Assefa closed almost as fast as Kipchoge!

It's easy to close quickly when you've run markedly slower the whole way than the other person.

Slower than Jared Ward.

What? Who has ever raced 2K in 3:00? 2K =2000m. Try your tread again.

Last 2.195km in 6:39 vs. Kipchoge's 6:37 vs. Ward's 6:30.

But not almost as fast. Much faster. xD

Assefa closed running her last 195m in 35s while Kipchoge was very slow by then with 38s.

Of course to participate in most - and all inexpert - discussions about doping one has to be an idiot.
This is because if there are substances (I have no idea) which are undetectable (or hardly detectable) after, for example, several hours then these are discussions about nothing and we will never know in most cases.

We are not talking about two male (or female) athletes but a woman runner virtually matching the best male marathon runner of all time, while destroying the previous world mark for a woman. It's hard to believe the lengths "fans" will go to hold on to their "fan"tasies.

Nobody here thinks it was clean. The last 1k split though isn't that impressive or significant to me. 3:02 is fast at the end of a marathon no doubt but who cares? The OP compared it to Kipchoge - not me. Kipchoge averaged the whole damn thing faster than 3:00/k.

I've seen this play out before, as a big cycling fan in the late 90s and into current day. I remember the forum arguments in the early 00s about Armstrong...it was so obvious he was dirty, but most absolutely bought the "came back from cancer and changed his body" story.

Operation Puerto in 2006 didn't even sway most people, even though Armstrong's two biggest rivals (and many more) were popped.

Still, it eventually came out, and I think T&F has yet to have it's "Operation Puerto" day, but it's coming.

Her record will be broken when they allow wheels on the shoes instead of spring loaded shoes.

I'm more impressed by her running her first 41.2k averaging 3:07 than her running her final 1k in 3:02.

What…? You’re preaching to the choir….

I’m pretty sure 90% of people on here believe it’s a ‘sketchy’ record, and another 9% are trolling.

Those particular numbers are not meaningful for the point you are trying to make because Kipchoge averaged 2’54 pace over the entire course.

She has not "virtually matched" Kipchoge, dummy. She was 7.5% slower. Have you not looked at the results before posting?

I believe she is clean . Dibaba and tulu could have run that fast with new technology . Just like moens and snell would have been running 1.41s in the 70s on synthetic tracks .

runnersworld.com

The Confessions of Eddy Hellebuyck

An American marathon champion, suspended several years ago for doping, finally revealed the truth behind the charges—and why he sought redemption.

Link:www.runnersworld.com/runners-stories/a...

reminds me of this

JFC.

Reminds me of Boston 2014

We'll see if it becomes the new ultra elite standard, given these shoes and the simple fact that women were underachieving in the marathon to begin with.

Women's distance sucks. That's been my summary for a long time, in one sport after another. Swimming in particular is laughable. Other than Ledecky the women's distance races look like bloomers era tennis. None of the top women swim those events. NCAA times are slower than a few years ago even though shorter events are markedly faster. The top 16 in global 800 finals are slower than a full decade ago. In cross country skiing you'll have one star like Marit Bjoergen or Therese Johaug and otherwise the distance caliber is so pathetic you'll have sprinters up there. Stina Nillson defeated Johaug in a distance race and likewise Jessie Diggins finishes very high on occasion.

Given the overall pathetic caliber I'm thrilled that in one sport the women are prioritizing distance challenges instead of shunning them. Granted, it required prize money and shoe technology. There is no such thing as cheat code skis right now and in swimming the advancements like underwater kicks don't have nearly as much impact in longer races.

You so like to prove how thick you are. The discussion is the comparison between the two runners over the last kilometre of the race, not the full race, you moron.