Kenenisa Bekele: how soon will he totally annihilate the distance WR's?

We have all come to agreement and think Kenenisa should run only the 5000m for the rest of his career!

How would Sileshi Sihine, Abebe Dinkessa and Gebre-Egziabher Gebremariam have done in Belgium?

Selassie I wrote:

He'll break the 10K this season.

And he DID!!! Next up...5K.

Kenenisa Bekele's Indoor Schedule

29 Jan.......1500m........Karlsrahe, Ger

03 Feb.......Mile.........Wanamaker, Madison

18 Feb.......2 Mile*......Brimingham

*world record attempt (8:04.69 Haile G.)

How fast do you think Kenenisa will run in his first international 1500m? His prime opponent in the Wanamaker Mile Bernard Lagat (the favorite in my opinion) already stated he will make Bekele go out hard if he wants to win. Do you think Bekele can hang with the second fastest 1500m runner ever? Kenenisa have plenty of speed, remember his 7:30.67 as a teenager back to back 3:45 1500m, but beating a sub 3:50 indoor miler is never easy.

http://sport.iafrica.com/news/783080.htm

according to track and field posters k. bekele has pulled out of his 1500 indoor race in germany on january 29th, because of a slight calf injury.

i think K. Bekele still a little bit in trauma for the last year tragedy.

i heard for the edinbug comp. he had only a less than two week training. i feel that he is not still not fully recover.

barring injury which is rumored but not offical Kenenisa Bekele was reported rounding into get shape. He again stated he has no desire to run the short course and the victory over Z.T., Lebid, and Ritzenhein would be his only X-Country meet before Worlds. The Ethiopian federation most likely as they have in the past convince him to snag the last short course title.

Despite Limo confidence as possibly being able to defeat Kenenisa, he isn't the Kenyan who draw the biggest concern. Augustine Choge, (if healthy) Abraham Chebii, and Isaac Songok in my opinion are more of a threat to Kenenisa than Benjamin Limo (can't write him off but others are a bigger threat).

my bro,

Still i doubt this guys have a chance to beat the healthy Kenenisa. However, you never know we may see surprise us we exprianced in 2001 edmoenton clash b/n haile and kamati

Mesfin

I agree that a healthy Kenenisa Bekele would be nearly impossible to beat in X-Country; however, if he is slightly off and Augustine Choge, Isaac Songok, and Abraham Chebii, or Z.T. are healthy any of them could upset Kenenisa. If Kenenisa is fit and healthy then noone will touch him unless they have a miracle run at the X-Country Championships.

I gave up the dream that anybody can be dangerous to kenny bekele.

if there s some one who has a slight chance of defeating kenny in the short course, it is shaheen. he must have learned from the 3 races against kenny. but in the long course nobody will be able to defeat that monster called kenenisa. and i hope to see sihine will do his best to get the silver, and my hero zersenay to be 3rd. dinkessa will never be a threat to them.

by the way, watch on yared asmerom. if the eritrean government sends him to Japan, he will provide a big surprise. he tried to seek asylum in edmonton, where he became ninth in the halfmarathon WC, but the government managed to bring him back to eritrea. since then he is not allowed to leave his country for races. he is as good as zersenay tadesse. with him, zersenay, zersenay`s brother kidane and yonas kifle, we should manage to get the team bronze.

Kenenisa Bekele is the man in X-Country and 10000m; however, in two years I think there will be two Kenyans who can challenge him in the 10000m. You have heard of both one is the world junior record and only teenager under 27 minutes-Samuel Wanjiru and the other has run only one 10000m with a best of 29:05 at altitude as a 15 yr old-Augustine Choge. Three years ago I noticed Augustine Choge and fully expect him to run times similiar to Kenenisa Bekele within the next two years. Do I expect them to beat Kenenisa regularly in two years, no but I do expect one of them to give Kenenisa a rare defeat in the 10000m or X-Country within the next two years. I still think Kenenisa is the best distance runner today; however, I see those two youngsters as having mindboggling potential for futher improvement.

some times i feel that kenenisa gets tired of every thing since the death of his fiance.At one time he said he get fade up of athletics. he is not a type of energetic guy like Haile. at one time haile lost his sister due to cancer however, still he was witty and manage to concetrate to his competion.

so, i fear he may lose 10000 or xc not b/c others are better than him in endurance but b/c of the above reasons.

When Kenenisa Bekele ran his 7:30.67 3000m as a teenager a few years back it was evident that he was a rare talent. Many people are overlooking the fact that Augustine Choge ran 7:28.78 new WJR and did so at a younger age than when K.B ran his WJR. The fact that Augustine has run 3:33.99 at 18 and 29:05A 10000m at age 15 should indicates he can become as dominant as Kenenisa Bekele. I don't if we see Augustine long enough or stay healthy enough to fully develop to his highest potential. The Kenyans have terrible keeping their top athletes healthy for years on end (like the top Ethiopians) or the athletes leave the sport after a couple seasons.

