Rudisha needs Alfred's help to win 800

+1, seems that bosnian can run 12s stretch no matter what

+1, seems that bosnian can run 12s stretch no matter what

There's some hearsay about Alfred looking for sub 24 seconds in the first 200m. Lets see whats happen.

Bosse is more likely to quit than thrash the field.

Amos, Aman and Symmonds have all quit in one way or another, why not one more?

Yes, Bosse is the favorite but Rudisha can certainly run 1:42.XX today and Bosse doesn't have the experience with rounds to be expected to run 1:41.XX so the race should come down to who wants it more.

The Kenyans basically blocked the field for 600m. With such a slow pace, the man in front will have a better than 90% chance of winning because EVERYONE will be fast over the last 200. Good team tactics by the Kenyans, but age and other things will catch up with Rudisha, he will not win next year in Rio. Tuka was too far back in such a slow race - he needed a good honest race to have a chance to win. The Pole was done in by the Kenyan team tactics. Amos would have had a tough time in such a slow race as well.

If the field had gone out faster, 1.5 seconds or more, the race would have been very different. It's surprising Tuka medaled with the tactic he used in such a slow race. Had he been toward the front he likely would have kicked down Rudisha. Poor tactics in a slow race, very poor.

It's obvious Ventolin has never raced the 800, he doesn't understand what it's like at all, never mind his conjecture generally being off the mark. I'm a sub 1:50 runner so I have some idea of what it's like to actually race, unlike Ventolin who likely could never crack 3 minutes over two laps. : o

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The Kenyans basically blocked the field for 600m. With such a slow pace, the man in front will have a better than 90% chance of winning because EVERYONE will be fast over the last 200. Good team tactics by the Kenyans, but age and other things will catch up with Rudisha, he will not win next year in Rio. Tuka was too far back in such a slow race - he needed a good honest race to have a chance to win. The Pole was done in by the Kenyan team tactics. Amos would have had a tough time in such a slow race as well.

If the field had gone out faster, 1.5 seconds or more, the race would have been very different. It's surprising Tuka medaled with the tactic he used in such a slow race. Had he been toward the front he likely would have kicked down Rudisha. Poor tactics in a slow race, very poor.

I think the team tactics were a huge factor in the race. Rudisha and Kipketer got to the front by 200, and slowed right down (25.x, 29.low) - anyone who wanted to get by them before the bell would have had to make an almost suicidal sprint, and would have had to keep going to the end - it probably would have been disaster for anyone who tried, but maybe that would have launched the race into high gear much sooner, and dragged people like Bosse and Tuka along. As it was, Tuka was still at least 12-15m down even at 500m, it seemed.

Kipketer played his wingman role well into the backstretch, but I thought he started to fall back a bit before 600m, as Rotich and Tuka began moving. I think the move that won it for Rudisha was him slamming the door on Kszczot when he tried to sneak by and grab the lead with 250m to go. Rusdisha responded and took back the inside line, Kszczot had to slow down, lost a couple of strides and never was able to get them back. Maybe Kszczot went too early. If he stayed right behind Rudisha, it would have opened up a bit around the final bend - Rotich challenged, but never got up to Rudisha, and there would have been room for Kszczot to swing out into space at the top of the homestretch...who knows...

nyrun1 wrote:

you need to shut it. clearly the big man need no one's help to win.

Except Alfred's. Nice wall they put up. Kenyan phalanx. Did a good job of walling the Pole in, and attempting to keep Tuka outside. But Tuka dug himself into a hole early on his own.

800 is tough to call wrote:

If the field had gone out faster, 1.5 seconds or more, the race would have been very different. It's surprising Tuka medaled with the tactic he used in such a slow race. Had he been toward the front he likely would have kicked down Rudisha. Poor tactics in a slow race, very poor.

: o

So Rudisha puts on a BRAVE, BRAVE clinic on hwo to run the 800 and instead of praising him, you are ripping Tuka for poor tactics. Tuka had never even been in a World's final before?

It's easy to say , "Tuka should have been near the front in a slow race' but it's nearly impossible for him to do that. To get near the front, you have to go out fast, which he doesn't like to do. In hindsight, it would have been best for him to get out right with Rudisha but that's faster than he likes to get out and he had no idea Rudisha would slow down. So he figured, i'll do my normal thing and run even splits.

Read our race recap. Rudisha's agent talks about how it's basically impossible to race against Rudisha. He's fast enoguh to control it from the front.

That's why Rudisha's tactics were so amazing.

I was hand timing Tuka every 200. I had him in 25-28, 27-24.

Sorry I had the Kenyans mixed up...Rotich was always the one on Rudisha's shoulder, and he did stay pretty close until about 600m, Rudisha's gapped him slightly and he couldn't make it up and fell back a bit on the home stretch. Watching the race again, if he hadn't tried to push hard on the final bend to get back to Rudisha, he might have had an extra gear to hold off Tuka...

But as for Kszczot, I know he said he wanted to go with 250 left, and if he were on the outside he might have made it around... Who knows... But it opened up for him as they came around the bend and Rotich started to drop back... If he hadn't lost momentum earlier, maybe he could have been closer to Rudisha and challenged in the home stretch

Stoned wrote:No, Tuka was faster over the last 200m than Rudisha, having run an extra 2.5m on last bend

no

he ran ~ 2m extra on bend

his last 200 was 24.5

with 2m extra -> 24.2+

you forget to add the drafting he got from fergie around most of that bend, pushing his 200 out to 24.3++

Rudisha ran 24.3 on rails. Tuka was 0.1 faster when adjusted for xtra distance

no

he was slower by few 100ths when further adjusted for drafting

Tuka was also 0.1 faster over last 100m

no

both split 12.3

Mr. Obvious wrote:You said he had the best speed in the field. You were wrong

no

Rudy did have best speed as shown by fastest last 200 & = fastest last 100 as above