Bit disappointed really, thought he would go for New York to tick off another Major.
I'm HUGELY disappointed. Yesterday, I was thinking he was going to London and was still pissed about that. Berlin? What a joke.
Mark my words, he will lose Boston or New York the first time he ever runs them (if he ever tries it).
I was arguing with Jonathan Gault about this last night. This would be like a tennis player refusing to play Wimbledon or the French Open. We know Kipchoge is the best in the world on pancake flat course - rabbitted or not. But can he run a legit race on some hills?
How is he on clay or grass? And even that analogy may not be perfect as a marathon course really shouldn't be pancake flat. Think about it. The original marathon was not flat. Yet now the majority of the marathons are pancake flat. for all we know he's a clay court specialist or grass specialist but is lucky all the tournaments are on clay/grass.
PS. I changed the title of the thread to express my feelings. It was initially entitled, "Kipchoge to Berlin"
PPS. This is what a marathon course was initially like:
The course is the same, beginning in Marathon at 131 ft. above sea level, declining for the first 10 kilometers to 33 ft. before beginning a gradual and then steeper climb to a peak of 753ft. at the 32K mark before descending the last 10K to the finish at about 301ft. This is a tough course.
100% agree. I can't blame him for protecting what he's got ("Marathon GOAT" status). But I am also very disappointed he's too scared to race NY and Boston. Will he run in the future, or claim he's too old and must retire?
Respectfully disagree. I'd love to see him run NYC, but that would be a safe race for him. Its a classic historic marathon but always light on competition. It would be a cake walk for him.
He's actually sticking his neck out running Berlin, there will be a much stronger field that he would have a greater chance to lose to. He's already the GOAT, he doesn't need to run NYC to prove that to anyone.
When people think about testing their limits in the way he does, the clock is the measuring stick. (Also think of the Olympic motto: citius.) I can’t knock him for this. He can win Boston or NYC without being the fastest marathoner in the world, but if he wants to cement his legacy as the fastest marathoner in the world then it needs to be now, on a fast course. Who knows, maybe he thinks he can go sub-2 (even sub-2:01 would be something) without all the help.
This.
He runs against the clock. He doesn't care about different terrains. The guy trains in hilly terrain, of course he can run Boston or NY.
He wants to measure himself against the clock. So Berlin is the way to go.
Come on, Rojo, Kipchoge has two Olympic golds at the marathon -- how can you say he's afraid of less-than-ideal conditions?
Beyond that, he doesn't have to look far to see the limits of what a NYC Marathon victory are. His training buddy Geoffrey Kamworor wasted several of his possibly best years running unimpressive times there, and remains largely unknown in the world despite his victory.
Nobody remembers Geoffrey Mutai, despite his great 2:05 in NYC and 2:03 in Boston.
I'm willing to bet that Nike prefers he go for a killer new WR in Berlin rather than a bland NYC victory, too.
Let he or she who has a world record cast the first stone...
Face it, these are not elite marathons anymore. They only get 2nd tier elites who want a race they can win. They're basically scams to take money from people who think 3 or 4 hours is special.
Get mad, whatever. Vote me wrong, but you can't vote yourself into not knowing this.
Bit disappointed really, thought he would go for New York to tick off another Major.
I'm HUGELY disappointed. Yesterday, I was thinking he was going to London and was still pissed about that. Berlin? What a joke.
Mark my words, he will lose Boston or New York the first time he ever runs them (if he ever tries it).
I was arguing with Jonathan Gault about this last night. This would be like a tennis player refusing to play Wimbledon or the French Open. We know Kipchoge is the best in the world on pancake flat course - rabbitted or not. But can he run a legit race on some hills?
How is he on clay or grass? And even that analogy may not be perfect as a marathon course really shouldn't be pancake flat. Think about it. The original marathon was not flat. Yet now the majority of the marathons are pancake flat. for all we know he's a clay court specialist or grass specialist but is lucky all the tournaments are on clay/grass.
PS. I changed the title of the thread to express my feelings. It was initially entitled, "Kipchoge to Berlin"
PPS. This is what a marathon course was initially like:
The course is the same, beginning in Marathon at 131 ft. above sea level, declining for the first 10 kilometers to 33 ft. before beginning a gradual and then steeper climb to a peak of 753ft. at the 32K mark before descending the last 10K to the finish at about 301ft. This is a tough course.
A tennis player can easily do all 4 Grand Slam major tournaments (including Wimbledon and the French Open) in a single year and every year for multiple years. A top marathoner can't run well in all the majors in a single year.
