Kipchoge's career

That finish could have gone either way and in fact did in their next race. So you're not really seeing him lose a gear. It's just the difference between perfect days for those three.j

He has had the same coach.

No idea about your other Qs

2012 indoors vs Mo Farah over 2 miles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTaMdJVFdhw&t=589s

He benefited from being the unknown in '03. Bekele and El G were keying off each other and Eliud slipped in for the win. After that he had Bekele's eye. Bekele was just unbeatable on the track under those circumstances.

In that race none of the three were worth worse than 12:45 for 5000m. Bekele led early at a very hot pace (61s for 400m) to make it a fast race, because he knew El G would beat him in a slow race due to his superior top speed (~48 vs ~50 seconds for 400m). El G led late to make it a "long kick" as he was known for in 1500m races, but this was a tactical error as he had the best basic speed out of the three men. Kipchoge was probably worth no better than 50 flat for 400m. So with El G tired from pushing late, and Bekele tired from pushing early, Kipchoge enjoyed being rabbited along until the last lap, where his freshness allowed him to overcome El G's superior speed.

Moral of the story: have more top speed, and never lead.

Of course the other two legends were doubling in 2003 and Kipchoge was not. This mattered in the outcome.

Conjunction Junction wrote:

Of course the other two legends were doubling in 2003 and Kipchoge was not. This mattered in the outcome.

I guess they should give out another set of medals to everybody who chose to double then?

Well for one, the 2003 race was won in 12:52, very fast for a championship race.. The 2004 race was much slower, won by El G in 13:14 -- no surprise the miler won. In 2008 Bekele was maybe the best he ever was speedwise and he won easily in 12:57. Kipchoge's kick was nothing like it was in 2003. You can't really compare Bekele to the others when it comes to consistently being good. He was the best ever from 2003-2009, but injuries have since prevented him from any kind of consistent results since.

3.50 wrote:

Conjunction Junction wrote:

Of course the other two legends were doubling in 2003 and Kipchoge was not. This mattered in the outcome.

I guess they should give out another set of medals to everybody who chose to double then?

This is a huge problem. People make inane ASSumptions due to low cognition. I point out a fact. You show your stupidity by throwing in nonsense.

curious1213 wrote:

1) What on Earth was up with him in 2003, so that he could outkick two of the sports best closers of all time at their peak?

Bekele definitely wasn't at his peak in 2003, it was his first season where he seriously focused on track.