1500 m NR last month at the HDC Shibetsu meet, Jae Ung Lee took the NR into new territory with a 3:36.01 win in Kitami. He was pushed all the way by Nanami Arai (Honda), who moved up to all-time Japanese #3 with a 3:36.58 for 2nd.
Korea was a big running country in the early 90's with one of their athletes winning the marathon at Barcelona (Hwang Young-Cho). If he ran 3:54 at 1500m at 15 then not too surprised by this. I really think it comes down to coaching. I wonder how many countries go out of their way to get in great coaches to improve the capacity of middle distance athletes.
You must have been a nightmare for your parents at xmas. "No one is allowed to go downstairs until everyone is up. We'lll go down at 9 am as a family."
We lived in a single-storey apartment. And we didn’t celebrate Xmas. 🎅