It's on!! Dreams become reality: Bekele vs. Kipchoge at London!!

asdfdsa wrote:

Meh. Wake me up when they get Walmsley

lol post of the thread so far

Did Bekele's string of disappointing performances following his epic 2016 Berlin victory teach us nothing? I have a real hard time imagining he'll pose much of a threat at all to Kipchoge in London. Kipchoge is a model of consistency and will almost surely win; meanwhile, Bekele is far more likely to DNF or simply underperform than he is to give Kipchoge a serious run for his money. Fool me once, etc. etc.

LetsEatDoughnutsInstead wrote:

I wonder what the pacemakers will be targeting and who they are. Will Bekele and Kipchoge share the same pace group?

I’m relieved they’re doing it in London and not (just?) Japan.

Even better, in a later tweet they stated that since the London Mar org committee spent so much on appearance fees this year they are having the invited athletes stay 2 to a room - and they have assigned Kenny and Kip to room together. Oh won't that be a fun late chat!

El Keniano wrote:

If Kipchoge loses, LetsRun will declare a holiday. That’s how much you folks are rooting against him and other Kenyans. But we’re like: “bring it”. Victory tastes better when they don’t want you to win.

I would be shocked to see a letsrun poll in which Bekele was more popular than Kipchoge.

anacondarunner wrote:

Did Bekele's string of disappointing performances following his epic 2016 Berlin victory teach us nothing? I have a real hard time imagining he'll pose much of a threat at all to Kipchoge in London. Kipchoge is a model of consistency and will almost surely win; meanwhile, Bekele is far more likely to DNF or simply underperform than he is to give Kipchoge a serious run for his money. Fool me once, etc. etc.

This right here. I am a fan of Bekele, would like to see him win in a WR, but more likely he drops out at 28k.

The question was about what is known, not what you don't doubt, and not what you believe. If I am wrong, and it is not Luka Kanda's 2:06:15, which performance is the fastest known doped marathon performance? There are (at least) 257 performances which are faster than 2:06:15. Luka Kanda was busted for Clenbuterol.

Armstronglivs wrote:

How is it possible that at the highest level in sport clean athletes are still better - in this case faster - than doped athletes, given the advantages that doping undoubtedly confers? Or if only 1-2% of top athletes are caught doping yet official estimates of actual doping are as high as 50% how can we believe that the only athletes doping are those who are caught?

Yes, he is wrong.

anacondarunner wrote:

Did Bekele's string of disappointing performances following his epic 2016 Berlin victory teach us nothing? I have a real hard time imagining he'll pose much of a threat at all to Kipchoge in London. Kipchoge is a model of consistency and will almost surely win; meanwhile, Bekele is far more likely to DNF or simply underperform than he is to give Kipchoge a serious run for his money. Fool me once, etc. etc.

Remember though..before Berlin last year he actually spent a few months in Netherlands with a real physio, nutritionists and being coached on how to exactly prep for a marathon. After that he went back to Ethiopia and actually trained with an elite group rather than on his own like he used to.

I hope he is being as diligent on this build as last time!

Surely his prep is exactly the same if not an optimized version of pre-Berlin. We all know Kipchoge lives and breathes marathon prep year round.

Is it possible that Kipchoge will crack under the pressure of Bekele running next to him at a 2:01:xx pace? Yes Kipchoge is the marathon wizard but he hasn’t had to contend with anything like a full strength Bekele.

How exciting will it be to see The Great One drop the hammer on Kipchoge in the last kilometer!

someName wrote:

Is it possible that Kipchoge will crack under the pressure of Bekele running next to him at a 2:01:xx pace? Yes Kipchoge is the marathon wizard but he hasn’t had to contend with anything like a full strength Bekele.

How exciting will it be to see The Great One drop the hammer on Kipchoge in the last kilometer!

True, he hasn't really faced any serious opposition since...dunno, losing to Kipsang in 2013 in Berlin, well let's add beating Kipsang in London in 2015. The other times he was running with out of shape champs or newbees (Adola, Kitata, etc...).

After the "Rumble in the Jungle" the "Thrilla in Manilla" here comes the "London Lowdown" !

PIK wrote:

Surely his prep is exactly the same if not an optimized version of pre-Berlin. We all know Kipchoge lives and breathes marathon prep year round.

Yeah, kipchoge’s prep will surely be better but as we saw in Berlin, Bekele who even somewhat trains/eats properly can be a force

What do you guys think, was this planned like this or it is really a decision of Bekele right now ? Did he start training yet ?

Kipchoge announced London on the 15th of December and if he followed his usual schedule, 3 weeks after 1:59 (12th Octobre) he was already in the Gym and 3 weeks after that already base building, putting him 2 months ahead of Bekele.

On the other hand if KB really trained only 8 weeks for Berlin, maybe now he will train 10, so he will only start jogging mid-February :D

Someone will get injured and pull out.

I think Kipchoge will win by a landslide.

Bekele even tho almost broke Kipchoge record, he has always been way less consistent.

I don't know why but I don't think he will be able to reproduce his Berlin performance again in London.

While Kipchoge will do an astonishing performance again.

Excited for this. Can we not have pacers for this race???

rekrunner wrote:

The question was about what is known, not what you don't doubt, and not what you believe.

If I am wrong, and it is not Luka Kanda's 2:06:15, which performance is the fastest known doped marathon performance?

There are (at least) 257 performances which are faster than 2:06:15.

Luka Kanda was busted for Clenbuterol.

Armstronglivs wrote:

How is it possible that at the highest level in sport clean athletes are still better - in this case faster - than doped athletes, given the advantages that doping undoubtedly confers? Or if only 1-2% of top athletes are caught doping yet official estimates of actual doping are as high as 50% how can we believe that the only athletes doping are those who are caught?

Yes, he is wrong.

You have only answered with what you believe to be the case. Following your line of thinking, Flojo, for example, could not have been doping because she was never caught. That is how a denier argues.

Heavyweight Marathon Matchup

Kipchoge vs Bekele

London 2020 - The Springform Challenge.

Who will win? The one who gets the best spring prototype Nike has to offer

rekrunner wrote:

The question was about what is known, not what you don't doubt, and not what you believe.

If I am wrong, and it is not Luka Kanda's 2:06:15, which performance is the fastest known doped marathon performance?

There are (at least) 257 performances which are faster than 2:06:15.

Luka Kanda was busted for Clenbuterol.

Kiptum was found guilty of an ABP-hematological violation and was consequently banned - his fastest is 2:05:26. Gourmi also has an ABP ban - his fastest is 2:05:30. These are the two fastest known doped marathon performances.

I not sure what you're getting at: "Known" doped performances just means the athlete got caught. It doesn't mean the all of the times faster are clean. You've got numerous Kenyans running faster than Kiptum and given the climate of the Kenyan doping culture, I'm suspicious of most of those performances. If you're going to believe that Kiptum is the only top Kenyan marathoner doping, then you're either very naive or just trolling - hard to tell the difference with you.

Bekele will get no breather or chance to drift back at London. He needs to stay with Kipchoge from the beginning. Kip will not be slowing down. His CR is 2:02:37, and assuming weather is decent and not too hot, I expect Kip will go for 2:02 flat or less for pacing.

I'm quite sure Mo is pleased with his decision to train for 10k!