David Rudisha 1.43.34 WL in the semi finals!

No.

Wire to Wire wrote:

Could something special be in the blood? Perhaps.

Fixed

I haven't followed running particularly closely this year, so thank you for this summary of Kenya's incredible talent in the 800m. That final tomorrow could be epic. They could easily sweep the medals in Rio.

Probably the most part of people in Letsrun are very young, and don't know many things about athletic history.

You must reset your mind, about the values of times. Running a little under 1'44" doesn't mean to be "incredible talent".

Till now, in the all-time lists, there were 34 athletes running under 1'43", 65 under 1'43"50, and 129 under 1'44". So, it's normal to see new Kenyan running under 1'44", and this means are very good athletes, not "incredible" talent.

We can see what happens today in the final, but I have some athlete there who is very good, but the only "incredible talent" in the race is only Rudisha (yesterday he was very impressive, but Kitilit was in front with a first lap of 49"6, so this was again a race similar the races of the past for Rudisha : fast first lap, very good 200m between 400m and 600m, yesterday in 1'16"1, and final maintaining a similar speed, while the other slow down).

The impression is he's again on the road for running this year under 1'42".

Thanks Canova! Always a pleasure to hear your input as one of the best if not the best athletics coach ever. You are right that someone running 1:43 is not an incredible talent (yet) since there are many who have run it. I have watched Ferguson Rotich's races and it appears that he one of the top stars if he runs a little more smart. What do you think is his potential if he corrects his racing tactics(he tends to lag behind a lot, sometime in last place, and only kicks in the last 150 meters)?

I knew this was going to happen, can't do 1.43 in semis

"Kipketer and Fergusson Rotich hit the front even before the bell to finish first and second in 1:43.73 and 1:44.05 respectively as Rudisha, who was at the back of the pack, struggled just to snatch third and last qualifying slot in 1:44.23."

Looks like Rudisha switched up his tactics and tried to come from behind.

That's not his game.

Star wrote:

"Kipketer and Fergusson Rotich hit the front even before the bell to finish first and second in 1:43.73 and 1:44.05 respectively as Rudisha, who was at the back of the pack, struggled just to snatch third and last qualifying slot in 1:44.23."

Looks like Rudisha switched up his tactics and tried to come from behind.

That's not his game.

This is what I was saying. Rudisha should just stick to what he is good at - run fast from the front, burn everyone up over the first 700m.

Star wrote:

Altitude doesn't hurt anyone in the 800.

It helps in the 400.

800m is a middle distance event, not a sprint. Altitude does not help the 800m runners.

You really dew wrote:

Star wrote:

Altitude doesn't hurt anyone in the 800.

It helps in the 400.

800m is a middle distance event, not a sprint. Altitude does not help the 800m runners.

It definitely doesn't hurt either. I thought this was settled in the 1968 Olympic final.

Metric Miler wrote:

Star wrote:

"Kipketer and Fergusson Rotich hit the front even before the bell to finish first and second in 1:43.73 and 1:44.05 respectively as Rudisha, who was at the back of the pack, struggled just to snatch third and last qualifying slot in 1:44.23."

Looks like Rudisha switched up his tactics and tried to come from behind.

That's not his game.

This is what I was saying. Rudisha should just stick to what he is good at - run fast from the front, burn everyone up over the first 700m.

Actually it wasn't Kipketer and Rotich who hit the front. It was the two new kids on the block, the top two on the 800m Worldlist(Nicholas Kiplangat Koech followed by Jonathan Kitilit). Rudisha tried to control the race from the front and tried to slow it down to his liking but the duo got impatient and realized they were too slow. They took off just before the bell, leaving Rudisha shocked and unable to react(at least immediately). Nicholas and Jonathan managed to open up a sizeable gap on the rest as Kipketer, Rudisha then Rotich lead the chase. But as you can see on the video below, the duo could not hold the pace on the finish straight and got passed by a fast finishing Kipketer then Rotich and finally Rudisha on the outside lane. Rudisha is nowhere the shape he was in 2009 -2012 and he knows it. His chances of winning lies in his ability to relatively slow down the race then kick in the end. That is how he won in 2009, 2011 and 2015 world championships. He knows guys can draft on him and outkick him in the end and he tries to avoid that by ensuring he has "fresh" legs in the end to kick with anyone.

Calculo, so what is estimato for Margret Wanjiru's 1:58:27 at sea level?

i haven't seen the splits which ideally shoud be 2s +ve ones for "best time" but a 1'58.27 at 7,000' woud be

~ 1'57.5

American star wrote:

....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB0rIij_SvU

thanks for the link ... but O. M. G. .. that is some of the WORST camera work ever. Terrible.

wtfunny wrote:

American star wrote:

....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pB0rIij_SvU

thanks for the link ... but O. M. G. .. that is some of the WORST camera work ever. Terrible.

Well, its better than nothing! Notice that this is the first time they showed livestream and also produced race videos so its work in progress. I have watched Jamaican videos, livestreams and really not much different from this. It probably also got something to do with the weather.

calculo wrote:

my god !!!

i just watched vid & it incredible amount Alfred runs extra on bends !!!

he didn't even get a solo lane but wide outside & had to run extra even on 1st bend

1st bend - ~ 1m

2nd bend - long view but guy always inside him, easily 1.5m

3rd bend - incomplete view but enters it wide so extra distance built in, maybe 1m

4th bend - runs it wider & wider & in 2nd lane by end !!! easily 2.5m

so, total extra in a 1'41.7 sea-level effort is 6m

->

1'41.7 * ( 800 / 806 ) =

1'40.9+ !!!

