There's many red flags with Kelvin Kiptum. He's one of the most obvious dopers I've ever seen.
Mr. Steve-
Please share with us your expertise as to Kelvin's many "Red Flags". I'm assuming your statement of him being an "obvious" doper can proven? Also, given your expertise and world class running background, what would you deem "acceptable" time wise as to not be accused of "doping"?
There's many red flags with Kelvin Kiptum. He's one of the most obvious dopers I've ever seen.
Mr. Steve-
Please share with us your expertise as to Kelvin's many "Red Flags". I'm assuming your statement of him being an "obvious" doper can proven? Also, given your expertise and world class running background, what would you deem "acceptable" time wise as to not be accused of "doping"?
Take the shoes and "201" marathons out of the picture. Name another time in history when an athlete with ANY background that has come in and immediately run three WR quality marathons as their first 3 marathons?
I mean this genuinely, because I've had a go at thinking on it and I can't think of another example. Kipchoge is actually the closest, but yea, he at least has a long background, and it could be argued the first three weren't of the same caliber as KK's, adjusting for the time period of course.
It takes some real twisty logic to think that the top runners are clean (or any top athlete of their respective sports).
At 37 everybody is past their prime.
If a 37 year old can run 2:01:09, certainly a 23 year old who started with a focus on half-marathons can run half a minute faster. Or even one or two minutes faster.
I don't buy that argument. Prior to Kiptum, I would say it is more likely for the WR holder to be mid 30s in the marathon. Kipchoge, Geb, Tergat, Khannouchi.
But then that leaves someone like Dennis Kimetto, and it is a better answer to my original question actually. He did indeed run three WR caliber marathons including the WR from out of nowhere. But then he also went nowhere after, and how many think he is clean?
I think then Patrick Makau is only one in the last 20+ years. I'm doing this from memory, I reserve the right to be wrong.
Kelvin Kiptum is supremely talented no doubt, but that is not enough these days.
Please share with us your expertise as to Kelvin's many "Red Flags". I'm assuming your statement of him being an "obvious" doper can proven? Also, given your expertise and world class running background, what would you deem "acceptable" time wise as to not be accused of "doping"?
I look forward to your reply.
Here are three red flags for Kelvin Kiptum:
Valencia Marathon (December 4, 2022): 2:01:53
London Marathon (April 23, 2023): 2:01:25
Chicago Marathon (October 8, 2023): 2:00:35
Show me the POSITIVE TEST!!!
It's Soooooooo EASY to sit behind a keyboard and accuse runners who run a fast time(s) to be cheating. I'll ask AGAIN, what quality marathon time would be deemed acceptable and not considered to be "Cheating"?
Not a difficult question for those who know what their talking about.
Regarding the recent Letsrun/Pulsesports article on the Purity Komen's (and others) AIU provisional suspension(s), did anyone else recognise the name that popped up in the embedded AIU Twitter/X post (dated 12:20 AM · Nov 7, 2023) in the Pulsesports article?
John Hakizimana from Rwanda (27/10/2023 Presence of a Prohibited Substance (Triamcinolone acetonide) (Article 2.1) - Notice of Charge Issued)
Isn't Kelvin Kiptum's coach Gervais Hakizimana? And isn't Gervais from Rwanda?
Anyone know the relationship between John and Gervais? According to WA, there is a 9 year difference between them so could be brothers/cousins/nephew/uncle.
Move along. Nothing to see here folks.
Discus.
You are trying way too hard!! I am pretty sure if John wanted to dope, his first choice wouldn't be Triamcinolone acetonide. Heck, I even use it for my eczema and it's not giving me any edge in my running.
Trying to link two people because of their names shows you don't even know the culture. People don't necessary have the same family name in the same family in Rwanda or Burundi.
With 4 more suspensions just announced alongside otherworldly performances being recorded how could anything in Kenyan sport be trusted? We have long passed that.
By far the most successful distance running nation since decades. Impossible this mainly is the result of doping.
It doesn't matter what their success is "mainly" the result of; sure, they may be talented athletes but we also see that doping is throughout their sport.
Returning to the possible connection between his manager and John Hakizimana who just got busted - I don't think there is any. Hakizimana seems quite a common name in Rwanda. I found a couple of recent articles on him and there is no mention of Kiptum's coach. So the only connection is that Rwanda obviously has a doping problem too.
It's Soooooooo EASY to sit behind a keyboard and accuse runners who run a fast time(s) to be cheating. I'll ask AGAIN, what quality marathon time would be deemed acceptable and not considered to be "Cheating"?
