Legendary and Honorable Move by Sabastian Sawe: Agrees to at least 25 drug tests before Berlin to validate record

I'd like to see others at Nike, On, Brooks, NB, etc. follow suit.

Pulling for a CR from Sawe in Berlin!

I applaud this move. It would be a shame to see him perform poorly now. Let's hope he does great.

One small remark: won't getting tested 25 in 2 months affect your performance if the tests require you to give a blood sample. I can easily see how losing 40ml of blood every 2 days could have a small impact in the marathon.

This is a huge red flag.

Yeah, I think the statement is very good too. Regardless of nationality, I wouldn’t trust a World Record more than this one if he is to get it. I know some will say microdosing but 25 controls in 60 days. Let’s also note this move adds more scrutiny on an oft-accused training group. AIU people will be there more than ever and that alone cuts down on costs to test RTP athletes like Wanyonyi, Phanuel Koech etc.

I’d assume many will be urine.

Lol at the idea of Nike testing it's athletes this extensively. They definitely don't want to pull at that thread.

Good on Sawe. It suggests he thinks he can take a run at the WR, because you don't go through this just to run a 2:03

This just means hes on the still undetectable one that jacob and the Americans are using imo

Almost thought this was a doping ban when I saw the title on Instagram... had to do a double take

this is good but he could have doped years ago and still be in a fitter state than he would otherwise be if he'd always been clean, since you dont lose all those benefits of the extra training and faster recovery that doping allows, some of it stays with you months and years later. seems like drugs are passed around like sweets at kenyan tracks and if that's the culture and everybody else is doing it, you probably will as well.

if he wins he will get all the attention and all the doping accusations. so i think you do go through all this even if you know you aren't capable of a WR

He is in his 3rd marathon ever I think? If he bombs because he’s off the sauce and then never does this protocol again (and is amazing) we know that will add suspicion. It’d be a bad career move honestly to do this as a one-off gimmick and run poorly. Not like he was getting a special amount of scrutiny beyond a typical Kenyan marathoner. I suspect if John Korir was offered this by ASICS he’d also accept. Federico Rosa, Nike and Kiplimo…?

We need the tests checked by outside/independent, highly scrutinized labs. There are too many obvious cases of outright lying by officials to put much faith in this stunt.

So we are now trusting Berardelli-trained athletes, because they can show that they have not doped in the 8 weeks before a major race.

Does anyone remember when Federico Rosa bought a blood machine to ensure that none of his athletes were cheating?

*everything* is a huge red flag to some people on Letsrun lol

Finally! Great to see this. Count me a new Sawe fan after having written off the Kenyans due to their rampant doping. Now full transparency is needed - elite runners should be disclosing blood tests to the public every month year round.

This is good stuff. How could anyone not think this is a great move?

I have a feeling there are more than a few top runners who would not agree to this.

Along those same lines, I believe it was Josh Kerr (?) who some time ago provided evidence that he had zero TUEs. Anyone who goes above and beyond like that should be applauded.

Red flags include:

1) performing well when you're too young

2) performing well when you're old

3) performing well when you're from a country with a history of good performances

4) performing well when you're from a country with no history of good performances

5) Getting too good too fast

6) Taking a long time to get good

7) Making yourself available for an obscene amount of invasive drug tests when you have no obligation to make yourself available for so many tests

A lot can be tested with 8 ml of blood. And some test will be urine tests like Thoughtsleader said.