Who wins this time? Hopefully Geremew comes back and smokes them both.
Who wins this time? Hopefully Geremew comes back and smokes them both.
It would be epic to see Bekele return in the fall. I hope he is able to train well now that he doesn't have that Tokyo marathon in his legs to recover from.
He has to pay back the debts to Gebrselassie.
Better question will the Chicago Marathon make the international field weak to get more Americans in the top 10? Only 2 mem have met the standard for 2020 Olys.
I can't wait til he airs his grievances at Michael Jordan at the press conference.
Geb will be waiting at the finish line wearing a big smile as he waits for Mo to cross the line
Great. Two 2nd tier marathoners in Chicago. What could be more exciting than that?
I don’t like him, but my money is on Mo to defend
The less amount of East Africans (besides Mo) up front the more the pre-race and post-race interest will be. Nobody in Chicago can name one of the top-level EA marathoners. However, a race between Mo and Rupp will generate interest.
Nobody cares about 10 EA’s in the same uniform running 26.2 miles. It is killing the sport.
For whatever reason, I wanted to see him in NYC.
flat marathons= boring wrote:
For whatever reason, I wanted to see him in NYC.
...or Boston, right?
Chhgcvxv wrote:
Better question will the Chicago Marathon make the international field weak to get more Americans in the top 10? Only 2 mem have met the standard for 2020 Olys.
Rupp
Ward
Fauble
And if I had to guess, a few more are waiting for Chicago to get their 2:11.30 or faster as well. Purely speculating, however. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brogan Austin make a run for it at Chicago.
UA Runner wrote:
Chhgcvxv wrote:
Better question will the Chicago Marathon make the international field weak to get more Americans in the top 10? Only 2 mem have met the standard for 2020 Olys.
Rupp
Ward
Fauble
And if I had to guess, a few more are waiting for Chicago to get their 2:11.30 or faster as well. Purely speculating, however. I wouldn't be surprised to see Brogan Austin make a run for it at Chicago.
Rupp doesn’t have it yet.
I'll be interested to see how Rupp does in his first marathon since his surgery. Will he still be a 2:06 guy with potential of being even faster? I don't really care about Mo being in it though, other than it'd be a good showing for Rupp if he beats Mo since he's a solid guy to beat and a consistent top 10 marathon guy in the world and a real benchmark victory. (some guys are much more up and down than Mo so it's not always impressive to beat him)
And to people saying that they make that field weak, give me a break. The winner makes $100k and anyone truly in contention with that will get some sort of appearance fee. It may not be as high of appearance fee as some other races but the top tier people wouldn't pass up an opportunity to earn $100k+ if it truly is a 'weak' field.
It would be a miracle if Rupp beat Mo. Mo is leading their head to head 23-1...???
The original article also suggests Mo and Rupp are best friends. Nice.
And the one loss is due to him tripping.
It might make more sense for guys to try and go to Berlin to get that time. Better conditions, faster course, and more time to recover and prepare for the trials (although not too much more). If, however, Chicago is going to have a 2:11:30 pacer that would be pretty sweet.
I believe top 10 at the WC marathon will also qualify for the Olympics (can anyone confirm?). I'd say the chances of an placing top 10 there are pretty good too. Top Africans will drop out once they realize they can't get a medal to save themselves for a later payday in a winter marathon and the other deep nation (Japan) will not really have anyone there since their Olympic trials are in mid-September and droves of Japanese runners have all already made the qualifier anyway. The Australian team could send few guys with top 10 potential as well, that would be the main competition for Americans in Doha.
Alabama BS wrote:
The less amount of East Africans (besides Mo) up front the more the pre-race and post-race interest will be. Nobody in Chicago can name one of the top-level EA marathoners. However, a race between Mo and Rupp will generate interest.
Nobody cares about 10 EA’s in the same uniform running 26.2 miles. It is killing the sport.
By Nobody, you must be referring to yourself. I'm much more interested in the Africans.
Alabama BS wrote:
The less amount of East Africans (besides Mo) up front the more the pre-race and post-race interest will be. Nobody in Chicago can name one of the top-level EA marathoners. However, a race between Mo and Rupp will generate interest.
Nobody cares about 10 EA’s in the same uniform running 26.2 miles. It is killing the sport.
They are human beings just let just like you and Rupp and calling them EA’s in the same uniform I find offensive.