From 1987 to 2022, African born men won 64 straight world finals between 1500 and 10,000. They won 0/4 this year. Why?

I think western countries have developed better training techniques that offset superior distance running genetics of the east Africans. Are East Africans using bicarb?

Maybe they're starting to realize that running isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Like almost anything, there is no single answer. Western training improved with double-threshold workouts and increased mileage. Doping control is improving in Africa (but still has a way to go).

For these championships in particular, I think they favored western athletes because of how late they fell in the year. Western athletes (and their contracts) value world championship titles and those athletes are willing to sacrifice pay days in the regular season to peak for WCs. African athletes are chasing prize money throughout the year and were probably burned out by mid-late September.

Part of me thinks that some of the "surprises" from this past WC is due to the tactical nature of the finals. The Tokyo weather played a big factor into the performances. On paper, Africans had the bigger odds to win or medal due to their fast SBs going into the meet but IIRC, none of the men distance finals were really "blowouts".
I know this wasn't the case for all distance events in the previous WC or OGs. Just my two cents

There's not much investment in young Africans. The talent is very much there. Lots of Africans performing at the same level and better as Hocker in early teen years but don't get the kind of support you'd get from Oregon, Bowerman etc. I bet if you look at data around Hocker's peers and how much investment dollars was put in you'll see a huge discrepancy. Young Africans are moving to the road where the upsides are much higher.

It's the ebb and flow of sports. The Africans set the standard and the rest of the world is catching up. I'm sure this isn't the end of Africa producing excellent distance runners. I don't understand why this is even a story.

Wow, 64-0 over 3 plus decades.

To me Mo Farah was British not an African, and I associate runners with the country they reside in, so African born dominance on that level never occurred to me.

Perhaps super shoes and bicarb have lessened any genetic advantages Ethiopian and Kenyan runners might have for running?

Surely as training has evolved everyone in the world does the same thing, so I don't think it is this.

This trend will continue, but I think will be counterbalanced by a greater African presence in sprints and mid-D. Botswana is realizing they can become a powerhouse, they’ll likely inspire other countries to follow suit. May not have the same level of dominance in the distances, but could have medal threats from 1500 down with Ethiopia at least having podium contenders in the 5-10 perennially.

Kenya seems to be funneling most of their talent to the half and marathon, the talent pool is still just as deep

Centro 2016?

World…

I think that super shoes favours caucasians more than Africans for some reason.

The front of the 5000m final was very pale.

Actually if you look at it only two Africans won gold over the last 4 years. And one only one of them is left (he won silver, but probably would’ve won gold if he ran harder on the last lap)

WADA isn't perfect, but they've stepped up their game in the last 5 years.

Three letters: AIU. It’s simple, really.

Nadia Battocletti has opened the road: Africa in the middle distance is not unreachable

Quote

Why school african middle distance is so strong?

Simply because the number of students is abnormal compared to western countries, and also because the athletes are willing to greater sacrifices, knowing that in many cases, the race is the only system out of poverty. All this for the lucky few that go out from a selection of haunting, in which tens of thousands of practitioners emerge, few elected by the force of things hard to deal with.
How do you reach them? First of all do not declare himself resigned or beaten from the start. Then we want to of course lots of talent (but of talent we have, too, and not just a few), and then train hard and well. Nadia grew up masterfully by their father, Julian, is the living example of what you can do with a great talent with a great (and patient) coach. Now what we need to do is to create a school on the basis of his virtuous example.

atleticalive.it

Nadia Battocletti ha aperto la strada: l’Africa del mezzofondo non è più irraggiungibile

Luca Landoni

Ci speravamo dai risultati incoraggiante delle ultime stagione, ma gli ultimi Campionati Mondiali di Tokyo hanno definitamente certificato una realtà incontrovertibile: l'impreso dell'Africa (kenioetiopi in particolare, ma no...

Link:www.atleticalive.it/nadia-battocletti-...

This is discutable.

Now this is the type of argument I'm looking for.

Do Super shoes benefit help Western or heavy runners more?

I had a TOP Nike coach tell me when the shoes came out that he thought they helped the B+ runners way more than the A+ runners. His or her idea was that someone with a perfect stride and toe-off already doesn't benefit from them nearly as much as someone who doesn't.

I'd love to see some sort of study on this.

Compare Middle Distances in East Africa and West Africa

Compare Middle Distances in North West Africa and North East Africa/Middle Eastern

its not question of number of athletes but of natural predisposition.

Egypt was one of the great nations pioneers in Olympic Sport and they always sucks in Middle and Long Distances.

They’re using EPO. Just more carefully per their crooked coaches and managers.