We know that the two are squaring off in London soon.
Mo looked comfortable in the London half.
The question is, if Mo somehow dusts Kipchoge and runs a 2:02:30, should we just give the GOAT title to Mo?
4 gold medals, 2 marathon majors, 5 world titles.
Or will we let our irrational hate of the man blind us?
I don't know why people are so reluctant to think of Mo as the next great marathoner. Like kipchoge, he had great success on the track (dare I say way better) and is making the proper transition to the than. He's gonna be a great.
10% chance of it happening. And that will only probably happen due to either food poisoning or if that crazy pastor from the 2004 Olympics shows up.
Mo needs to do a lot more than beat Kipchoge to become the marathon GOAT. He will never be the distance GOAT.
Mo will never beat Kipchoge if he is in top form and nothing ridiculous happens. Kipchoge will retire before he begins a real decline. You also have to consider the fact that Mo has begun his marathon career very late and he doesn't have that many good years left I'm sure. If Kitata has gone well with his training he will trounce Mo again as well. Honestly I commend him for going to London where the field is strong, it's his hometown so not like he really has a choice but still. Mo will never surpass Kipchoge in the marathon and we all know Kipchoge faced stiffer competition on the track in his youth. Many all time greats in their prime.
This is the year Mo decides arm warmers aren’t enough, and races in a full-body spandex suit. He’ll be so methed-out for this one, he’ll go through the half in 61:00 while screaming god-knows-what at the pacers, bicyclists, volunteers at aid stations, you name it, gesticulating wildly. He’ll break Eliud at 40k and charge for home at near 4:00 pace, slowing to a jog when he sees he’s at risk of breaking the world record, and finish in 2:01:46. Moments later he’ll collapse and be taken to the hospital, but we’ll be led to believe it was a random, harmless occurrence, perhaps the result of his superhuman effort.
-MINDCHANGER69
unless mo runs 2:10:39 or faster and wins 9 international marathons, no contest, kipchoge ran faster on the track and is also olympic champ. Mo is an amazing athlete with all his medals but he has always been a sit and kick guy and I think it wont translate super well to marathon
nah wrote:
unless mo runs 2:10:39 or faster and wins 9 international marathons, no contest, kipchoge ran faster on the track and is also olympic champ. Mo is an amazing athlete with all his medals but he has always been a sit and kick guy and I think it wont translate super well to marathon
Mo has already run “2:10:39 or faster.”
Takinadump wrote:
Mo will never beat Kipchoge if he is in top form and nothing ridiculous happens. Kipchoge will retire before he begins a real decline. You also have to consider the fact that Mo has begun his marathon career very late and he doesn't have that many good years left I'm sure. If Kitata has gone well with his training he will trounce Mo again as well. Honestly I commend him for going to London where the field is strong, it's his hometown so not like he really has a choice but still. Mo will never surpass Kipchoge in the marathon and we all know Kipchoge faced stiffer competition on the track in his youth. Many all time greats in their prime.
i have said elsewhere that this field is so deep that 3 young guns could finish between them. So that is sir mo at fifth for me. He is a great kicker at the end but you have to be within 30 metres with half a km to go.
Kipchoge getting beaten is bound to happen eventually. It could even happen in London. But until Mo, and others, run the times Eliud has, and build a streak similar to his, they will not be the GOAT.
dfa wrote:
We know that the two are squaring off in London soon.
Mo looked comfortable in the London half.
The question is, if Mo somehow dusts Kipchoge and runs a 2:02:30, should we just give the GOAT title to Mo?
4 gold medals, 2 marathon majors, 5 world titles.
Or will we let our irrational hate of the man blind us?
Irrational? Just his association with Aden and busted lies alone should make him persona non grata.
30%
Tottenheim wrote:
Irrational? Just his association with Aden and busted lies alone should make him persona non grata.
^This, plus drug cheat coach Salazar, plus likely doping, plus not opening the door to his tester, plus his unfathomable mid-career jump from wannabe to serial gold medal winner.
Hard to find a more suspicious career (well, Bolt and Radcliffe come to mind). If he runs a 2:03 in London, oh my.
too little too late wrote:
Mo needs to do a lot more than beat Kipchoge to become the marathon GOAT. He will never be the distance GOAT.
Here is an interesting way in which I can make Farah appear to be the distance GOAT...the number of days between his 1500 and first 205 marathon. In my mind there are only 4 people we can discuss:
Kipchoge: 3:33 (May 31, 2004) - 2:05:30 (Apr 12, 2013, Hamburg) --- 3,247 days and it was his first marathon
Geb: 3:31i (Feb 1, 1998) - 2:05:56 (Sep 2006, Berlin) --- 3,157 days and it was NOT his first marathon
Bekele: 3:32 (Sep/28/2007) - 2:05:04 (Apr 6, 2014, Paris) --- 2,382 days and it was his first marathon
Farah: 3:28 (Jul 17, 2015) - 2:05:11 (Oct 7, 2018) --- 1,178 days
Now for Farah. I have chosen his last 3:28 and not his first, since it helps illustrate how close together his world class 1500 time was to his 205 marathon.
However I don't think that tells the whole story. If you consider any 1500 time of Farah that is faster than the other three fellows, then you get:
Farah: 3:31 (Jul 15, 2016) - 2:05:11 (Oct 7, 2018, Chicago) --- 814 days
And if you really want to consider how London 2018 played out, where Farah was clearly in 204 shape but went out at 61 in only his second marathon:
Farah: 3:31 (Jul 15, 2016) - 2:06:21 (Apr 22, 2018, London) --- Just 646 days.
Clearly some of this is just messing with data until I see what I want, but it is pretty amazing to consider how fast Farah ran 1500 and a marathon.
One should absolutely in now way ever be mentioned as GOAT if you don't have a single WORLD RECORD!!
Thats craziness! Mo doesn't even have the Euro 10k and half marathon record!! Barely has the Euro record which he may lose this year.
Mo can’t win, Kipchoge can only lose.
Better question:
At what betting odds would you put money on Mo winning?
I would at a $5.50 payout (in case of a win) for a $1 bet. Can't recall if that's 11:2 or 2:11 in betting terms.
Check out the betting rates:
https://sports.bwin.com/en/sports/17/9719/betting/london-marathon-men#leagueIds=9719&sportId=17
Funny. Their more optimistic about Mo's chances than I am. (And more pessimistic about Kipchoge.)
By their numbers, Kipsang has an edge on Farah.
I think the gap between them will be a lot smaller. Mo Farah will at least get 2nd place. He always manages to steal the energy from runners with faster PBs. It is like he can suck the energy out of the runners around him. Even though some of them have faster PBs I expect Mo to destroy them anyway.
Is betting on races legal in the United States? I haven't really seen it here. I'm assuming it's legal in Europe since they're doing it for London, or is this London Marathon gambling a little shady?