Bekele Going For 10K WR At Pre!

[joeltetreault]

Geb had a race in his 5000 WR of 12:41 against Daniel Koman, (Zurich, 1997), but what other WR at 3000 or up was set in a 'real' race since, well, Viren? At the 1500 it might be Cram /Aouita

3:29.67 Steve Cram 1 Nice 16/07/1985
3:29.71 Saïd Aouita 2 Nice 16/07/1985

although this cam SSSOOO close

3:26.12 Hicham El Guerrouj 1 Bruxelles 24/08/2001
3:26.34 Bernard Lagat KEN 2 Bruxelles 24/08/2001

Men's Mile WR should count:

3:43.13 Hicham El Guerrouj 1 Roma 07.07.1999
3:43.40 Noah Ngeny 2 Roma 07.07.1999

and the women's 5000 WR:

14:16.63 Meseret Defar 1 Oslo 15.06.2007
14:22.51 Vivian Cheruiyot 2 Oslo 15.06.2007

Women's Half-Marathon WR:
66:25 Lornah Kiplagat 1 Udine 14.10.2007
66:48 Mary Keitany 2 Udine 14.10.2007

(stats from http://www.alltime-athletics.com/ )

Others close one's:

The Osaka WC women's steeplechase was 5 seconds off the WR and was definitely quite a race.

[Cyril]

Going for a WR when you are the current WR holder, win everything in sight, and beat everyone in sight, takes an extraordinary amount of motivation. Each year world class runners have to come up with goals that will take them through training that is arduous (understatement), sometimes boring (same), etc., etc.

I have no doubt that KB is physically capable of breaking his 10K WR. That leaves two questions: First, will he find himself in a race, a true race, with someone like Tadesse pushing the pace way up, and have to actually race to win, setting a WR in the process? Not likely, but if he did, bye-bye WR. Second, since he won't find the first scenario, does he have the motivation, and currently the shape, to take it down on his own? Tall order. I say doubtful.

Very well said and I agree completely. The only thing I would add is that even though it is doubtful that he is currently in shape to take on this huge task, it is more likely that he would have a better chance in September.

[26mi235]

Geb had a race in his 5000 WR of 12:41 against Daniel Koman, (Zurich, 1997), but what other WR at 3000 or up was set in a 'real' race since, well, Viren? At the 1500 it might be Cram /Aouita

3:29.67 Steve Cram 1 Nice 16/07/1985
3:29.71 Saïd Aouita 2 Nice 16/07/1985

although this cam SSSOOO close

3:26.12 Hicham El Guerrouj 1 Bruxelles 24/08/2001
3:26.34 Bernard Lagat KEN 2 Bruxelles 24/08/2001

Men's Mile WR should count:

3:43.13 Hicham El Guerrouj 1 Roma 07.07.1999
3:43.40 Noah Ngeny 2 Roma 07.07.1999

and the women's 5000 WR:

14:16.63 Meseret Defar 1 Oslo 15.06.2007
14:22.51 Vivian Cheruiyot 2 Oslo 15.06.2007

Women's Half-Marathon WR:
66:25 Lornah Kiplagat 1 Udine 14.10.2007
66:48 Mary Keitany 2 Udine 14.10.2007

(stats from http://www.alltime-athletics.com/ )

Others close one's:

The Osaka WC women's steeplechase was 5 seconds off the WR and was definitely quite a race.

Thanks for filling things out more. The womens SC is quite new and so in a different category, to an extent. Also, was the 5 seconds early or late?

23 seconds is not too big in a HM, but, again, it might not be a very direct push/trading leads etc.

The mile mirrors the later even closer 1500 (and was inferior to the 1500, though still quite good, and probably the second best 1500/mile at the time (preceding as it did the aforementioned ElG/Lagat battle.

It is my impression that close races often end up nixing records as one party or the other (or both) will pull back so as not to rabbit the other and then lose. Recent examples include the womens 5000(?) where they let the pace lag during or at the 4k. It seems that WR attempts in the distance events generally leave OUT the primary challenger(s). I am interested in cases where this is not the case.

In the Marathon things are a little different since it can be hard to go on ones own for mile after mile. We have seen two semi-recent WRs that were races - the unintended race with the rabbit for Tergat and the Tergat/Geb/ beating provided by KK. Since then, Geb has taken the 'no challengers at all, but a spearhead of pacers' route, which leaves a slightly bad taste in my mouth, as much as I have liked Geb over the years.

[RMc]

What's the American soil 5k best?

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_5000ok.htm

US allcomers record:
13:04.05 Tariku Bekele ETH 21.01.87 1 New York City 02.06.2007

So conceivably, he could break the American soil 5k record en route! And what if he does it with a negative split????

