Meet Switzerland's Julien Wanders - The 21-year-old who just ran a 60:09 half-marathon NR last weekend

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rojo wrote:

The 21-year old who has been "pulling a Robertson" and living in Iten for the last few years was 2nd over the weekend in Barcelona in 60:09 (race winner was 59:44).

Wanders has been in fine form of late. In 2017, he set pbs at 1500 (3:44), 5000 (13:37), 10,000 (28:06 - same as Wejo) and on 13.1 (61:43). Then he really got it going on the roads at the end of the year, running 22:46 for an 8k win in November, then 28:02 for a December 31st win at the Corrida Pedestre Internationale de Houilles 10 km and now the big half marathon pb (previous pb was 61:43).

Last night, we got an email from the operators of a swiss track website who noted that some posters said there was a lack of English documentation on Wanders - so they went and subtitled in English a video about his life in Kenya. Fantastic stuff.

https://vimeo.com/255808011

If you want to get up to date on Swiss track and field, their website is www.athle.ch.

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Skeptical chap wrote:

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rojo wrote:

The 21-year old who has been "pulling a Robertson" and living in Iten for the last few years was 2nd over the weekend in Barcelona in 60:09 (race winner was 59:44).

Wanders has been in fine form of late. In 2017, he set pbs at 1500 (3:44), 5000 (13:37), 10,000 (28:06 - same as Wejo) and on 13.1 (61:43). Then he really got it going on the roads at the end of the year, running 22:46 for an 8k win in November, then 28:02 for a December 31st win at the Corrida Pedestre Internationale de Houilles 10 km and now the big half marathon pb (previous pb was 61:43).

Last night, we got an email from the operators of a swiss track website who noted that some posters said there was a lack of English documentation on Wanders - so they went and subtitled in English a video about his life in Kenya. Fantastic stuff.

https://vimeo.com/255808011

If you want to get up to date on Swiss track and field, their website is www.athle.ch.

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Do these people imagine there's some magic in the air in Kenya that will assist them become better runners?

Delusional at beat.

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The other Swiss wrote:

How about Viktor Rothlin (who ran a 2:07 full M)...was he training in Kenya?

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zcxvxcvzcx wrote:

Who was the last Swiss athlete to approach 60 in the half?
By the way, this was nearly predicted by someone in a thread on the site before the race, where it was argued that Wanders was going to break 60 in Barcelona.

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douglas burke wrote:

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zcxvxcvzcx wrote:

Who was the last Swiss athlete to approach 60 in the half?
By the way, this was nearly predicted by someone in a thread on the site before the race, where it was argued that Wanders was going to break 60 in Barcelona.

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The previous best Half Marathon by a Swiss runner was 60:42 by Tadesse Abraham in 2015, The Swiss have had a few good Mid Distance runners like 142 for 800 runner Andre Bucher, 3:31 for 1500 Pierre Deleze and 13:07 for 5000 Markus Ryffel

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Long winded and grammatically incorrect wrote:

Its called culture and a single minded pursuit. Reality is there are things in different cultures/sub cultures that are only hindering towards running and there are cultures/environments that are more conducive in bringing out the best. Go be a part of an empowering culture and see the changes that happen in your life then go be a part of a very negative and oppressive culture where fear, negativity and pessimism thrives. I guarantee you the results will be night/day in difference. Hang out with different people with different believes. You will discover very quickly the influence they can have on you whether good or bad. Some people it will almost be like a lid on your life, other it will be like the lid is completely removed and the reality you experience is very different. From a cultural standpoint there is a collective mindset in Iten "that I can make it." Whether or not that is true or not it is a cultural mindset and healthy ecosystem where greatness can breed. This is a healthy mindset that we should all adopt. A mindset that is soaked in hope. This mindset creates a culture where people are willing to take the journey to see how far they can go. This creates a tremendous amount of depth. In america very few believe they can and as a result we lack depth because so few take the journey.

I would venture to guess that every year there are hundreds of post collegiate athletes that possess the talent/ability to not only hit trials standards but eventually could battle for top 5 at the trials/us champs eventually that dont because of a lack of hope and a pressure to conform to cultural norms so they dont even take the journey. Shoot I would also reason that their is world class talent that consistently year after year that falls by the wayside and that maybe showed promise at one time or another but in terms of development was just underdeveloped and as a result these individuals move on. This doesnt have to be true. All for what? No offense to those Im going to mention or their talent but there are many more Boris Bereans out there, there are many more Julian Wanders, Moens, Keiffers and Robertson's. These individuals journeys communicate a deeper message of a very unfortunate reality that exists while conveying a message of hope to those that arent quite there....YET. The reality that there are individuals with world class talent that are working at Mcdonalds or stuck doing something else that they possess no passion for. Hopefully these individuals find similar paths and come out of being stuck in a dead end pursuit.

In american running we have a path that your supposed to follow and if you don't follow that path exactly the common mindset is you don't posses the talent to "make it". Run fast in high school, go to college develop into national class runner, go pro. IF you don't follow suite or something happens along the way that doesn't matter (context doesn't matter to most) and the general assumption is you didn't have "it." Ridiculous but this is an underlying tone not only in the running community at large but also outside. Personally I believe we are going to see more and more individuals that break this mold in the following years. This mindset/perception is short sided and ignorant at best. Many more people are going to break boxes, norms and common perceptions are going to shift and change.

Call it faith, call it conviction, whatever. Most people/ cultures adopt mindsets and believe systems that are only limiting in nature. So even if they "could" make it; the thing in between their two ears will only cause them to fall short. No amount of talent can't overcome a belief that one can only achieve mediocrity or whats "normal". Taking a journey where you risk everything in a single minded pursuit of your dream/passion that causes you to leave behind the biggest limiting factor in reaching/achieving dreams and that thing is FEAR. Those that leave behind fear will go much further in life than those that cling to it and tolerate belief systems that are routed and grounded in fear. Dreams die not because the possibility/impossibility of them coming true but because of the things/people/negative influences we tolerate in our life that choke them out.

