OFFICIAL Berlin Marathon thread

Kenya is a country full of dopers and cheaters.

arby wrote:

The leaderboard had them at 1:57:22 for 40k and finish in 2:04:15. That's 6:53 for the last 2.194 km or about 5:02/km. Were they running that slow at the end?

Err, sorry, that's 5:02/mi :).

arby wrote:

The leaderboard had them at 1:57:22 for 40k and finish in 2:04:15. That's 6:53 for the last 2.194 km or about 5:02/km. Were they running that slow at the end?

I think you have to do the math again:

Divide 6:53 by 2.194...

That was bizarre on the surface and people will speculate whether Kimetto let Mutai win because if Mutai won he also picked up $500,000 for the WMM title and they are training partners.

However, the 5k to 40k was in 14:43 so they had slowed off of their 14:30 pace. Say the last half of that 5k was at 15:00 pace. If they kept that up to the finish the winning time would have been 2:03:56.

However, the ran I think a 3:06 for the 41st km. Another one of those and they are at 2:04:08. So they slowed even more off of that.

The only thing is it looked like neither guy had a sprint at all. Nothing. Zilch. I can see one of them being completely dead but they both looked it.

They were just dead on their feet. That surge at 32k took its toll.

Look out for Makau in Frankfurt on october 28th!

Kimetto was literally a step behind him. He could have accelerated for the last 2 seconds of the race and won

There is no doubt about that but that is true for every marathon and you would still expect a fight to the finish. This was clearly one athlete letting the other one win.

The least they could have done was pretend to fight it out...

With drug scandals, etc Athletics takes another dive into the gutter.

Would be interesting to see what odds the betting companies were offering

that was strangely bizarre. it is like neither had ANY sprint or kick, even down to the last meter. probably running same pace at the last 50 meters as they were the first 42145 meters

Optional extras wrote:.

With drug scandals, etc Athletics takes another dive into the gutter.

Would be interesting to see what odds the betting companies were offering

unfortunately this is what i was thinking. this honestly was the most fake-looking thing i've seen in a while. neither even appeared to care for the last 7k they were alone togeter

I can buy that they were both hurting bad, but even so you would at least expect their body language to change as they approached the finish line. Maybe it was there and I missed it, but they seemed to approach the finish line in the same manner as they approached any other of the course markers.

Yes, and at least some shifting around as opposed to Kimetto just sitting on Mutai's shoulder the whole way.

I don't remember seeing teeth. No teeth, no effort.

Sorry, the splits don't tell the whole story here. Kimetto did not even try to sprint, so clearly, he had more to gain by coming second than by winning.

I know "team orders" exist in other sports, and to be honest, you cannot blame the two for using the rules to their advantage, if that much money is on the line. But clearly, the rules have to change for the future. In motor racing, you may benefit from your team mate letting you past to take the win, but at least you still have to beat the other contenders - that's not true in Marathon racing, where the competitors are in different races. I don't know about Mutai's contract, but it may well have had a clause of "no Makau" in it (he is running in Frankfurt this year) - and even if that hasn't yet happened, today's example would set a very bad precedent for the future.

I did not expect it to play out like this, but it was not difficult to predict Mutai to run for the WMM money first of all:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4826885

A simple solution would be to significantly decrease the WMM money relative to prize money for individual races, but perhaps a more elegant solution is possible as well.

As for premise that Kimetto let Mutai win to get the $500,000 WMM title this article makes it sound like if Mutai got 2nd the WMM title was his on the tiebreaker:

http://worldmarathonmajors.com/US/news/343/

"If Geoffrey Mutai wins in Berlin, his WMM title 2011/2012 is safe. If he is only runner-up, Korir and Mosop would have the chance to tie with a victory at either race, but would lose nevertheless the head-to-head-battle."

However, I think that is incorrect.

The first tiebreaker is head to head battles according to this:

http://worldmarathonmajors.com/US/series/article/23/

If Wesley Korir won Chicago and Mutai was second in Berlin then they would both have 65 points. Korir would have won Boston this year beating Mutai who dropped out making him 1-0 head to head.

Does anyone else read it the same way I did?

Anyone know what shoes Mutai was wearing? Same color scheme as Hagios, but look bulkier.

Querfeldein wrote:

Sorry, the splits don't tell the whole story here. Kimetto did not even try to sprint, so clearly, he had more to gain by coming second than by winning.

I know "team orders" exist in other sports

Disclaimer: I haven't seen the race yet.

With 500,000$ on the line and those guys being training partners and friends (probably), I don't have a problem with that. Of course it sucks for those who were thrilled to watch a finish line sprint but can't have it all. 2:04 low is still something special.

schmittipaldi wrote:

to repeat myself: new world record for mutai in the making...

LOL.

Such conviction!

They trained together, they raced together and they won together.

It was Kimettos debut at a wide international stage and I'm sure Mutai was like a mentor for him. It wasn't losing on purpose, it was showing the proper respect. Remember, these guys are still human beings and not the money hunters some people see in them. Imagine you were Kimetto, even trying to outsprint your mentor would be a huge stab in the back.

He was just very happy with his 2nd place and gave him everything he probably dreamt off. It was like winning for him.

Mutai: "I had the chance to break the world record but after 35 kms I had stomach cramps and I decided to maintain the pace," Mutai told reporters. "I thank God for winning this race and it was possible to break the world record but I tried even though I could not move."

On Kimetto: Kimetto remained a menacing presence after he survived another Mutai attempt to shake him off at the 40 kms mark.

"I was not expecting to finish close to him since I knew I could not beat him," said Kimetto. "But I am happy with my run and in future, I will try for the world record."

Going into the final stretch and through the Brandenburg Gate, Kimetto, who clocked the fastest marathon debut ever, had no reserves to launch a final challenge with Mutai clinging on for victory.

I believe mutai was wearing the adidas adizero feather.