Is 7:32- 3000m man- SERGIO SANCHEZ (Esp) the Real Deal?

to be charitable to the guy, he has already recognized that this would be suspicious and given the reason of greatly increased training. we'll see.

When he was 20ish he ran 3:44 for 1500m, outdoors.

Now when he is 28ish he runs 3000m at about that pace, indoors.

I mean, it is possible. Big improvements don't always signal drug use. But if it came out that he was dirty it would not shock me in the least. Spainiards/Italians are right behind Morrocans on the most suspected drug users list.

It's obvious that he's doped. We will see how he performs in the indoor championships. I think the Spaniards are looking at the U.S performances and thinking "they're doing it too so why can't we". Except what they don't realize is that guys like Ritz and Teg always had it in them to run under 13:00min CLEAN. (Ritz 3rd in WJXC and Teg got fifth). They are where they should be. This guy has never shown throughout his whole career that he could run those times but yet he does it all in one year. Listen I want non-African champions too in the longer distance races but you have to be a fool to believe this guy is clean. I say he's more suspicious than Ramzi and that's saying a lot.

the reality of it wrote:

When he was 20ish he ran 3:44 for 1500m, outdoors.

Now when he is 28ish he runs 3000m at about that pace, indoors.

I mean, it is possible. Big improvements don't always signal drug use. But if it came out that he was dirty it would not shock me in the least. Spainiards/Italians are right behind Morrocans on the most suspected drug users list.

I think you need to look and really "LOOK" at his progressions again. Go to iaaf org website, type his name in the search box and see for yourself. The point is that, how in the hell are we going to improve the T&F and rid it with these doping scandels while we continue to turn a blind eye and let this shit happen. Bekele is probably going run a 7:23 indoors now. Want to now why?

Want to know why?

So, everyone seems to be saying that Sanchez is an artificial deal because he saw a real dealer.

Suspect numero uno wrote:

Listen I want non-African champions too in the longer distance races but you have to be a fool to believe this guy is clean. I say he's more suspicious than RITZ and that's saying a lot.

Fixed

Video of the race from Spanish TV:

http://www.rtve.es/deportes/20100213/sergio-sanchez-record-europa-3000/317839.shtml

wait till the WADA starts to test for s107

the reality of it wrote:

When he was 20ish he ran 3:44 for 1500m, outdoors.

Now when he is 28ish he runs 3000m at about that pace, indoors.

I mean, it is possible. Big improvements don't always signal drug use. But if it came out that he was dirty it would not shock me in the least. Spainiards/Italians are right behind Morrocans on the most suspected drug users list.

I agree that his progression at that age does look suspicious, but there have been many others who made breakthroughs later in their 20's. Lagat, for example had a 1500m pb of 3:37 at 23 and a 5000 pb of 13:19 at 27. He didn't break 13:00 until his 30's. So some athletes do mature late.

It's ironic that we laud over some athletes (including Moroccans) despite what appears to be happening around them, yet are quick to condone others, usually depending on nationality. Surely we should give this guy the benefit of the doubt at this very early stage of the season. I confess to know nothing about him. We can all look at his progression lists on IAAF, but that doesn't really tell us about what he's been doing training wise the last 5 years. Perhaps he's had loads of injury problems, suffered with mono, not trained seriously! Who knows. Just because he's Spanish rather than American or Kenyan, why should that mean he's dodgy? If he is, then if we believe the words of Ventolin and others from their past posts, then the out of season testing programmes are so robust, that he will surely get caught very soon!

If you actually look at the race and note the splits, it was actually a pretty economic performance. By stating just the last 1k as being 2:26 out of context, then obviously it looks startling. But if you take the 400m splits (the 200m splits I have but will take too long), there's only a 2.4 differential between the fastest and slowest "laps (400m)" until the last 600m, when one would expect him to speed up.

- 60.8. 60.7, (2:32.5), 61.9, 61.4, 61.6 (5:06.4) 59.5, 59.0 & 27.5

If he'd had 5:00 at 2000m he wouldn't have had the energy to run a 27.* last 200m and would probably have run 7:30. That means he's in 7:30 shape, and doesn't mean he could run 7:23 outdoors right now. I don't know where these conversions come from, but the standard of the tracks indoors and the lack of any unconducive weather conditions, would suggest that he isn't going to be 6 seconds faster on an outdoor track. He should, of course, be able to run faster outdoors by the summer season, given the training he should get in by then. That isn't a given either, since he may get injured or reached a peak early on purpose.

Many people on here moan about the lack of white American or European runners that could threaten the domination of the Africans; which let's face it, is getting somewhat tedious. So then along someone comes and before we even give him a chance, he's universally attacked for being on something.

We can't have it both ways. I know that many would like to see a nice American kid, with prodigious talent at college, gradually emerge with a uniformal rate of progression through his early 20's, and emerge to defeat the Kenyans/Ethiopians at the Olympics and herald a new era of dominance. This is an idealistic fantasy which may, but more likely, will not happen. We should take what talent emerges (clean of course) and run with it (pardon the pun)

You guys may be right about Sanchez, but I think he is owed the chance to prove himself.

Dude, watch the race, he cross the line and was immediately recovered, like he had just jogged across the line, not closed in a 2:25 kilo. Amazing.

nepoks wrote:

Dude, watch the race, he cross the line and was immediately recovered, like he had just jogged across the line, not closed in a 2:25 kilo. Amazing.

You're right. He doesn't look exhausted at all at the end, but then none of the greats looked that tired when they were on top form; Coe, Kipketer, EL G, etc.

It is suspicious but he said he has changed his lifestyle. He eats simple foods, trains 2-3 times a day and puts in the work he should have 3 or 4 years ago. He is still pretty young and his times as a youth are not world beaters but he did run fast.

Until guilty I will enjoy watching him throw down fast times.

Seriously guys? You need to stop equating steep progression curves with cheating. You do not know anything about this athletes history with training, injuries, etc... like you do with guys like Ritz and Teg becuase you havent been following him since he was a teenager. If Chris Solinsky were to go out and run a 7:30 3k or a sub 13 5k this summer, it wouldnt be questioned here because its what most expect from him. It might not look the same to someone outside of the U.S who has no idea who Solinsky is, he'd be a 7:37 - 13:12 guy who just took a big chunk of time off of his P.R.... and he's American, so he has to be cheating.

It's not only the dopers who have been caught whom are negatively affecting the sport, it's fans like you that allow them to change to way you view it.

deanouk wrote:

I agree that his progression at that age does look suspicious, but there have been many others who made breakthroughs later in their 20's. Lagat, for example

I stopped reading right there because Lagat is equally suspect, "false positive" aside.

Sergio is juiced, it's obvious. Hopefully he will get caught like Ramzi.

By the way, this question goes to the Letsrun PC Police. Why is that when an obvious doper like Ramzi is suspected, it is labeled as "racist" but when someone like Sergio is suspected you keep quiet?

It´s obvious Sanchez is dirty. Drastically improved 27 years old spaniard running records race after race. Remember that the former European Record was done by doped spaniard Alberto Garcia.

I would be inclined to believe him if he were training like crap prior to this transformation. I don't believe that to be the case. Just running more doesn't equate to more speed in a few months. Final verdict: druggie.

It's politically correct to catch this guy.

He's stupid not to realise that you need to be African to get a free pass.

Bob Tahri, 5000m indoor, 13'11"13. Final verdict: talent and work during years.