Alfred is definitely in 1'41 shape currently & shoud be looking to dipping into 1'40s if he chases the clock at sea-level

I don't know if we will see a race like that anytime soon. It was reminiscent of 2012 London Olympics final and where everyone just went for it! The two newfound guys, Nicholas Kipkoech and Jonathan Kitilit deserve lots of credit for making this race so interesting by bursting out to the front just before the bell and pulling everyone along with them. Just unfortunate it didn't work out for them, but they really wanted it that bad!

Watch slow-motion version of the video towards the end to see just how crazy that race was. Its wrongly labelled 3000m steeplechase but its 800m men. Below:

I wish this race had been done at sea level like the way Ethiopians do and we would be talking about four Kenyans running 1:42 and better and perhaps(the unthinkable) the WR going down in an all-Kenyan race!

Rotich did collide slightly with the Big man as they turn onto the finishing straight. I can't blame either one of them. Rudisha was behind Rotich and didn't expect anyone to come his way. As for Rotich, he was stepping out to avoid running onto Kitilit who was slowing down infront of him and thought his outside lane was open for passing not knowing Rudisha had already moved to that lane and fast gaining momentum. The impact of the collision was minimal since both of them were able to "regroup". It would have been a disaster had Rotich fallen since I don't think he would have been considered for the wild card.

calculo wrote:

this was best quality 800 race in history

if this had been run at sea-level with 2s +ve splits & all running single-file stretched out by fast leader, the times coud have been

1 - 1'40.9+

2 - 1'42-flat

3 - 1'41-low

4 - 1'42-flat

5 - 1'42-low

2nd & 3rd juxtaposed because Big-Man ran much worse race than ferguson who ran much tighter race in lane, even cutting inside Big-Man on last bend !!

the top-5 were much better than the 3rd/4th/5th in london & that new pair real deserve a place in games but such was quality of race they won't go !!!

2 intrinsically 1'42-flat/low guys not given shot at games !!!

Ventolin^3, aren't you banned from these boards?

Every detached observer knows that altitude benefits athletes over 800m. This has been obvious since the Mexico Olympics of 68.

For those athletes born and raised at altitude, it is an even bigger advantage over 800m. Rather than taking 2 secs off Kipketer's time of 1:43.7, you should be adding on time.

All those estimated times you give will not materialise in Europe at sea level in the weeks and months to come, and you will excuse this due to cold conditions, wind, or some other such nonsense.

We always get super fast performances at these altitude meets in Kenyan trials/African Games. The predictions based on their times rarely, if ever come to fruition.

You said a couple of weeks ago that Brazier was in 1:42 flat form 'right now'. LOL. Well, you were certainly out by a long way there; he couldn't get through the 1st round in the US trials, and struggled to run 1:48! You don't lose 6 seconds of form in a couple of weeks unless injured.

You also said Rudisha was in 1:41 form at the beginning of the season based on his performance in Doha. Well 8 weeks later, he hasn't broken 1:43.

Please stop ruining intelligent discussions with far fetched claims based on nonsense.

who are these people & what are they basing this on ??

have they used the NCAA App & the wind-altitude calculator ??

or are they just making up stuff as they have no idea about altitude & thinks it's same as 100m for altitude ??

no it hasn't

it is because doubell won in 1'44.4 & probably was in 1'43-high sea-level shape

the altitude slowed him

then explain why Big-Man has run "only" 1'42.12 at altitude but few weeks later a 1'40.9 at sea-level ??!!!

how did altitude make his nairobi run quicker ?

why didn't he run 1'40.5 in nairobi ??

like you have for Big-Man's 1'42.1A ??

where are your conversion tools ?

eh ??

1'42.1A then 1'40.9 at sea-level few weeks later sure doesn't show getting slower at sea-level ??

nonsense is not taking into consideration the conditions of the run - wind/temperature/humidity, etc

1'43+ at altitude is not fast but is when converted to sea-level / huge -ve splits / extra-running on bends

what like 1'42.1A then 1'40.9 at sea-level ??

throw in kitum who went 1'43.9A in '12 then few weeks later a 1'42.5 at sea-level

how did not run slower at sea-level but massively quicker ??

i suggest you read his comments :

he said he was exhausted after long NCAA season & had nothing left

not surprise at 18y/19y this season

read his comments

exhaustion & very possibly the injury which hampered so much of his outdoor season maya come back but he woudn't mention injury

he was

he ran flat-out from missed start with suicidal ~ 22-low effort in 1st 200

& list his 800s since ??

- 1 run in cold wet weather which he ran poorly as he invariably does

- 2 epic 800s at 7,000' which were likely a 1'42-high effort followed by a 1'41-low/mid one at sea-level on successive days !!!

however his 1 fast race since shanghai was his 1'13.1 in brutal wind, solo off ridiculous 23.3 wouda been ~ 1'12-flat-low 1 fast race with 0 wind & 23-high

what 800 shape do you think that indicates ??

nonsense is your lack of any analytical tools to comprehend altitiude effect on 800m running compounded with no idea of what races guys have run this year