Kipchoge says he goes for a PB. Why doesn’t he say WR?

Imagine what if Kipchoge breaks the world record but than Bekele breaks that world record in asterdam.

I think it's to reduce expectations since so much is out of his control. I mean, remember last year? Everyone hyped it as a WR attempt, he did too, and then it fell short, all very much due to circumstances out of his control. It's almost, in a sense, an attempt not to jinx it.

Yes, to reduce expectations but also as a world class athlete racing a pack of world class athletes, he cannot dictate pace. If the pack doesn't want to run WR pace there is nothing Kipchoge can do about it. He cannot by himself in a competitive race go out and run WR pace from the gun. Doing so would be foolish. He could blow up and get caught by the pack. Don't forget these are professionals racing for money which gets paid out by the PLACE. He is racing the other guys. Time is secondary.

Les wrote:

Yes, to reduce expectations but also as a world class athlete racing a pack of world class athletes, he cannot dictate pace. If the pack doesn't want to run WR pace there is nothing Kipchoge can do about it. He cannot by himself in a competitive race go out and run WR pace from the gun. Doing so would be foolish. He could blow up and get caught by the pack. Don't forget these are professionals racing for money which gets paid out by the PLACE. He is racing the other guys. Time is secondary.

That didn't make any sense at all.

TheTrueKing wrote:

I think it's to reduce expectations since so much is out of his control. I mean, remember last year? Everyone hyped it as a WR attempt, he did too, and then it fell short, all very much due to circumstances out of his control. It's almost, in a sense, an attempt not to jinx it.

I would agree if the margin between his PB and the WR was a minute or maybe even 30 seconds. But it’s 8 seconds!

If you say PB instead of WR, you make yourself sound like a fool. If you want to lower expectations just say:” I will try to go for a WR, but many things are out of my hands as we’ve already seen in previous marathon. This would sound like true modesty. But the way he says it- we aren’t idiots to buy a claim like that. It’s fake cheap modesty

Les wrote:

Yes, to reduce expectations but also as a world class athlete racing a pack of world class athletes, he cannot dictate pace. If the pack doesn't want to run WR pace there is nothing Kipchoge can do about it. He cannot by himself in a competitive race go out and run WR pace from the gun. Doing so would be foolish. He could blow up and get caught by the pack. Don't forget these are professionals racing for money which gets paid out by the PLACE. He is racing the other guys. Time is secondary.

Sorry, you couldn't be more wrong. Time is his primary objective. That's why he says it's his main goal. That's why there are pacers to lead him at WR pace. The WR bonuses, the future appearance fees, his legacy as an athlete all get a boost if he runs the world record.

Kipchoge's time is the only thing anyone is talking about regarding Berlin.

Heard it might be kind of warm in Berlin on Sunday

Have you considered that his PB is actually faster than the WR? :)

not modesty wrote:

Have you considered that his PB is actually faster than the WR? :)

What you wrote make zero sense. According to your logic when Kipchoge says he want to run a PB in Berlin on Sunday that means sub 2:00:25

So I don’t think even he considers that sub2 time as a PB

Jerk

He's making himself sound like the every man. Probably lots of people are going into that race shooting for a PB/PR. They can relate to an elite doing their all time best. They can't relate to someone being the all-time GOAT.

jpetermanesq wrote:

He's making himself sound like the every man. Probably lots of people are going into that race shooting for a PB/PR. They can relate to an elite doing their all time best. They can't relate to someone being the all-time GOAT.

Now that’s an intelegent answer. (Meaning he was instructed by marketing people (Nike, Berlin organizers and so on) to say PB instead of WR).

Eliud is focused on himself. Thus he wants to outdo what he has done before. This is why he has become a legend.

Reith wrote:

Eliud is focused on himself.

I actually agree with this. The OP is very focused on Kipchoge's words in the literal sense: if he wants a PB but not the WR, that must mean he's aiming for that small 8-second window, which is ridiculous etc. etc.

But I suspect the comments simply reflect Kipchoge's general mindset rather than a specific literal calculation of his desired finishing time. If you read Jon Gault's preview of the race, Kipchoge's agent talks about how good Kipchoge is at focusing on the things he can change and not worrying about other things. I'm guessing that translates into HOW he thinks about goals. In this case, saying "I'm going for a PB" and "I'm going for a WR" are essentially the same thing in a practical sense, but his choice to talk about a PB reflects his internal focus. Telling yourself "I want to do slightly better than what I've already done before" seems more manageable than telling yourself "I want to do better than any human has done before." Sounds like mental games? Sure, but that's what the late miles of a marathon are all about.

He's not racing the WR, he's racing himself.

His PR is 8 seconds off the WR. If he's gonna break his PR, he's going to break the WR. The only reason he didn't do it in London was because he didn't even realize he was at WR pace.

mbrunelle wrote:

He's not racing the WR, he's racing himself.

I totally agree with this and reflects alot on the man Eliud Kipchoge. He is out to run his best time ever. Really there is nothing you can do if the best ever time you can run is slower than the WR. But knowing what we know, Kipchoge's best is faster than the WR. That means when he says he is going for a PB, he means he is not limiting himself to the WR. We therefore should not look at it in the negative but positive. His 2:03:05 in London is actually worth faster than Kimetto's World Record. He broke the course record by more than 1min 16 seconds. And except for Stanley Biwott's 2:03:51 no one else has run faster than the previous course record run by Wilson Kipsang(2:04:29).

Jgfgh wrote:

Kipchoge says he aims for a PB. Why doesn’t he say WR?

Obviously he’s not aiming to finish in that 8 seconds margin between him and Kimetu. He talked like this also before London and Berlin 2017. Is this some kind of political thing? A tactic? What is his game hay??

Everybody knows why. But people are afraid to see it, because it is Kipchoge

But the Adidas guys? BALLS! Haile, Kimetto, Kipsang? BALLS

I frickin love it.

The dude is focused on incremental improvement. A mindset focused on bettering himself every time out regardless of where the record may be. Nike needs to make more Kipchoge ads.

on the flip side, if he ever tests positive i'm gonnna lose all hope and jump out a window.

yepppp wrote:

I frickin love it.

The dude is focused on incremental improvement. A mindset focused on bettering himself every time out regardless of where the record may be. Nike needs to make more Kipchoge ads.

on the flip side, if he ever tests positive i'm gonnna lose all hope and jump out a window.

I give this guy the pass too. due to his style.

vs the total fraud Michael Johnson, serena Williams, semi-fraud viren etc.