I see Kellogg says Lomong reminds him of Niyongabo. I don't see it, other than that both are African. Niyongabo was a special talent, having run 3:29.18. Lomong hasn't broken 3:32 yet. I think Lomong could make the U.S. Olympic team at 5000m, but he hasn't shown he's the caliber of runner who can medal on the world stage. If he could run 3:30 or faster, then perhaps, but until then, Lomong is no Niyongabo. I am willing to be proven wrong, but I don't see it.
The original poster is referring to our weekly recap here:
http://www.letsrun.com/2012/week-0503.php
I'm not sure that JK meant they are the same - but that comparison is what jumped out at him in the sense of here is a 1,500 guy who sort of hops into a 5k and is amazing at it right away.
Venuste, Lagat and now Lomong.
If you don't think he's a medal contender. You don't understand the sport. Sorry.
But I will agree with ou that he hasn't "shown" it yet. But I think he will.
Speaking of Venuste, I can't believe that the Olympic 5k champ didn't run another 5k until 4 years later but that's what tilastapaja says. Can that be true?
Does anyone know why he didn't do more 5ks afterwards?
Also what made him do the 5k in Atlanta over something else?
rojo wrote:
If you don't think he's a medal contender. You don't understand the sport. Sorry.
No, I'm afraid you don't understand the sport. Sorry.
I assume you would have had Webb run the 5000m in 2007 and 2008. Was Webb a medal contender at 5000m back then?
If Lomong is so obviously a medal contender, then you must think it is a virtual lock that he'd make the U.S. team at 5000m. Do you?
If Lomong runs the 5k at the trials he is most definitely a lock for the team. After seeing that performance how can you possibly not see him making the 5k team?
TLW wrote:
If Lomong runs the 5k at the trials he is most definitely a lock for the team. After seeing that performance how can you possibly not see him making the 5k team?
OK, well, I would consider Lagat a virtual lock to make the team. Lomong, not so much.
Look at Alamirew, a runner who is obviously more talented than Lomong. He debuted at Pre last year with a 3:50.43, so he can match or beat Lomong in the mile, plus he's run 13:00. Does everybody consider him a medal contender, when he is obviously superior to Lomong?
rojo wrote:Also what made him do the 5k in Atlanta over something else?
In '95/'96, the heirs apparent to Morceli were Hicham & V-Man.
They raced each other a lot in '95/'96 & IIRC Hicham whupped him every time, with his typical race pattern of kicking at 400 out & not being caught ( albeit times weren't spectacular - best was 3'29 )
Hicham dished out most thumpings to him in '96 & it was pretty obvious V-man knew he had no chance to win gold in 1500 & just moved up to the 5k for Atlanta. I don't know if he had any 5k background worth mentioning in Atlanta; my impression was he was a "pure" 1500 guy who had just moved up to the 5k for this 1 race ( + heats ).
His only hope was for a slow race & for him to kick to the win.
If Komen had been running & likely wouda run <12'50 solo, V-man wouda been completely dead & buried, but selectors woudn't pick Komen ( who showed his prowess late season with a little matter of 7'20.67 ).
V-man was very lucky that year - slow 5k with no Komen or Geb, who had blisters after the 10k & DNS the 5k.
His 5k win shoud be considered more a footnote in the sport rather than celebrated like a red-letter day.
[quote]ventolin^3 wrote:
In '95/'96, the heirs apparent to Morceli were Hicham & V-Man.
They raced each other a lot in '95/'96 & IIRC Hicham whupped him every time,
I believe that Niyongabo won some of those contests
ROJO: as ventolin puts out below Vénuste Niyongabo ("VN") ran because he choose between two evils. Morcelli/Hicham in the 1500 and Haile in the 5000m.
VN opted for the 5000m, probably because he knew haile would contend the 10 000m before the 5000m Coming in to the games VN had a PB and SB of 13:03.29 in the 5000m and 3:30.09 in the 1500m.
At the time he was No 17 on the 5000m all-time list, but only 4 of the 16 men ahead of him on that list actually toed the line for 5000m in Atlanta. All of them with inferior 1500m speed and only marginally superior 5000m times.