Not a difficult question for those who know what their talking about.
Only 1% of tests are positive and yet it is expertly estimated that at least 20% of athletes dope, if not more. So most dopers will not be caught.
It follows from that that a good proportion of top runners will be doping but we won't know unless they return a positive test. We can only guess at how much they will have gained from their doping. Some estimates suggest it will be in the order of several minutes over the marathon. Because we can't be exact, because it will vary with each runner, we can't say there is an agreed benchmark for a clean performance. However we might argue that with the prevalence of doping in the sport the very fastest performances will be the most suspect.
Returning to the possible connection between his manager and John Hakizimana who just got busted - I don't think there is any. Hakizimana seems quite a common name in Rwanda. I found a couple of recent articles on him and there is no mention of Kiptum's coach. So the only connection is that Rwanda obviously has a doping problem too.
I have spent significant time in East Africa over the last 2 decades as a nurse. Out of Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Burundi I can say that Rwanda was the place that stands out the most with extreme poverty (followed closely by the slums in Nairobi). The AVERAGE income/month for a family of four in Rwanda is $77usd. As we struggled at times to even procure antibiotics, I can’t imagine how someone there could have gotten ahold of epo. Surely, this can be traced to an agent that has provided this as an “investment”? Maybe he was not based in Rwanda for training?
Returning to the possible connection between his manager and John Hakizimana who just got busted - I don't think there is any. Hakizimana seems quite a common name in Rwanda. I found a couple of recent articles on him and there is no mention of Kiptum's coach. So the only connection is that Rwanda obviously has a doping problem too.
Yes, my understanding is Gervais Hakizimana (Kiptum's coach) and John Hakizimana (just busted for doping) are unrelated. That's what Milan Augustijns (Belgian journalist) told me.
Returning to the possible connection between his manager and John Hakizimana who just got busted - I don't think there is any. Hakizimana seems quite a common name in Rwanda. I found a couple of recent articles on him and there is no mention of Kiptum's coach. So the only connection is that Rwanda obviously has a doping problem too.
I'm going to applaud you earnestly for objectively looking at this one.
I think kiptum is much older than his stated age and has prolly used peds heavily when he was a nobody. I would say he is 25-30 yo and prolly used peds for several years. He could even be around 30ish. Like everyone else has said, coming from nowhere n just smashing everyone n every race is a huge red flag. Its like D Kimetto 3.0. For me, Kenyans are dopers until proven otherwise....
I think kiptum is much older than his stated age and has prolly used peds heavily when he was a nobody. I would say he is 25-30 yo and prolly used peds for several years. He could even be around 30ish. Like everyone else has said, coming from nowhere n just smashing everyone n every race is a huge red flag. Its like D Kimetto 3.0. For me, Kenyans are dopers until proven otherwise....
I never quite get the people who want to theorize he's something like 30? So he just gave up years of his prime for what reason? I obviously find it believable he might be 25 or something sure.
His progression is not so much wild as his translation to the marathon is. Here's what we know of his career:
2018- Upsets Matthew Kisorio to win Eldoret (7000 ft. elevation) Half Marathon and obtains representation
2019- Runs Sub-60 for the HM twice in Europe including a win in France, and then he crushes some other decent domestic Kenyans at KASS Half marathon
At this point, clearly he's a competitive Half guy who is on the upswing, but running 59:5x and winning against B-level Kenyans domestically is not enough to make an imprint on much
2020- Big breakthrough at Valencia, he runs 58:42. After failing to stick with Mo Farah/Bashir Abdi in the Hour-run World Record in September, clearly he's taken a step forward to PB by more than a minute. This is a little under the radar as the race upfront is lightning quick.
2021- Stagnates a bit — 59:02 in Valencia, though he does win a HM in France with his second fastest time (59:35)
2022- We've learned now he was planning on running the Rotterdam Marathon, but he gets injured and has to withdraw (after dropping out in the RAK Half), so he debuts in Valencia and runs unbelievably. It's been all hits since.
Kiptum was a pacemaker in the Rotterdam marathon in 2019; he ran 27km pacing the winner Marius Kipserem - 2:04:11.
Right. Clearly he was a good HM runner. Maybe we shouldn’t be as shocked by 59-low HM guys being able to run 2:03. It happened in Berlin and should continue to happen. And perhaps Kiptum was more in 58-low/57-high shape by 2022. We should know more if guys like Barega, Cheptegei and Kandie translate. Mateiko was a disappointment but he did try to run a 2:01 race with Kiptum.