Wilson Kipsang - This guy is a badass

agreed. he doesn't BS, just delivers.

Kind of a Tergat 2.0: tall, handsome, charismatic, comparatively light mileage. Tergat didn't ru to school, though, much less ten miles a day.

watched the whole thing. awesome. you get to really understand what Canova means when he says Kipsang is one of the most professional runners hes observed...lol at the warmup exercises at the end...

sheila's thicker than a snicker...oowee

It's false to think Africans typically run some great distance to/fro from school. Geb said it in a youtube video it was 6 miles to school and 7 to the market. He mentioned that they walked everywhere as well as run to school.

While I can see running to school - in a rush - out of fear of being late to school (being late to school usually results in harsh punishment in a lot of third world countries).

I bet they walked a bunch - esp on their trip back home during non-harvest season. Walked to the market.

I wonder why anyone doubts that he is currently the #1 marathoner in the world even with Dennis Kimetto and Lelisa Desisa factored in! Besides holding the world record, the guy has run sub 2:05 five times and is the only one who has run more than once under 2:04! More importantly, he does not dodge competition like Haile did/does. He's won London twice and now he needs to win New York at least once, something that Haile didn't accomplish. For comparison, Desisa has run under 2:05 only once and his best is only 2:04:45. Kimetto's PB of 2:03:45 puts him close but he still has to run more sub 2:05 to beat Kipsang as world number 1.

Sub 2:05 every year of his career

Nice interview. Thanks for posting.

He looks like some kind of alien freak to me. Check his head out. No human is born like that.

Standard-issue Kenyan badass.Now, Daniel Komen...*THERE* was an alien among us!Asbel pretty ALF as well.

iopuyt wrote:

He looks like some kind of alien freak to me. Check his head out. No human is born like that.

I'm now officially a Wilson Kipsang fan.

Great personalty!

Yes, he did say he used to cycle.

kanny wrote:

-Did he say he cycled or am I just mishearing that?

He cycled his drugs is probably what is meant.

It's so tough to say who's number #1 in the world these days. Most runners seem to stick to either a flat paced course, like London or Berlin, or more difficult, hilly, and unpaced courses like New York or Boston. Also, runners seem to be affected to different degrees by weather, especially temperature. Because when it comes to warm weather, Stephen Kiprotich seems to pretty much rule, with Abel Kirui a pretty close second. Although granted, Wilson Kipsang did run pretty well in the warm London Olympic marathon, and if not for a poorly judged surge, and a missed water station towards the end of that surge (he returned several metres to pick up his bottle, allowing Kiprotich and Kirui to make up several of the seconds he'd worked so hard for), Kipsang may well have won that race too.

However, Wilson Kipsang is certainly the #1 marathoner on a flat, paced course under cool conditions. One of the many things that frustrated me about New York being cancelled in 2013 was that he was scheduled to run there, quite bravely in my opinion, because other than winning the NYC half, he has stuck mainly to less challenging (terrain-wise) courses. So I would agree with you, in order to really establish himself as the undisputed #1 he probably has to run NY and win, hopefully this year, as he seems to be at the peak of his powers right now. Unfortunately I suspect he will make another world record attempt at Berlin this fall instead.

But one can dream. It would be especially emphatic if he could run NY this fall and beat Geoffrey Mutai. Because in addition to the two guys you mention, I think GM has some claim to be the best in the game. He has won on all kinds of courses: Boston (unpaced), NY (twice, unpaced) and Berlin (paced). He hasn't run particularly well in London, although his placing this year was a bit misleading. Although he finished in 6th, almost 4 mins behind WK, he stayed with WK and Biwott for the penultimate surge, but eventually the pace got to him around mile 23, and he dropped out of the leading trio and lost nearly 4 mins over the last three miles, in the process getting passed by several in the trailing group, including Tsegaye Kebede, who I like, but too often seems to run to place rather than to win. Ironically this is what happened to second-placer Biwott when Mutai put in his last surge to win NYC last fall. When things fall apart for these top guys, they really fall apart.

Anyhow, to be the undisputed #1 marathoner it seems to me you have to win (or at least run very well) in all kinds of races in all kinds of conditions. I loved Haille G, but he was basically just a track athelete, sticking mainly to flat and unchallenging courses like Berlin and Dubai. His one shot at NYC, as I remember, lasted about as far as the Queensboro Bridge. I think Wilson Kipsang has the tools to be the undisputed #1, as he looked amazing in the hills of Central Park when he won the NYC half in the spring of 2013. So I hope he goes for real glory and runs the full marathon in the Big Apple this fall. Because with the number of fast young guys hitting the roads these days, not to mention Kenenisa, another world record in Berlin is not likely to endure for very long.

Sorry, correction. Kipsang was scheduled to run the NYC marathon cancelled in 2012, not 2013.

Ummm...ever hear of Asbel Kiprop?

iopuyt wrote:

He looks like some kind of alien freak to me. Check his head out. No human is born like that.

AWESOME interview. And it's from last year, how did I miss this? And I'm pleasantly surprised at Sheila who looks like she knows nothing about running at all. She asked the right questions for a morning show and managed to get a better feel of the athlete than when western journalists do.

Just reading the Wiki page on WK, and noticed something interesting. Last year Kipsang ran and won the NYC Half, then came only 5th in London 4 weeks later.

It occurs to me that neither Mo nor Geoffrey Mutai may have done themselves any favors running the NYC Half this March. To me, 4 weeks is just too close to the big one to be running a hard and fast half marathon.

Granted, I'm not in the class of these guys, either in performance or recovery. But I've always found that running a half takes a bit more out of you than you realize at the time. Even after running one hard, I usually feel pretty good, like I've just done a normal pace run. But for some reason - inflammation or energy drain or whatever - it can take me up to two weeks to get my training back to where it was before the race. In Mo and Mutai's case, their training was further disrupted by travel, in Mo's case even more because he had to recover from his tumble. Then just as they're getting back into a good training rhythm, with two weeks left, it's time for the taper. Effectively, good training for those two may have ended 4and a half weeks before London.

In Mo's case, the point is moot, because I don't think he had much chance to win the race, not in his first start, and not with guys in the class of Kipsang, Biwott and the Mutais. But in Geoffrey Mutai's case, it may well have cost him the title. Or at least cost him the chance to duel with Wilson Kipsang down to the last straight in front of Buckingham Palace. Because as I mentioned earlier, he was in the leading trio with Biwott and WK right up to the next to last surge - I didn't watch the race, but from what I have read he lost touch with them between miles 21-23.

So is Wilson Kipsang the undisputed #1? As I said earlier, it would be wonderful if he had a rematch with Biwott and GM in NY this fall, on a significantly more challenging course than London or Berlin, especially if they all started the race at their best. My suspicion is that Kipsang and Mutai would be neck and neck right down to the wire, and Kipsang would win it on a last final surge. In 2011 it would have been a different story, because to me GM had the most incredible marathon year in 2011 that I have ever seen. But he seems to have lost a step or two since then.

Oh, and while I'm dreaming, wouldn't you love to see Dennis Kimetto and Kenenisa in that rematch? And maybe Lelissa Desisa.

The Blue Sock Assassin

iopuyt wrote:

He looks like some kind of alien freak to me. Check his head out. No human is born like that.

I beg to differ, have you ever taken a look at Alan Webb?

Lol, good one.