What's the fastest opening 400 split in an 800? Was it Ferguson's Cheruiyot's 47.84 last night at World Relays?

seems somewhat broad...how bout ending it with "someone who has finished within 2 minutes time"

John Kipkurgat (1:43.9 PR, 1974 Commonwealth gold) went through 600m in 1:13.2 in 1974. Faded all the way to 1:50.

I can't find his 400m split in that race, but I imagine it had to be really, really quick to hit 1:13.2 at 600m. Running even pace to get there would be 48.8 at 400, so he definitely could have been a full second plus faster.

http://www.fidal.it/content/Una-storia-al-giorno/52600

I remember before reading about a Kenyan who went out crazy fast the first 400 at the Commonwealth games ... can't remember his name or the split though.

Completely unrelated, but browsing through past Commonwealth Games results, trying to see if I might recognise a name that would jog my memory, I found this, per wikipedia:

1978 Games in Alberta Canada. Men's 100m was won by Don Quarrie in 10.03w (7.6m/s) !!

I don't know if that is a record for windiest 100m ever, but I'd be surprised if any championship final had a bigger tailwind than that.

The women's 200m final was 5.1 m/s and the men's 200m final was 4.4 m/s.

Cruzin99 wrote:

seems somewhat broad...how bout ending it with "someone who has finished within 2 minutes time"

Fair enough but if you are going out in 47, I'm almost certain you are breaking 2:00.

Agent Dan Lilot tweeted the following:

Dan Lilot ‏@Lilot1TrackMind 3h3 hours ago

@letsrundotcom In his Zurich '97 WR of 1:41.24, Kipketer split 23.0, 48.3, 1:14.5.

So 49.3 with a running start is about the same as this.

rojo wrote:

We swear there was a thread about this within the last year or two that talked about some Kenyan who crushed it for 600 but ended up running close to 2:00. However, I can't find that thread.

Not the fastest, but still pretty fast -

He was running what's called a "relay leg", where he had a 10 meter flying start, worth a second or more versus a FAT standing start.

The Kenyan you're thinking of may be Alfred Kipketer who went out crazy fast in the world juniors.

When Wilson kipketer broke Seb Coe's 800 meter world record in 1997 the field went out in 48.1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOS3RQU92Z4

rojo wrote:

So last night Kenya's Ferguson Cheruiyot went out in 47.84 on his 800 leg. That's way faster than what David Rudisha ran in his WR run in London (49.28).

http://www.letsrun.com/news/2015/05/usa-motley-crew-caps-distance-relay-sweep-with-wild-world-record-victory-in-mens-dmr-915-50-in-a-crazy-race/

The question we have iis, "is that the fastest split ever for the first 400 of an 800?"

We swear there was a thread about this within the last year or two that talked about some Kenyan who crushed it for 600 but ended up running close to 2:00. However, I can't find that thread.

All I can find is this thread from 2006:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1310759

It mentions a guy at the CGs going out in 46 but no name is mentioned.

So let's decide this once and for all, "What's the fastest 400m split in an 800?"

post this on Track and Field New's message board and you'll probably get a definitive answer...

What I love is how that kenyan junior hung on after going out that hard. Thanks for the link.

rojo wrote:

Cruzin99 wrote:

seems somewhat broad...how bout ending it with "someone who has finished within 2 minutes time"

Fair enough but if you are going out in 47, I'm almost certain you are breaking 2:00.

Agent Dan Lilot tweeted the following:

Dan Lilot ‏@Lilot1TrackMind 3h3 hours ago

@letsrundotcom In his Zurich '97 WR of 1:41.24, Kipketer split 23.0, 48.3, 1:14.5.

So 49.3 with a running start is about the same as this.

You mean running 47.8 with a running start is about equal to a 48.3.....

rojo wrote:

Cruzin99 wrote:

seems somewhat broad...how bout ending it with "someone who has finished within 2 minutes time"

Fair enough but if you are going out in 47, I'm almost certain you are breaking 2:00.

Agent Dan Lilot tweeted the following:

Dan Lilot ‏@Lilot1TrackMind 3h3 hours ago

@letsrundotcom In his Zurich '97 WR of 1:41.24, Kipketer split 23.0, 48.3, 1:14.5.

So 49.3 with a running start is about the same as this.

You mean running 47.8 with a running start is about equal to a 48.3.....

Mmmmmmm... wrote:

You mean running 47.8 with a running start is about equal to a 48.3.....

which it isn't, but let's not rub it in

Has Vent been banned from the forums? I would have thought he'd be all over this!

http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/250800-KBC-Night-of-Athletics-Heusden-2013/video/717450-M-800-H01-Jock-late-charge-Heusden-2013#.VUmTTfmqqko

Mohamed Ahmed Hamada (11th) went out in 48.5 in this race! I told my athlete to go with the pace and he was out the back at 200m and had to work his way thru the pack for the rest of the race.

1 Abdulaziz O. Mohamed KSA 7 Jan 91 1:44.36

2 Charles Jock USA 23 Nov 89 1:45.84

3 Alex Rowe AUS 8 Jul 92 1:46.01

4 Abraham Rotich BRN 26 Jun 93 1:46.10

5 Jan Van Den Broeck BEL 11 Mar 89 1:46.44 SB «

6 Mark Wieczorek USA 25 Dec 84 1:46.53

7 Ryan Martin USA 23 Mar 89 1:46.71 SB «

8 Evans Kipkorir KEN 4 Apr 94 1:46.72

9 Robin Schembera GER 1 Oct 88 1:46.86

10 Bernard Kipyegon KEN 94 1:47.20

11 Mohamed Ahmed Hamada EGY 22 Oct 92 1:47.69

12 Jérôme Kahia BEL 30 Jul 89 1:48.39 PB »

13 José Alberto Veras

I just cannot remember which race it was or if it really did happen but seem to remember Nixon Kiprotich running 46 secs for the first 400m and fading to last.

Late 80s early 90s before he sorted his pace judgement out anyway..

Haven't heard about that 46 first lap by Nixon - I do recall him going 48 high in a race in Kenya in the late 80's

I followed Nixon thru a 23.1 first 200m in Cork in 1995 - man did I rig over the last lap!

Daniel Caulfield gobbled us both up over the last 200m to win in 1:47.90 and I fadded out to 1:48.87 for 3rd or 4th.

Again the "did the great Kipketer ever exist syndrome strikes again. " As mentioned 48.10 first 400m and then finishing a WR. How do you folks so readily forget this.

Certainly one of the fastest opening 200m. 23 seconds by Kiprotich. Kipketer was close to that when he broke the WR.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkNMiXzUqcg

Funny first 400m in 49 and bits is mandatory now if you want to give yourself a chance. How things have changed.

That CG 46 was Kiprotich I think. Maybe thats it. Someone for sure did it and faded to last 1.50 or something.