17 yr Jakob Ingebrigtsen closes in 55, runs 3:39 & LRC goes nuts. 17 yr George Manangoi closes in 55, runs 3:35 and silence

That's a good burn at the LRC posters, Wejo, for them giving you and Rojo grief about perceived biases in the past.

Well, Kenya has a history of both age cheating and drug cheating, so it's hard to get excited for the "17 year old" Kenyan.

he could be 17, give or take 7 years

At norwegian televison they stated it will be very exciting to see the two fight it out during the next years.

George Manangoi looks quite young.

JI won the race easily.

The Kenyan grandfather did not.

Of course not. Noone Cares about another african runner. Africans might

Fair question. My thoughts:

1) There's been a history of East African junior runners with undocumented ages which are later found out to be incorrect (lots of prodigious times of 18-19 year-olds who don't improve much later). But let's assume for now George is his stated age.

2) The limelight is a powerful thing, and the Ingebrigtsen family has had a lot of media exposure with the results to back it up. Of course running a 3:56 mile at 16 years of age means that people are going to follow your results.

3) Jakob WON his race and took down a better field than that in Doha. Not only did he win, he crushed the competition. Maybe Centro isn't in form but guys like Chelimo and Jenkins are no slouches when it comes to showing up. Manangoi held on in a well-paced race and lost by half a second.

4) Payton Jordan was at Stanford University and one of the biggest meets in the US, the Doha meet was in the middle of a desert in the Middle East and received a lot less media hype here.

George seems like a great talent, but in a race between the two I would put my money on Jakob without hesitation. No way Jakob couldn't have run 3:35.x in Doha.

I'm pretty sure if you Google "Kenyan 1500m runner" today you will get more articles about Asbel Kiprop than this young guy. He's going to have a much harder time making a name for himself.

Kenya’s best just went positive after a lifetime of cheating. And they admit to age cheating. Exactly what are we supposed to be excited about coming out of Africa right now?

Managoi’s run is every bit as exciting as that coming from a little brother of someone WADA is confident is doping after reviewing 37 of his tests. If Henrik is cheating why wouldn’t Jakob be cheating as well?

Thanks for this, Wejo. I honestly didn't think you had it in you.

Links to old man George for the doubters.

https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/kenya/george-meitamei-manangoi-320934

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7Jl2-zA7BI

It's not exciting because every year there's a 14-15-16-17 year old E. African that runs a super fast time...then that ends up their lifetime best or close to it. You can speculate as to why that is. Only a one off star runner-type may change that typical scenario, but hard to say if that would be G.M.

If uninjured, I highly doubt Jakobs PR will stay at 3:39 through even May. I would say Jakob will improve that PR by 10 seconds over the next couple of years, whereas G.M may not improve much, if at all.

Given the economic endowment of Western society and the brutal nature of distance running, the Ingebrigtsen victory, on a relative basis, is the greater accomplishment.

Given the predominately Western audience of this website, it shouldn't come as a surprise that "one of our guys" attracts more attention.

wejo wrote:

Or totally fair because of the age cheating in the past in Kenya?

Correct.

you ok bro? wrote:

It's not exciting because every year there's a 14-15-16-17 year old E. African that runs a super fast time...then that ends up their lifetime best or close to it. You can speculate as to why that is. Only a one off star runner-type may change that typical scenario, but hard to say if that would be G.M.

+1

Within the last 5-6 years:

Isaiah Koech ran 12:53 INDOOR as a 17 year old

Hagos ran 7:32 and 12:47 as an 18 year old

Kejelcha ran 12:53 as an 18 year old

Those three were lauded as being the next big threats to Bekele's WRs. Hagos and Kejelcha are still competitive though certainly not the world beaters everyone thought they would be, and I don't think Koech is even on the circuit anymore.

A random Norwegian (or any non-African country) running that type of time at 17 is much rarer. That's why it's being talked about more.

SprintTriathlon wrote:

At norwegian televison they stated it will be very exciting to see the two fight it out during the next years.

George Manangoi looks quite young.

They'll be competing for the minor placings. Kenya's next great 1500m hope isn't even George, but 18-year-old Justus Soget who's run 3:32.

Dopers. All of them. The Ingebrigtsen camp's going to be impossible to catch due to a greater degree of sophistication learned from the skiers and the insularity of the family: they'll never rat.

And he still gets beaten in high school meets.

http://athletics.co.ke/justus-soget-beaten-kitale/

Remind me again who coaches Soget?

El Keniano wrote:

SprintTriathlon wrote:

At norwegian televison they stated it will be very exciting to see the two fight it out during the next years.

George Manangoi looks quite young.

They'll be competing for the minor placings. Kenya's next great 1500m hope isn't even George, but 18-year-old Justus Soget who's run 3:32.

https://www.nation.co.ke/sports/athletics/Kenya-Justus-Soget-back-to-rousing-reception/1100-4330890-13fhnoj/index.html

Check the results and get back to us, k? Manangoi beat Soget in the same race. So, as it stands Manangoi has the advantage.