Most people stay planted in a culture/ecosystem where its impossible for certain dreams to come to fruition. Sometimes the ground is too hard for the seed (dream) and it never goes into the ground, sometimes it springs up up and is choked out by cares/fear/etc, and sometimes it falls on the right ground and the ground is carefully tilled, hindering factors are eliminated and the dream comes to fruition.

Kudos to Julian and others for having the courage to step outside their comfort zone and pursue their passion. Its an incredibly inspiring story and should inspire courage in all of us.

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Long winded and grammatically incorrect wrote:

Its called culture and a single minded pursuit. Reality is there are things in different cultures/sub cultures that are only hindering towards running and there are cultures/environments that are more conducive in bringing out the best. Go be a part of an empowering culture and see the changes that happen in your life then go be a part of a very negative and oppressive culture where fear, negativity and pessimism thrives. I guarantee you the results will be night/day in difference. Hang out with different people with different believes. You will discover very quickly the influence they can have on you whether good or bad. Some people it will almost be like a lid on your life, other it will be like the lid is completely removed and the reality you experience is very different. From a cultural standpoint there is a collective mindset in Iten "that I can make it." Whether or not that is true or not it is a cultural mindset and healthy ecosystem where greatness can breed. This is a healthy mindset that we should all adopt. A mindset that is soaked in hope. This mindset creates a culture where people are willing to take the journey to see how far they can go. This creates a tremendous amount of depth. In america very few believe they can and as a result we lack depth because so few take the journey.

I would venture to guess that every year there are hundreds of post collegiate athletes that possess the talent/ability to not only hit trials standards but eventually could battle for top 5 at the trials/us champs eventually that dont because of a lack of hope and a pressure to conform to cultural norms so they dont even take the journey. Shoot I would also reason that their is world class talent that consistently year after year that falls by the wayside and that maybe showed promise at one time or another but in terms of development was just underdeveloped and as a result these individuals move on. This doesnt have to be true. All for what? No offense to those Im going to mention or their talent but there are many more Boris Bereans out there, there are many more Julian Wanders, Moens, Keiffers and Robertson's. These individuals journeys communicate a deeper message of a very unfortunate reality that exists while conveying a message of hope to those that arent quite there....YET. The reality that there are individuals with world class talent that are working at Mcdonalds or stuck doing something else that they possess no passion for. Hopefully these individuals find similar paths and come out of being stuck in a dead end pursuit.

In american running we have a path that your supposed to follow and if you don't follow that path exactly the common mindset is you don't posses the talent to "make it". Run fast in high school, go to college develop into national class runner, go pro. IF you don't follow suite or something happens along the way that doesn't matter (context doesn't matter to most) and the general assumption is you didn't have "it." Ridiculous but this is an underlying tone not only in the running community at large but also outside. Personally I believe we are going to see more and more individuals that break this mold in the following years. This mindset/perception is short sided and ignorant at best. Many more people are going to break boxes, norms and common perceptions are going to shift and change.

Call it faith, call it conviction, whatever. Most people/ cultures adopt mindsets and believe systems that are only limiting in nature. So even if they "could" make it; the thing in between their two ears will only cause them to fall short. No amount of talent can't overcome a belief that one can only achieve mediocrity or whats "normal". Taking a journey where you risk everything in a single minded pursuit of your dream/passion that causes you to leave behind the biggest limiting factor in reaching/achieving dreams and that thing is FEAR. Those that leave behind fear will go much further in life than those that cling to it and tolerate belief systems that are routed and grounded in fear. Dreams die not because the possibility/impossibility of them coming true but because of the things/people/negative influences we tolerate in our life that choke them out.

Most people stay planted in a culture/ecosystem where its impossible for certain dreams to come to fruition. Sometimes the ground is too hard for the seed (dream) and it never goes into the ground, sometimes it springs up up and is choked out by cares/fear/etc, and sometimes it falls on the right ground and the ground is carefully tilled, hindering factors are eliminated and the dream comes to fruition.

Kudos to Julian and others for having the courage to step outside their comfort zone and pursue their passion. Its an incredibly inspiring story and should inspire courage in all of us.

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ToBeasy wrote:

Btw: Abraham is from Eritrea. But he is not like one of those east africans that run for Turky. He has been living in Switzerland for over ten years now and also developed through a local track Club.

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zxcvxvxc wrote:

Probably very few of them have done the serious training. Chris Froome achieved greatness in cycling through training and doping.
But the fact that of all the top non-African, non-Japanese long distance runners in the world currently at or under 60 in the half, most of them have trained for a significant amount of time in Kenya.
I count just 21 athletes with non-African heritage and excluding Japanese runners, who would add about 12 or 13 to the list, who have broken 1:01. There are 13 European athletes not of African heritage who have done so.
Of those, the guys at the top are Marilson Gomes dos Santos (59:33), Ryan Hall (59:43), Zane Robertson (59:47), Sondre Moen (59:48), Fabian Roncero (59:52), Dathan Ritzenhein and Callum Hawkins (60:00), Jake Robertson (60:01), and Julian Wanders.

Of those guys, I don't know about dos Santos. Roncero trained in the Canary Islands, running up volcanoes--so some altitude; Hall was trained and trained at altitude; the Robertsons have lived and trained in Kenya most of the last ten years or so, Wanders and Moen live in Kenya or spend large amounts of time there, and Ritz used an oxygen tent and often went to train at altitude (he trained at altitude in Europe before his great series of 12:56 AR, 27:22 in Berlin, 60:00 bronze at World half).

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