Keely in 1:52 Shape?

High-1:53s outdoors maybe. Keely is not there yet. In her 800 prime, Kratochvilova ran consistently under 50 for 400 indoor and outdoor. Mu was closer to the 800 WR in 2023 with 1:54.97/49.57 personal bests.

Assuming Keely runs 50 for 400, that's still 2 seconds slower than Jarmila's 47.99.

Jarmila was also a 400 specialist, who ran 21.97 for the 200. She was as much a sprinter as she was a md runner. Hodgkinson isn't.

She could be. Just ran a 50.10 400m relay split at the indoor WC, which by the way was alse the fastest split from all the runners.

Her?

That person was a 200/400 runner who doped(moved) up to 800m. If Keely ran the 1500 she would run a lot faster than even a doped jarmila.

A six second adjustment in pace from 400m to 800m, is pretty tight for a middle distance runner. Mu, who has shown some chops at 1500, is at about 8 seconds.

We don't even know Jarmila's natural hormone profile, so isn't it better not to cast aspersions?

Anyway the woman most likely to, seems to have given up running, which I think we can all agree is a sad loss to the sport.

I don’t know what shape she’s in but she is looking good!

It’s a tough record to beat. But are we saying she needs to be a 400m/800m type to beat it?

I see Keely as pure 800m. She does pace the races to perfection normally and that’s where her strengths lie. I don’t think she’ll ever run 47/48 seconds for a 400m as she’s not a 400m specialist. Mu was definitely a 400m/800m runner therefore faster over 400m.

For what it’s worth I don’t think she’ll do it but she may get close. Keely tends to open her season strong but not really build from there. She is in fantastic shape though and mentally/strategically she is an amazing runner.

I just don’t think we should be solely focusing on her 400m times. She’s improved them and is the best 800m runner in the world. Without being crazy fast at the 400m.

Unrelated to her 800 outdoor WR potential, I’d love to see her run a 1000 WR attempt against the likes of Faith Kipyegon, Georgia Hunter Bell, Nelly Chipchirchir, Jess Hull, etc. wonder if that’s something her team has ever considered for the Monaco DL or another rare 1k racing opportunity.

I don’t know. I don’t think she’d win this. I think as rare as it is, 800m Is her distance and she won’t move up or down other than race a few 400s to sharpen her speed.

I would have been interested in seeing a 600m race with Femke - I think that’s slightly more her domain than the over distances.

No, I wish, but those last three 200s just lag way too much.

As of right now, no DL meets have a 1000m scheduled. However, that can change. Last year, Monaco hosted a 1000m where Wiley got the AR and in 2024, Monaco hosted a 2000m where Hull got the WR and Cory McGee took down Slaney's long-standing AR. They also had a men's 1000m in 2022.

If any meet hosts an "off distance," it would probably by Monaco. I would like to see them host both a 1000m and a 2000m so the 800 specialists can attack the national records in the 1K and the 1500 specialists can go after the 2K records.

It seems a bit like pretzel logic. Two men have run a tenth off the record, whereas Keely is off by a second and a half. While I agree there is ample room to improve, it’s still a long way from what she’s done. Getting under 1:54 is really the next barrier.

isn't keely a 51 second 400 runner? if she is,shes maxed out with her 1.54 800. Jarmila was more of a long sprinter,who like juantorena,could run 800's super fast.

50.10 for indoor relay leg, as pointed out, by far the fastest leg of the entire championship field including US champ Effiong etc.

The important point here is that she did this 50mins after winning gold in 1:55.30, #2 alltime for indoor 800 and second only to her own WR.

Too bad for the UK fans that Amber Anning wasn't running or Keely's anchor would clearly have delivered 4x400 gold.

Anyway considering this was a) indoors and b) just after the #2 alltime indoor 800 and in a championship, she can obviously run 49-point for an outdoor 400 relay leg when fresh.

I think at this point, the 800WR is within her grasp and 1:52-high is not out of the question.

But it's a moonshot that requires she doesn't get hurt, or sick, or overpeak, and perfect conditions with a perfect race, no competitive stress or impedance but enough proximity from her sidekick Werro to be in contact at 400, etc. etc.

It has been decades since I saw a UK athlete run out of this world, actually since the legendary runs of COE himself. 11th July 1981 being the apogee. Using a historical trend analysis to establish record interval vs time to expected lifespan, statistically I will get to see one more 800WR.

I want it to be KEELY's!

Not sure that Keely is ready for 1.52 this year, let's see if she stays healthy (unlike last year) first. But if Mu could run 4.03 training with Kersee - although I never agreed with her avoiding the 400, should have been trying to improve that as Keely has been doing - then surely Keely could break 4.00 training with GHB. That doesn't mean she is going to break 1.53 however. She is still young (compared to GHB!), so working on one side of the equation one year (speed) for instance, then the other side (endurance) the next year - even if she doesn't race a 1500m on the DL - can work to get close to that record.

What does she need speed-wise and endurance-wise to do it? 1.53.0 (yes the record is 1.53.28) is 56.5/lap. Let's say her ideal splits are 56/57 (since she seems more on the anaerobic side than the aerobic - or she would likely be running at least a few 1500's). If we split the 400m difference of 51.49 (blocks) and 50.1 (Relay) done this season, that is about 50.8, plus 5 seconds is 55.8, so close to 56. Then it comes down to - has she got the endurance to come back in 57.0? Would be a lot easier if she had company to push her to that - although Kratochvilova had no one and negative spilt, and had very little experience with the event (doping aspersions aside).

As to Mu, I always ( 5 years ago anyway) thought the record was hers for the taking, but I think that is now in the past.

I like "off distance" events from a development perspective. Would like to see her in an outdoor 600m and 1000m as that would give us a better idea of her true 800m capability.