TJ, you should set up an electronic timer to be set off at the 5k split.... I suspect that would WOW the crowd.

[26mi235]

What's the American soil 5k best?

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/m_5000ok.htm

US allcomers record:
13:04.05 Tariku Bekele ETH 21.01.87 1 New York City 02.06.2007

So conceivably, he could break the American soil 5k record en route! And what if he does it with a negative split????

TJ, you should set up an electronic timer to be set off at the 5k split.... I suspect that would WOW the crowd.

I suppose that only the first 5000 can count for a record.

[Helen S]

4:49.99

Didn't Rupp learn anything from knowing about this? Obviously he was "ruined"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can now take my tongue out of my cheek. - )

[Spiritual Warrior]

For Bekele to break his awesome 10K record will be very unlikely.
Why?

Look at what was going on when he went under 26:20.

His current WR was beaten and there was a bit of one up man ship going on.

Bekele had intense revenge and Country Honors engaged on his cleverly crafted attack in which he regained the world record and made old fools like me shake my head in dis-belief.

For Bekele to break his world record he will have to fall into a near perfect, even pace the whole way for it to happen.
This is the only way.
If this is a race, involved, where the pace picks up, and slows, with mid race tactics going on, the record will not even come close.

Any WR on that day will be a near solo performance and not very likely.

SW

[dl]

I have absolutely zero inside knowledge on what's going on with this record attempt, but I doubt Bekele would run a 10,000m at PRE unless he truly was in shape to take a shot at his own standard.

He could've had an easier time of it by just running the two-mile (although he wouldn't be guaranteed of winning by any means).

[gh]

....
Any WR on that day will be a near solo performance and not very likely.

SW

"solo" is how 10K records are set. I'm guessing no 10K WR setter has had anbody within legit striking distance of him since Viren/Puttemans at Munich in '72!

[Master Po]

For Bekele to break his awesome 10K record will be very unlikely.
Why?

Look at what was going on when he went under 26:20.

His current WR was beaten and there was a bit of one up man ship going on.

Bekele had intense revenge and Country Honors engaged on his cleverly crafted attack in which he regained the world record ...

SW

SW,
Perhaps I simply don't understand what you wrote here, but your post reads like Bekele was motivated in his WR attempt to reclaim his previous WR from someone from another country who had broken it. But what was really going on when Bekele ran his 26:17 WR in 2005 was that he broke his own WR of 26:20, which he had run in 2004, and when he set that WR, he broke his countryman Geb's 26:22 WR, which had stood since 98.

[dl]

....
Any WR on that day will be a near solo performance and not very likely.

SW

"solo" is how 10K records are set. I'm guessing no 10K WR setter has had anbody within legit striking distance of him since Viren/Puttemans at Munich in '72!

Carlos Lopes was just behind Fernando Mamede (27:13-27:17, I think) when they both broke the previous WR in Stockholm in '84. I remember readhing that they ran together for most of the race.

Paul Koech (26:36) finished a bit behind Tergat (26:27) in his WR, but pushed him for a decent amount of the race. I was at the meet, but I can't remember from memory when Tergat pulled away, but it wasn't a solo attempt for most of the race. Not sure this qualifies as "striking distance" however...

[gh]

How about a 10K WR with last-lap excitement?

[kuha]

How about a 10K WR with last-lap excitement?

I've only seen two 10k WRs (Sigei at Oslo, Tergat at Brussels), but both had absolutely electrifying last laps--everyone in the stadium standing and screaming, all eyes riveted on the guy in front. There's nuttin' like it...

[gh]

Yeah, I was there for Sigei, and it was awesome. I thought it was implicit when I said "last-lap excitement" I meant in a competitive sense.

[Brian]

[quote=Master Po]

For Bekele to break his awesome 10K record will be very unlikely.
Why?

Look at what was going on when he went under 26:20.

His current WR was beaten and there was a bit of one up man ship going on.

Bekele had intense revenge and Country Honors engaged on his cleverly crafted attack in which he regained the world record ...

SW

SW,
Perhaps I simply don't understand what you wrote here, but your post reads like Bekele was motivated in his WR attempt to reclaim his previous WR from someone from another country who had broken it. But what was really going on when Bekele ran his 26:17 WR in 2005 was that he broke his own WR of 26:20, which he had run in 2004, and when he set that WR, he broke his countryman Geb's 26:22 WR, which had stood since 98.[/quote:bjhgh53i]


Plus there may be a little of this going on behind the scenes this time, too.

Hengelo was pretty much cleared for Geb's 10,000m. shot before The Games...incentive for Bekele to upstage him at another venue (in a healthy, competitive way, of course)? Not to mention the adidas/Hengelo and Nike/Eugene sponsorship factor possibly playing a part.


[Damn, I guess I just mentioned it. ]