Will Ritzenhein's one 5k be enough for a top ten world ranking?

I see him getting bumped by Lagat and C'Kurui for sure.

Kipchoge, Kipsiro and Abdosh have sub 13's plus top six at Worlds and could bump him.

Yes, still good for top ten with one good 5K.

A good shot at being world ranked in the 5000 and 10000 a year after being top ten in the Olympic marathon.

Not bad for a guy with "no speed."

Ritz has run 5k: 12:56, 10K: 27:22, Marathon 2:10.00. He finished 6th in the 10k final and also beat up some guys who made the WC 5k finals.

That 5k does push sneak him in, but I honestly believe its the kind of year he's had overall that will be the factor. Yes, he deserves and will be ranked top ten this year.

Think he said in one of the interviews that he's coming home and not runing Brussels. Really, what's to gain?

In 1997 Komen and Tergat took Geb's 5k and 10k records at the very tail end of the season. The following year Geb returned to destroy those records. In his book, he chronicled that he was infuriated and the only goal he had during the off-season was to get his records back.

Perhaps we can see a similar record-run between the American distance runners in the next year? Should be interesting. Certainly, Lagat and Teg are capable of it. Solinsky is a few years away from sub 13. Jager is more removed.

asdasd. wrote:

In 1997 Komen and Tergat took Geb's 5k and 10k records at the very tail end of the season. The following year Geb returned to destroy those records.

Komen never held the 10k record.

Gard wrote:

Think he said in one of the interviews that he's coming home and not runing Brussels. Really, what's to gain?

nothing to lose either, as a fan i would like to see him run brussells, oh well.

piedmontcat wrote:

Ritz has run 5k: 12:56, 10K: 27:22, Marathon 2:10.00. He finished 6th in the 10k final and also beat up some guys who made the WC 5k finals.

That 5k does push sneak him in, but I honestly believe its the kind of year he's had overall that will be the factor. Yes, he deserves and will be ranked top ten this year.

What Ritz did in other events has no bearing on a top 10 ranking in a singular event which is what malmo was referring to in the OP.

He's probably got 12-24 months left in the peak of his track career, so I'm sure he wants to make every race count. My guess is that he'll only run tune-ups, AR-attempts, and championship races for two years. So he'll probably call it a season now and make his next hard race the Pre 2-mile (where he could reasonably expect to run 8:04). Then maybe a 3000 AR attempt in Europe, and one or two shots at 27:00. If all goes well with those, I would expect 2011 to revolve around a medal attempt in the 10,000.

malmo wrote:

What do paid pacers have anything to do with it? That's irrelevant. Ritzenhein straightup whupped on the 3rd, 4th and 9th place finishers at the 5000 World Championships. That matters.

Sure that matters, but so does the rest of the year. Given TFN criteria, a one-off race rarely trumps high WC placings plus a competitive season of 5000m races against other top 5000m runners. If Ritz does rank, it will be 9th or 10th at best simply because he only has one race against top competition while the others had more complete seasons.

bump for Brussels

In 2007 Bekele ran a world leading 12:49.53 in his only 5k of the year. He ended up ranked 8th by T&FN. Granted, it was in a small meet in Zaragoza, Spain, where second place was 13:27.63, so Ritz's race in Zurich may be weighted a little more heavily by the T&FN group. Still, I'd be surprised to see him higher than 9th, and if the race tomorrow goes fast, don't be surprised to see him omitted completely.

What do I think? Same as I thunk before, Ritz is awesome, but he needs to believe that himself and win something.

I think he still has a great shot at top 10 in the 5k

Brussels

1 BEKELE, Kenenisa ETH 12:55.31

2 MERGA, Imane ETH PB 12:55.66

3 CHEPKOK, Vincent KEN PB 12:55.98

4 ABDOSH, Ali ETH PB 12:56.53

5 BETT, Josphat KEN PB 12:57.43

6 EBUYA, Joseph KEN SB 12:58.16

7 TEGENKAMP, Matt USA PB 12:58.56

World list

12:52.32 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13/06/1982 1 Zürich 28/08/2009

12:55.03 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi KEN 03/03/1986 2 Zürich 28/08/2009

12:55.31 Kennesia Bekele ETH 1 Brussels

12:55.66 Imane Merga ETH 2 Brussels

12:55.98 Vincent Chepkok KEN 3 Brussels

12:56.23 Kenenisa Bekele 1 Roma 10/07/2009

12:56.53 Ali Abdosh ETH 4 Brussels

12:56.27 Dathan Ritzenhein USA 30/12/1982 3 Zürich 28/08/2009

12:56.46 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 05/11/1984 1 Milano 25/06/2009

