Geoffrey Kirui: the new Sammy Wanjiru?

No.

following in the great tradition of transverse muscle striations eliud kipchoge...

guy on a lot of dope...do whatever you want in kenya beats a grey area guy, and another grey area guy.

Great race.

Hmmm... they both ran a marathon in 70 degree weather? Other than that they have absolutely nothing in common.

Lickety Split wrote:

- Hot day ... not even tired, plenty in the tank, limited experience and barely came off altitude training to sharpen-up.

- Hope he can afford to do the World Championship in London.

- I don't see Galen coming back on this guy for a "What's My Name?" Ali-like moment.

Wanjiru is better but I like the analogy.

1) Wanjiru ran a world junior 10k record of 26:41.75 at 18. Kirui ran 26:55 at that age (#2).

2) By the time he'd run 3 marathons, Wanjiru had won Fukuoka, finished 2nd in London and destroyed the Olympic record.

Wanjiru was arguably the GREATEST talent ever. He ran 28:36 at age 15.

One thing I was thinking about with Kirui is he trains in a really hilly area so he'd do well in Boston.

Also, running and living at higher altitude than Eldoret is actually an advantage for the marathon, because you don't need to hold that fast a pace relative to, say, the 10k.

Kipchage is already better than Wanjiru. End of thread!

rojo wrote:

Lickety Split wrote:

- Hot day ... not even tired, plenty in the tank, limited experience and barely came off altitude training to sharpen-up.

- Hope he can afford to do the World Championship in London.

- I don't see Galen coming back on this guy for a "What's My Name?" Ali-like moment.

Wanjiru is better but I like the analogy.

1) Wanjiru ran a world junior 10k record of 26:41.75 at 18. Kirui ran 26:55 at that age (#2).

2) By the time he'd run 3 marathons, Wanjiru had won Fukuoka, finished 2nd in London and destroyed the Olympic record.

Wanjiru was arguably the GREATEST talent ever. He ran 28:36 at age 15.

One thing I was thinking about with Kirui is he trains in a really hilly area so he'd do well in Boston.

- Agree that Wanjiru is GOAT ... the "T" being for Talent versus that of Time given his unfortunate premature death: my point is "NEW" with respect to relative "Talent." During Coach Canova's interview, I get the impression that he doesn't have significant control of Kirui's training program given their infrequent interaction and Keringet residence. That said, perhaps Kirui prefers such an arrangement to keep his training secret to that of his fellow countryment in Eldoret or Iten.

He's keeping his 2:06 training secrets from 2:03 guys? It was a great race, but I don't see him being close to Wanjiru or plenty of other Kenyan marathoners. Could happen, but I wasn't that floored by his 2:09 Boston win.

- Good points ... that said:

* the 2:03 guys were blessed w/pacers and good WX.

* I don't trust the Kenyans ... I think that they are so deep w/talented guys & their federation so corrupt that they conspire to "take turns" winning at these major marathons to "spread the wealth." Other than poverty & said talent pool, I think this is one of the reasons so many leave for other countries.

* I think Kirui was so good that he sand-bagged a stronger finish because he knew he wasn't getting a PR, Course Record (Bonus), and could live-to-run for another day instead of waiting for the Fall.

Kirui had a nice race. The field fell apart pretty early and Rupp had a good day but nothing brilliant. kirui had to make one hard move and hold it. Kudos to him but let's see if he repeats it. In terms of style, I thought of Kebede.I never get into age stuff. That all may be true. It hardly matters. There have been so many crazy stories about age records and then little improvement. If he builds on this, that is great.

rojo wrote:

Lickety Split wrote:

- Hot day ... not even tired, plenty in the tank, limited experience and barely came off altitude training to sharpen-up.

- Hope he can afford to do the World Championship in London.

- I don't see Galen coming back on this guy for a "What's My Name?" Ali-like moment.

Wanjiru is better but I like the analogy.

1) Wanjiru ran a world junior 10k record of 26:41.75 at 18. Kirui ran 26:55 at that age (#2).

2) By the time he'd run 3 marathons, Wanjiru had won Fukuoka, finished 2nd in London and destroyed the Olympic record.

Wanjiru was arguably the GREATEST talent ever. He ran 28:36 at age 15.

One thing I was thinking about with Kirui is he trains in a really hilly area so he'd do well in Boston.

LukeLaidBack wrote:

You think he can land on his feet though? Unlike Wanjiru...

last time i heard that joke i fell off my balcony

I agree with respect to East African's and the "age thing" .... it's like seeing a Russian or Chinese woman world record-holder: not really legitimate.

Sammy was one in a million. But Geoffrey is a big talent and now committed to the marathon. It will be exciting to see what comes.

That's exactly what I was thinking: no. Well said!

He's the old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie.

Um no. Sammy would've taken it out in 14:30/29 flat.

That guy was about as 19 as Caster Semanya is a woman

Pretty cool this guy permanently lives at 9k feet and trains as fast as his coach was saying he does up there.