Kenenisa Bekele is the best distance runner in the world and until Augustine, Isaac Songok, Abraham Chebii, even Bernard Lagat make marked performances-they will continue to be just possible challengers to Kenenisa Bekele.

vipam,

you are enthusiastic, when it comes to choge and wanjiru. but, are they better than shihine and boniface kiprop?

Zersenay Fan

Its just my opinion based on first on their personal best in SELDOM run events (800m to 10000m), past results, their current personal best in their primary event, age, and a few other things-yes, I think Wanjiru and Choge have the ability to run faster than S. Sihine and Boniface Kiprop.

There have been a few other Kenyans with an abundance of potential who for one reason or another never fulfilled their potential. If those two stay in the sport and avoid any major injury the majority of their career: I think Choge could eventually run sub 3:29, 12:35, 26:30, and Samuel Wanjiru 26:20, 1/2 in 58:50, 2:04 mar. In one or two years Kenenisa Bekele will have lowered his world records and have those youngsters to push him further than the athletes did in 2005.

Being new to this thread i haven't read it all. Are there any insights to the Ethiopians traing?

One or two workouts that are pretty outrageous.

Kenenisa Bekele stated he would like to run 3:50 on the 11 lap track which seems like a extraordinary task for a neophyte to the distance. While I do think Kenenisa Bekele could run sub 3:50 in the mile I think it would be feasible to expect that outdoors; however, not on the indoor track where the CR is 3:52. USA Bernard Lagat hopefully didn't miss too much training and will be ready for a great run as well.

Bekele Is Confident He's No Long Shot on Short Track

By FRANK LITSKY

Published: February 3, 2006

At 23, Kenenisa Bekele is almost the youngest in the field. He has never run a race as short as a mile. He has never run or even seen a miniature indoor banked track, 11 laps to the mile, like the one on which he will race tonight in Madison Square Garden.

By all logic, Bekele, an Ethiopian, should be apprehensive about how fast he can run in the Wanamaker Mile, the blue-ribbon event of track and field's blue-ribbon indoor competition, the Millrose Games. Instead, he seems casual.

At a news conference yesterday, he was asked what he knew about the Garden track.

"I heard it is very short," he said through a translator. "The mile is very short for me. It is very new for me. This is a very difficult competition. The race will be very tough. I know that."

Those sounded like built-in excuses, but he had high expectations.

"I will try to run a fast time," Bekele said, "maybe 3:50."

Was he kidding? The Millrose and Garden record is 3:52.87, by Bernard Lagat last year. The 11-lap record is 3:50.6, by Eamonn Coghlan in San Diego in 1981.

Lagat, a three-time winner of the Wanamaker Mile, will run it again tonight. When he was asked how fast he might run it, he said, "Maybe 3:55 or 3:54."

When told about Bekele's prediction, Lagat raised his eyebrows. Impossible, his reaction seemed to say, but Bekele is probably the best runner in the sport, and little seems impossible for him.

At his tender age, Kenenisa Bekele (pronounced ken-eh-NEE-sah BEK-eh-lah) is the world-record holder at 5,000 meters, outdoors and indoors, and the outdoor 10,000 meters. He has won two world championships and one Olympic gold medal in the 10,000. He has won eight world cross-country championships.

He said he was not here to prove anything, but partly to see New York City.

"I'm competing in this competition just for speed," he said. "If I have a good time, if I'm speedy, maybe later in my career I will run the mile and 1,500. Who knows?"

Running on such a small track is an art. The turns are sharp and the straightaways are short, so quick leg turnover is needed and long-legged runners need not apply. At 5-foot-3 and 119 pounds, Bekele seems designed for indoor running. The 5-foot-9 Lagat towered over him when they stood side by side.

Opponents may tower over Bekele in height, but not in accomplishments. His amazing career began when he was 15.

"I was playing football, what you call soccer," he said. "I was very fast, and my schoolteachers said, 'Why aren't you running?' I was watching Haile Gebrselassie and other Ethiopians on television, but I didn't see myself being great like them."

But at 18, he was training with Gebrselassie, a distance superstar. At 21, Bekele ran two 10,000-meter races against Gebrselassie, one in cross country and one on the track, and lost both. But he has since beaten Gebrselassie several times, including at the 2003 world championships and the 2004 Summer Olympics. Gebrselassie is now 32, and although he set an unofficial world record for the half-marathon three weeks ago, he has all but turned over the mantle to his young countryman. Bekele accepts it.

"When I was young, I tried to be big person with my ambition," he said. "I thought God would help me, and here I am."