Willis and Lagat go 3&4 in Ostrava

The the 16 year old was a U.S. white boy, no questions about age, or use of special vitamins would be asked.

Not great, but better from Bernie

Even the commentators we're having a laugh at the fellow. I mean, could you imagine if Solinsky enrolled in high school in a foreign country this summer and tried to pass himself off as a teenager?

The M40 3k record is 8:02.54 set by Vyacheslav Shavunin in 2010. Lagat is six-months short of turning 40. Too bad being more than 20-seconds faster than record is not considered on the LRC forums.

Bee Lever wrote:

The the 16 year old was a U.S. white boy, no questions about age, or use of special vitamins would be asked.

Here's a pic of the Ethiopian "16 year old":

Bee Lever wrote:

The the 16 year old was a U.S. white boy, no questions about age, or use of special vitamins would be asked.

We'd have to wait for that to happen before we could comment really.

And....................it never will.

That's a national record for Willis.

Bee Lever wrote:

The the 16 year old was a U.S. white boy, no questions about age, or use of special vitamins would be asked.

This is only provided he could actually provide a birth record, and the credibility behind the birth record is only valid because the US actually has a credible system in the matter.

The issue with the Africans is that there is no way to prove whether they are telling the truth or not, and many African coaches and high profile runners themselves have said that most of the athletes do not even know their own age. For example, Solomon Haile was supposedly 18 in the US, but was found listing his age as 22 when he registered for non-HS races. In another case, one of the NXN winners from the Kenyan team actually changed his age after he left high school.

Bee Lever wrote:

The the 16 year old was a U.S. white boy, no questions about age, or use of special vitamins would be asked.

If the 16 year old was an american, there would be no questions about age, regardless of skin color

Because the US has accurate birth certificates, african countries often do not

nothing to do with race

Seyta wrote:

This is only provided he could actually provide a birth record, and the credibility behind the birth record is only valid because the US actually has a credible system in the matter.

The issue with the Africans is that there is no way to prove whether they are telling the truth or not, and many African coaches and high profile runners themselves have said that most of the athletes do not even know their own age. For example, Solomon Haile was supposedly 18 in the US, but was found listing his age as 22 when he registered for non-HS races. In another case, one of the NXN winners from the Kenyan team actually changed his age after he left high school.

More likely is that they know exactly how old they are, but also know that being younger and running faster times is a better bet to getting a bit more $$$$.

I would imagine not many of them are 'over-estimating' when they're making up their new age, are they?

knot so fastt wrote:

The M40 3k record is 8:02.54 set by Vyacheslav Shavunin in 2010. Lagat is six-months short of turning 40. Too bad being more than 20-seconds faster than record is not considered on the LRC forums.

It is considered. Considered very good. Not great, though, from the guy who was 2nd in the world champs indoors for the event this year.

That was when he was "15."

7:38 is a 3 second drop for Lagat, nice work for him. He is really coming along this season after 13:31 at Pre.

7:31 and a 5 second victory for Ndiku is very fine. The splits were 2:31/5:04, with him not leading, and so he closed in 2:27 or under. Give him 2:29/4:59 and he might have run more like 7:28. Quite solid. He should take some time to train for awhile without racing and then see what he can do on July 6 in Paris.

that sucks

Lazar Kaganovich wrote:

Bee Lever wrote:

The the 16 year old was a U.S. white boy, no questions about age, or use of special vitamins would be asked.

Here's a pic of the Ethiopian "16 year old":

http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-youth-championships/8th-iaaf-world-youth-championships-4874/news/report/men/3000-metres/final

He won the World Youth Championships 3000m last year, aged 15.

any truth that zomif kejelcha is meseret defar's brother or half brother?

a waitress at the ethiopian restaurant said she is pretty sure he is.

if that is true it would expain 7:36 at age 16.

Damn, I didn't realize Willis was so slow... for a New Zealander he has no strength-endurance. Runs a Mile as fast as Rupp but runs a 5K about 30-seconds slower.

Lagat has had a pretty good season: 14th eugene DL, 3rd hengelo, 4th ostrava. Willis is making me scared, he'll probably hit 3:30.7 by the end of the season, although I think he'll be out of shape from 3:30-3:33 races by the time he gets to worlds next year and my prediction is that he fails so badl that the IAAF doesn't put his finish on their website

Slow, what are you talking about?

He just set the national record in an event he runs about once a year outdoors. As for the 5k, he's only run two since he was in college in 2005. One of which was in May where he finished 1 second behind RUPP.

Pull your head out man. He has an Olympic silver medal and has run 3:30 for 1500m.

If that's slow then sign me up.

the runner in 2ND IS NOT defar's brother, but defar has a brother born in 1996 who has run 7:53 for 3000 and 13:29 for 5000, his name is debeli gezmu.