12:57.43 Joshat Bett KEN 5 Brussels

12:57.62 Mark Kosgey Kiptoo KEN 21/06/1976 2 Roma 10/07/2009

12:58.16 Joseph Ebuya, KEN 6 Brussels

12:58.17 Vincent Kiprop Chepkok KEN 05/07/1988 4 Zürich 28/08/2009

12:58.24 Leonard Patrick Komon KEN 10/01/1988 3 Roma 10/07/2009

12:58.56 Matt Tegenkamp USA 7 Brussels

12:58.70 Lucas Kimeli Rotich KEN 16/04/1990 4 Roma 10/07/2009

12:59.22 Bekana Daba ETH 29/07/1988 5 Roma 10/07/2009

12:59.27 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro UGA 02/09/1986 5 Zürich 28/08/2009

12:59.56 Ali Abdosh ETH 28/08/1987 1 Hengelo 01/06/2009

12:59.75 Imane Merga ETH 15/10/1988 6 Roma 10/07/2009

At Zurich Ritzenhein defeats C'Kurui, Kipsiro and Chepkok.

World Championships

1 402 Kenenisa Bekele ETH 13:17.09

2 1196 Bernard Lagat USA 13:17.33

3 952 James Kwalia C'Kurui QAT 13:17.78

4 1134 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro UGA 13:18.11 (SB)

5 726 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 13:18.95

6 401 Ali Abdosh ETH 13:19.11

7 497 Mohammed Farah GBR 13:19.69

8 1235 Matthew Tegenkamp USA 13:20.23

9 719 Vincent Kiprop Chepkok KEN 13:21.31

10 361 Jesús España ESP 13:22.07

http://www.iaaf.org/statistics/toplists/inout=o/age=n/season=2009/sex=M/all=n/legal=A/disc=5000/detail.html

Zurich results.

1 Kenenisa Bekele [ETH] ETH 12:52.32 20

2 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi [KEN] KEN 12:55.03 16

3 Dathan Ritzenhein [USA] USA 12:56.27 14

4 Vincent Kiprop Chepkok [KEN] KEN 12:58.17 12

5 Moses Ndiema Kipsiro [UGA] UGA 12:59.27 10

6 Joseph Ebuya [KEN] KEN 13:00.22 8

7 Moses Ndiema Masai [KEN] KEN 13:06.16 6

8 Silas Kipruto [KEN] KEN 13:09.08 4

9 Leonard Patrick Komon [KEN] KEN 13:17.43 3

10 Micah Kipkemboi Kogo [KEN] KEN 13:18.57 3

James Kwalia C'Kurui [QAT] QAT DNF

Bekana Daba [ETH] ETH DNF

Mark Kosgey Kiptoo [KEN] KEN DNF

Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa [KEN] KEN DNF

Sammy Alex Mutahi [KEN] KEN DNF

"12-24 months"--tell that to Carlos Lopes.

webby wrote:

He's probably got 12-24 months left in the peak of his track career, so I'm sure he wants to make every race count. My guess is that he'll only run tune-ups, AR-attempts, and championship races for two years. So he'll probably call it a season now and make his next hard race the Pre 2-mile (where he could reasonably expect to run 8:04). Then maybe a 3000 AR attempt in Europe, and one or two shots at 27:00. If all goes well with those, I would expect 2011 to revolve around a medal attempt in the 10,000.

Easily in top ten, but somewhere around 7-8. Not enough performances for top five. Question for me is what would be enough to get him into top five? I'd say maybe one more big race under 13:06?

i'll also say I am shocked and ecstatic at the performances of non-immigrant US runners overall. They seem to be not intimaded by the east africans at all. As an old guy, it is very pleasing to see.

malmo wrote:

SHOTGUN wrote:

Yes but the zurich race was a time trialed rabbitted race. The world champs count more than these other races. There's no rabbits. Thats why they call it the world championships. How would ritz faired in the berlin 5k? I guaurentee you kipsiro, teg, lagat and abdosh would've beaten when it counted.

Where do you get the idea that I think the World Championships isn't the most important race? It is. Zurich is the 2nd most important race.

What do paid pacers have anything to do with it? That's irrelevant. Ritzenhein straightup whupped on the 3rd, 4th and 9th place finishers at the 5000 World Championships. That matters.

I don't hold it against 3,4, and 9 that they lost to Ritz after WC. There's a big drop off to be expected after a championship. That being said, he deserves consideration as one of the best in the world right now.