I am fairly certain the 4 major tennis tournaments do not offer appearance fees. Nor do they offer incentive $ other than for winning. They do not offer incentives for (and no one really cares about) how "fast" a player wins their matches, how few games they lost, how many aces they served, etc.
Tennis matches and tournaments do not have anything like a world record time or the first person to break 2 hours in a legit marathon race.
Can't fault Kipchoge for accepting what is likely a massive appearance fee to run Berlin, having a chance to set a new world record and potentially break 2 hours (and the chance to cash in on what are likely massive cash incentives by doing so in Berlin.)
Winning Berlin will attract an equal amount of worldwide attention as winning NY. A new world record and/or breaking 2 hours will attract more worldwide attention than running an outrageous and extremely unlikely 2:02 in NY.
He could easily win Boston or NY next year or after. Those fields will be less competitive because it will cost the races lots of appearance $ to get him there, they have to pay relatively expensive appearance fees to US runners, and thus there will be less money to attract other top international runners.
Y’all acting like the GOAT only has two more good years left 😂
Exactly my first thoughts. He's on the record saying he's going to win all the majors. By saying no to NYC this year, he's saying yes to believing he'll be able to get it done in '23.
Nothing to gain from Berlin ( other than a payday). He should run NYC
LOL, you Yanks are so far up yourselves and parochial it's hilarious.
Hey Eliud, couple of questions for you:
Do want to make mega bucks on a European course that is the fastest in history and will be watched by millions around the world and also covered by all types of media around the world during and after?
or
Do you want to run for a pittance on a slow hilly American hobby joggers course which is of minimal interest to anyone anywhere during and after?
I'm HUGELY disappointed. Yesterday, I was thinking he was going to London and was still pissed about that. Berlin? What a joke.
Mark my words, he will lose Boston or New York the first time he ever runs them (if he ever tries it).
I was arguing with Jonathan Gault about this last night. This would be like a tennis player refusing to play Wimbledon or the French Open. We know Kipchoge is the best in the world on pancake flat course - rabbitted or not. But can he run a legit race on some hills?
How is he on clay or grass? And even that analogy may not be perfect as a marathon course really shouldn't be pancake flat. Think about it. The original marathon was not flat. Yet now the majority of the marathons are pancake flat. for all we know he's a clay court specialist or grass specialist but is lucky all the tournaments are on clay/grass.
PS. I changed the title of the thread to express my feelings. It was initially entitled, "Kipchoge to Berlin"
PPS. This is what a marathon course was initially like:
The course is the same, beginning in Marathon at 131 ft. above sea level, declining for the first 10 kilometers to 33 ft. before beginning a gradual and then steeper climb to a peak of 753ft. at the 32K mark before descending the last 10K to the finish at about 301ft. This is a tough course.
100% agree. I can't blame him for protecting what he's got ("Marathon GOAT" status). But I am also very disappointed he's too scared to race NY and Boston. Will he run in the future, or claim he's too old and must retire?
"But I am also very disappointed he's too scared to race NY and Boston."
Bit disappointed really, thought he would go for New York to tick off another Major.
I'm HUGELY disappointed. Yesterday, I was thinking he was going to London and was still pissed about that. Berlin? What a joke.
Mark my words, he will lose Boston or New York the first time he ever runs them (if he ever tries it).
I was arguing with Jonathan Gault about this last night. This would be like a tennis player refusing to play Wimbledon or the French Open. We know Kipchoge is the best in the world on pancake flat course - rabbitted or not. But can he run a legit race on some hills?
How is he on clay or grass? And even that analogy may not be perfect as a marathon course really shouldn't be pancake flat. Think about it. The original marathon was not flat. Yet now the majority of the marathons are pancake flat. for all we know he's a clay court specialist or grass specialist but is lucky all the tournaments are on clay/grass.
PS. I changed the title of the thread to express my feelings. It was initially entitled, "Kipchoge to Berlin"
PPS. This is what a marathon course was initially like:
The course is the same, beginning in Marathon at 131 ft. above sea level, declining for the first 10 kilometers to 33 ft. before beginning a gradual and then steeper climb to a peak of 753ft. at the 32K mark before descending the last 10K to the finish at about 301ft. This is a tough course.
I was hoping he would run NYC marathon and win his fifth marathon Major title. However, as I am running Berlin marathon this year it would also be nice to have a chance to meet him in person there.