The 5000m in Atlanta was weak. VN was lucky that Haile opted out of the 5000m after getting massive blisters from the 10 000m. A great 10 000m BTW. Haile vs Tergat. Tergat made Haile work so hard for that gold in the last 2k. Maybe VN was smart and understood that he had little or no chance of getting the gold in the 1500m and suspected that haile would be tired after the 10 000m.
Rojo wrote "
If you don't think he's a medal contender. You don't understand the sport. Sorry."
That quote is very rude. Lomong is a very, very farfetched medal contender. Lomong is certainly no VN. VN is currently the No 9 performer all-time in the 1500m with his 3:29.18 PB.
Lomong can only hope for a slow pace and an opportunity for a long windup. With that scenario, I think he would really have high hopes for a podium finish. VN's last 600m in Atlanta was ELECTRIC. I had the pleasure of sitting front row on the homestretch at about the 30m line, and have a vivid memory of his brightly colored nike's flashing by (remember the old jasari?). He was absolutely flying...big, long, powerful stride.
Found this on YouTube. Enjoy!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJaGSHMibsM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
You are getting better and better at insulting your readers for disagreeing with you. Keep up the good work. Throw up another ad while you're at it.
Let me say first that I agree that Lomong has tremendous potential in the 5000. I can't imagine that he can't break 13 based on his race at Stanford, and his 800/1500 speed would suggest that he can be competitive in championship races.
However, at this point I think that there are too many unanswered questions to call him a gold medal contender. Winning in the Olympics depends on the ability to handle surges, positioning, timing of a kick, and ability to kick off of a very fast last 1000m. I don't know how good he will be at these things, but he will have to be very good at them to have a chance of winning. Look at Centrowitz last year: I doubt he would have been top 3 in a rabbitted 1500 or an open 400m, but he won the bronze due to what I believe was racing well.
Finally, go back and re-watch the US indoor 3000m championships. Lagat ran away from him like he was standing still at the end of that race, and Lagat and several others who can kick with Lagat will be there. Maybe Lomong is a different runner now, but until he shows more potential in the above areas, I think it is a stretch to be talking about medals.
Excellent analogy with centrowitz, Billy.
Billy Pilgrim wrote:
Finally, go back and re-watch the US indoor 3000m championships. Lagat ran away from him like he was standing still at the end of that race, and Lagat and several others who can kick with Lagat will be there. Maybe Lomong is a different runner now, but until he shows more potential in the above areas, I think it is a stretch to be talking about medals.
Lagat ran amazingly well in the winter and ran like pure sh*t last weekend. Lomong ran like pure sh*t in the winter and ran amazingly well last weekend. Which one bodes better for the trials and Olympics?
I think it is way too early to call Lomong a medal contender, let alone a gold medal contender. Suppose that he didn't miscount laps and that Teg had led the penultimate lap in 60. Suppose further that even after that 60 Lomong still had a 54 in him to close. Instead of splitting 54,66 he would have split 60,54 and finished in 13:05. So to recap, Lomong's best case performance at Peyton is a 13:05 with a 1:54/:54 close. Keep in mind this was an evenly paced and rabbitted race with perfect weather conditions. This is good, but I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in the Olympic 5k final is capable of this. Certainly, every Kenyan and every Ethiopian will be (not to mention a bunch left off their teams). Then you have Lagat, Farah, and probably Rupp too at the very least. Perhaps other 1500m studs will step up to the 5k like in the past (El G, VN).
At this point, Lomong is still not a lock for the US team. I think Lagat is a lock, and Rupp is clearly the best of the rest (with Solinsky injured or whatever). With one spot left, I'm not prepared to say that Lomong will definitely get it over Teg, possibly Ritz, possibly Sol, possibly the rest of the field including other potential 1500m runners.
Don't forget that Lomong made the world indoor team in the 3k. While it is impossible to know where he is at in his training the fact is he has done some racing this year. Teg has not, so while Lomong beat him handily don't automatically assume he will continue to do so for this whole season.
The London 5k final will likely be a surge-filled race, obviously no pacers, with a 400-600m all out final sprint. Has Lomong shown the ability to run such a race?
(no)
Doesn't mean that he can't, of course.
Until the race is run you can only speculate what kind of race it will be. It maybe slow with a deadly fast last 800, it might be fast from the gun. Bekele might try to run 4:54 for the final 2k. Whatever the case, it will be awesome and I truly hope that Lomong feels good on that day.
That said, I don't believe he will win. He's great, but I feel others are better.