2021 BMW Berlin Marathon

And of course, he remains the far and away distance GOAT, without question. I love Kipchoge and Kipchoge is better than Bekele at the marathon (slightly better top form combined with otherworldly consistency and dominance), but nobody can hold a candle to Bekele in an all-resume battle.

Looking forward to see him in NYC. I'll be there personally to cheer him on.

briswiss wrote:

youth.in.revolt wrote:

Somehow I can't imagine him caring much about the Age 40 WR...

Bekele is gonna dominate age group wins in local 5ks in his retirement

But will he crack the 17 minute mark aged 45?

Random question xyz wrote:

Bekele may never reach his absolute peak again, but he just showed he’s still a force to be reckoned with, going out in 61 flat in slightly warm / definitely humid conditions at age 39 and still not being very far off the leader at the end. I’d like to see him win another major, whether that’s in NYC or elsewhere next year or the year after that. Better yet, it would be great to see him run the World Champs, but that seems like an extreme longshot.

Can you guys stop bringing up the humidity? It was sunny and the dewpoint has been much the same (high 50’s) all day.

KB is the distance GOAT, but he’s 39. It’s over for him in relation to the runner he once was, and I’m talking about his marathon career, not his primary track/xc career. That Bekele is long gone. He’s not going to win a marathon major ever again if there’s a reasonable field. Kipchoge is aging too, but he may have a few years left winning and KB is now far in his rear view mirror. Does anybody have any doubt Kipchoge would have won this race easily?

Disko Eric wrote:

Random question xyz wrote:

Bekele may never reach his absolute peak again, but he just showed he’s still a force to be reckoned with, going out in 61 flat in slightly warm / definitely humid conditions at age 39 and still not being very far off the leader at the end. I’d like to see him win another major, whether that’s in NYC or elsewhere next year or the year after that. Better yet, it would be great to see him run the World Champs, but that seems like an extreme longshot.

Can you guys stop bringing up the humidity? It was sunny and the dewpoint has been much the same (high 50’s) all day.

Your wish is our collective command, disko eric

Adola has a 10,000 m best of 2709 dating back to 2016 in Eugene at Hayward Field. Aside from a few 10,000 m races he has little track history of note.

He is almost a pure road runner. Very economical typical road runner style.

I’d like to add that Bekele was great today. The 2nd half must have been a grind and when it became clear there was not only no wr, but no victory, I thought he’d walk off. I want to apologize for my foolishness. KB showed a great toughness today I thought he no longer had. It’s one thing to be tough and win, but far harder to be tough and lose badly. In some ways his grinding out a 3rd was more impressive than floating to a win. After all he’s accomplished, you might expect him to simply say f-ck it, I’m done with this.

Wise Old Man wrote:

I’d like to add that Bekele was great today. The 2nd half must have been a grind and when it became clear there was not only no wr, but no victory, I thought he’d walk off. I want to apologize for my foolishness. KB showed a great toughness today I thought he no longer had. It’s one thing to be tough and win, but far harder to be tough and lose badly. In some ways his grinding out a 3rd was more impressive than floating to a win. After all he’s accomplished, you might expect him to simply say f-ck it, I’m done with this.

+1 - and what should be noted as well is that Bekele has had a problem with his weight these last few years in that he’s almost like a boxer going up and down in his weight like a yo-yo when he relaxes his training - he puts on several kilograms and many pounds just within a few weeks and then has to diet to get his weight down to a reasonable racing weight. It has been confirmed by his manager Hermens. If he did not have this weight problem he would go even faster obviously, however if I’m wrong in my assessment, I stand corrected, because some people might deduce that his stocky body shape enables him to run well over the marathon distance. It was very impressive to see him running this race and maintaining that very high back kick which is rather unique in Marathon circles. Most runners have a more low knee lift technique when running the marathon and this was exemplified by the winner, G.ADOLA who almost shuffles along, and this is not a criticism by the way. Different styles different results. Mo Farah, ran the marathon with basically the same style that he did with the 1500 m only with less cadence obviously. I was just thinking earlier that it is a pity that Farah did not take part in this race because all the training he did with the aim of Olympic 10,000 might’ve enabled him to run a good race today. His 10,000 m in 2749 in the spring and all those long runs might have been enough for him to run a very good race today, but this is conjecture only. We can only speculate.

pupil3142 wrote:

the world record is 1:59

No, it isn´t

Now that the Berlin marathon is over, where's the preview for London marathon? Who's in it? Is Kitata the favorite? Who are his competitors? Where's the free stream? Will it be as good as the German stream? It's just awful watching the American stream, seems like all they do is have good will stories but don't really concentrate on the race.

Agree with both - man that's a tough positive split to drag out. And 3rd is nothing to be ashamed of in a WMM.

Kipchoge would have handled this field easily though. He would have ran his own race rather than get dragged into a large positive split, and for what it's worth were he there, I doubt anyone would even have attempted that early pace. Maybe Bekele. 2:06 flat in Berlin or just under is easy money for EK, and will be for a bit yet.

But I do think Farah can do some damage in the WMMs given that

#1 now he really does have to completely focus on them (with the odd half) as 10k is no longer an option,

#2 he actually has the potential to go pretty fast there in Berlin particularly (a couple of 2:05s in London and Chicago indicate that a really flat course could yield more),

#3 he is relatively fresh over the distance despite being 38, and

#4 he has had an extra year of shorter speed-based training, which was in itself silly but apart from missing a chance to medal in Sapporo, not likely too detrimental to his marathon times.

I don't think he's a 2:02-low guy, any more than I think he's breaking 60 for halfs tbh from here out, but definitely 2:04 on a good course, and maybe even into the 2:03s.

Finally, Kipchoge has certainly got 2:04s and 2:03s left himself. He ran 2:04 this year, and if the world settles in the next 12-24 months into a normal cycle that means he can run a spring marathon and a late marathon with regular training, he's definitely got the potential to go fast - in London/Berlin especially.

I hope Eliud runs Boston or Tokyo and New York next year.

I can't wait to see Bekele destroy the world record and it will happen. With New York around the corner he will be building on his training almost straight away and will gain momentum with more frequent races. That will give him the time he needs. It wasn't easy that he didn't get to race for a full 18 months.