The Guy/Company that did running shoe history's best marketing stunt continues to remind us that they did running shoe history's best marketing stunt. ;-)
Haven't backread, but it should also be mentioned that Kipchoge's course was short by 42 meters. It was not adjusted for the "short course prevention factor" (i.e., margin of error).
Kipchoge is like Roger Federer was - arrogant to the end. But his competitiors (Kiptum, Djokovic) are better. Then you had a Nadal (Bekele) who came within 2 seconds of the marathon world record whilst on a diet of taco bell and fanta.
WoW, you hate Federer? I suppose you also think Mother Theresa was a sinner?
The work of Catholic nun and missionary Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, commonly known as Mother Teresa and known as Saint Teresa of Calcutta since 2016, received mixed reactions from prominent people, governments, and organisations....
among other issues, the missionary's practice of "caring for the sick by glorifying their suffering instead of relieving it, [...] her questionable political contacts, her suspicious management of the enormous sums of money she received, and her overly dogmatic views regarding, in particular, abortion, contraception, and divorce
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He ran a marathon under 2 hours. If he had done it in Boston with a 20mph tailwind, would you not say he ran a marathon in under 2 hours?
Of course it was not WR eligible, but he did it.
Kipchoge ran the distance of 42.195km (was it ever remeasured?); he did NOT run a marathon RACE in under 120 minutes. There is a huge difference between the two…
"If Kiptum runs under two hours, he will always be second. I’ll always be the first one. So I have no worries at all,” Kipchoge said. This actually drives me crazy. Marathons have rules, and if you don’t follow them, you aren’t running a marathon. You can’t get closer and closer to a barrier, like the 2 hour mark, then cut a bunch of corners to achieve the mark and call yourself the first to break the barrier. When Roger Bannister broke 4 in the mile, it was record eligible. If Kiptum breaks 2 in the marathon, it will be record eligible and he will officially be the first person to run a marathon under 2 hours. I’m bothered by the fact that Kipchoge has basically stolen the credit from whoever truly runs a marathon under 2 hours.
I agree with almost everything you said here. I'm not sure why you brought up Bannister's performance, since people who really care about this kind of stuff have quite different views about whether that particular performance actually met the standards of that time. (A subject for a different thread, which I don't want to start right now.)
Although I've generally been a big fan of Kigchoge, his decision to run in those two "sub-two" exhibitions was very disappointing to me, and his recent claim about being the first sub-two guy was really shocking. It does seem as though he's going out of his way to protect his legacy, at the expense of his credibility.
"If Kiptum runs under two hours, he will always be second. I’ll always be the first one. So I have no worries at all,” Kipchoge said. This actually drives me crazy. Marathons have rules, and if you don’t follow them, you aren’t running a marathon. You can’t get closer and closer to a barrier, like the 2 hour mark, then cut a bunch of corners to achieve the mark and call yourself the first to break the barrier. When Roger Bannister broke 4 in the mile, it was record eligible. If Kiptum breaks 2 in the marathon, it will be record eligible and he will officially be the first person to run a marathon under 2 hours. I’m bothered by the fact that Kipchoge has basically stolen the credit from whoever truly runs a marathon under 2 hours.
I do not like all the lights and other stuff the Diamond League is doing to promote "world records." The main reason is because it's cheating but also because every time a record is broken I get a little slower in my youth. That sucks.
I have to disagree with you on the lights. It’s not cheating as they really don’t help you—you’re not drafting off of them. In fact, they’re no better, and in fact worse than a good pacer. Most of the time these records are set they are running ahead of them anyway.
One could argue that Pacers are cheating, but I guess they’ve been a part of the sport for a long time.
Women’s world records, age world records, and continental records are all allowed to have pacing the whole way.
Men’s world records is the only category where you can’t. And the marathon is the only place where pacing lights aren’t allowed.
The men’s marathon is truly on its own in that regard.
I don’t care about bottle delivery and frankly I don’t know why anyone would. Or the lack of open competition for that matter. How open was the competition when jakob ran his 4:50 2000?