Ethiopia finally found a successor of kenenisa,

Bekele always looked kind of stocky to me, big legs, you know? Haile too. Barega looks a bit more like a Kenyan, skinnier legs. Wonder if it means anything.

Man that last 200 was fast!

NativeSon wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

Out of the three racing, only that Kenyan guy Zakayo looks way older than 18 and his high school classmate say he's always looked like that since they started. His story was in the media, here.

Barega, and Waithaka, the Kenyan kid that won the bronze, look like typical African 17-year-olds to me.

I wish I were in Moi Kasarani Stadium.

Ethiopia is one lucky country.

They usually have that one athlete who towers over everyone else and never gets injured.

Haile

Bekele

Tirunesh

Ayana

Now Barega.

He'll be good for for doubles in the coming several championships. He'll also spur a bunch of Kenyans who want to beat him to run super fast times trying, something Mo Farah currently doesn't do because Kenyans don't seem to care so much when it is he that's beating them.

NativeSon wrote:

El Keniano,

You were at Kasarani during the race (lucky you).

Did anyone fall in the race? I read somewhere that one of our athletes fell.

Stanley Waithaka fell, and used quite a bit of energy (I think) to catch up and eventually win bronze. But I can't see any reason to think he would've matched Barega's kick if he hadn't.

Kasarani was incredible. Those kids will never experience such a crowd again. Approx. 40,000 people were turned away on the last day and the only reason I got in was because the friend I went with insisted we drive over in the morning for breakfast in the area. It was then we noticed all traffic was going that way and realised we couldn't wait until the afternoon.

when he moves he looks like brazier....the 2nd place guy runs more like KB, big thighs with that guy as well.

what are the PR's of Berega and Aklnew? i mean the shorter distances.

i think Aklnew is better at cross if i was to guess with his KB style short stocky thighs, and Berage in my mind is a 1:46, 3:33 guy right now. anyone know their PRs?

Ethio wrote:

Selemon Barega arrived. Hails thinks he is the one. He even might take the gold in the 5k at London

It seems like every Ethiopian who is young and has some moment of success is hailed as the next KB, but out of about a half dozen athletes, it hasn't happened. I think for a lot of those supposedly successors, the problem is they are older than what's paper. Therefore, it you are doing what Kenenisa did as a junior and you are actually several years older, its not the same. Case in point, KB ran a 7:30 3K at age 19, a couple years later Augustine Choge ran 7:29 at age 18, sounds like Choge should have ended up as greatest distance runner of all times. Choge had a good career, but I don't recall him ever winning a global championship medal. I do recall him running some fast 3Ks, but not much faster than he ran supposedly at age 18.

No body knows the exact formula for making a champion, but there is definitely more to it than running a fast time or winning or winning a youth race.

Augustine Choge ran a 59:26 PR in the half marathon this year. He's probably the age he says.

El Keniano wrote:

NativeSon wrote:

I am Kenyan and I totally concur!

This young man is a piece of work.

I was at the stadium for that u18 3K in Nairobi and he's truly a fantastic talent. The Kenyan crowd was buzzing about him. Showed great intelligence through the entire race and his kick was sensational. Earned the respect of a 60,000 strong partisan crowd. I, too, think he's the one to deliver Ethiopia from this dry long, dry spell.

This board will continue to obsess about Ingebrigtsen (who I think would have struggled to medal in Nairobi), but Salemon Barega will be the name on everyone's lips by the time Doha 2019 comes around.

A few things:

This board does not obsess about Ingebrigtsen, this board only obsesses over Americans.

African age cheating is killing the WY and WJrs meets. Some of the top non African athletes are skipping the meet because no matter how good you are as a 17 yo, you simply can't compete with athletes who are several years older. Several years ago USATF considered no longer participating in the WY meet for what they considered blatant age cheating. In 2011 (3) 17 yo African athletes ran a 1:43x 800 and another (3) ran 1:44. The WY meet is now dead and WJr will be next if the age cheating is not brought under control.

Over the years, I have been able to approximate the age of quite a few African athletes. Sometimes it was as easy as figuring out the athlete has a much younger sister who just completed secondary school, which meant he was likely in his 20s competing in WY. Or, the Bahrain athlete who competed in the WJr meet under one name and competed years later in Wjr under a different name and use the same age both times.

If you think age cheating does not occur, you are extremely naive.

El Keniano wrote:

NativeSon wrote:

I am Kenyan and I totally concur!

This young man is a piece of work.

I was at the stadium for that u18 3K in Nairobi and he's truly a fantastic talent. The Kenyan crowd was buzzing about him. Showed great intelligence through the entire race and his kick was sensational. Earned the respect of a 60,000 strong partisan crowd. I, too, think he's the one to deliver Ethiopia from this dry long, dry spell.

This board will continue to obsess about Ingebrigtsen (who I think would have struggled to medal in Nairobi), but Salemon Barega will be the name on everyone's lips by the time Doha 2019 comes around.

tarckstar wrote:

El Keniano wrote:

I was at the stadium for that u18 3K in Nairobi and he's truly a fantastic talent. The Kenyan crowd was buzzing about him. Showed great intelligence through the entire race and his kick was sensational. Earned the respect of a 60,000 strong partisan crowd. I, too, think he's the one to deliver Ethiopia from this dry long, dry spell.

This board will continue to obsess about Ingebrigtsen (who I think would have struggled to medal in Nairobi), but Salemon Barega will be the name on everyone's lips by the time Doha 2019 comes around.

Hehehe. Barega does not seem to be the one breaking records in 2019 while having articles written about him on the IAAF site.

Keep this post going wrote:

tarckstar wrote:

Hehehe. Barega does not seem to be the one breaking records in 2019 while having articles written about him on the IAAF site.

Who is the one who broke records this year?

Huh!? wrote:

Keep this post going wrote:

Hehehe. Barega does not seem to be the one breaking records in 2019 while having articles written about him on the IAAF site.

Who is the one who broke records this year?

He ran 12:43 last year. Achieving his potential a year before I thought he would be ready. He’s going to Ayana the 5k in Doha.