Ronaldo da Costa: fastest back half EVER?

Ronaldo da Costa GOAT wrote:

Berlin, 1998

1:04:42

1:01:23

2:06:15 WR

This was only his second marathon (debut 1997 2:09). I seriously think that if he hadn't always been dealing with injury and attempted kidnappings he could have taken the WR lower than it is today.

1:04:42 + 1:01:23 = 2:06:05

Oops thanks. But the question/point remains the same.

Has anyone ever done the second half of a marathon faster than this?

what was Tergat's second half in Berlin '03? I don't think it was faster than that, but wasn't it around 1:01:30 or so? only one that comes to mind that fast.

Never mind, I just looked it up...Tergat went through in 1:03:01, which gives him 1:01:54 for the second half...

Geb split 1:01:57 last weekend for the second half in Berlin.

I have a feeling Ronaldo's was fastest, though if it has been beaten, it was probably in a 2:06:xx race that was semi-tactical, but still fast.

I just checked recent years of Chicago and London, and I can't find anybody else running better than 2:06:30 who went out slower than 1:03:45. I didn't check Rotterdam, Amsterdam, all the years of Berlin, Fukuoka, etc, but I doubt we'll find anybody else under 1:02:30 for the second half.

I couldn't find any splits from London 2002, but I'd bet good money that they went out between 1:02:20 and 1:03:00, and came back no better than 1:02:38. Khannouchi's first WR (2:05:42) in Chicago 1999 went out in 1:03:07, giving him 1:02:35. That's the fastest I can find after Ronaldo, Tergat, and Geb.

His coach Carlos Alberto Cavalheiro, that only trained sprinters,the most known was Robson Silva, olympic bronze medalist, and a sub 20, in the 200. And never been successuful with no other distance runner. My question is...How can you make a guy that never broke 28 minutes in the 10k, ran 2'06'05 and break the world record? I will let you judge.......Was Ronaldo clean? I have my doubts.....I know them well!!!

Any video of Ronaldo's world record? I heard he did few cartwheels after cross the line in 2'06'05!!

Iknow them well wrote:

How can you make a guy that never broke 28 minutes in the 10k, ran 2'06'05 and break the world record? I will let you judge.......Was Ronaldo clean? I have my doubts.....I know them well!!!

Breathe-Right Strips Man!! They did all the work for him. That coach could have picked any of his sprinters, slapped a Breathe-Right Strip on their nose, and had a sub 2:07 run out of him.

Wasn't it great seeing how many HS XC runners and weekend 5k guys started wearing those things after Breathe-Right bought some full page ads in RW with a picture of 'Ronaldo Da Costa, Marathon WR Holder' running with that thing across his nose?

Pfitzingers Advanced Marathoning makes refce to these splits and sort of hints that on this particular day in Berlin the 1/2 way split may have been taken at the wrong place (ie a bit late). Otherwise it's an almost incomprehensible change of pace

It's because the splits seem so incomprehensible that I wonder if he could have gone a fair bit faster. Since it was only his second try at the distance, and his first time into that territory, he really didn't seem to know exactly what was happening! He is quoted as saying that he just wanted to break 2:08, and that he felt so good on roughly that pace at halfway that he just rocked out.

I've usually seen this massive negative splits when runners have developed beyond their goals but still wisely stick to their race plan for the opening miles, going to to close very, very well.

He did 2:06:05 the hard way, with a monster adjustment in pace. If he had planned to do 2:05:00 or even 2:04:30 the easy way (even splits or mild negative split) I think he could have made it.