Mo Farah and Caleb to meet in Doha diamond league

This field is loaded. What a start to the Diamond League season!

http://www.iaaf.org/news/news/farah-3000m-doha-iaaf-diamond-league

Farah, Gebrhiwet, Alamirew, Kejelcha, Koech, Longosiwa, Ndiku, Soi, Rop. That includes the top 5 from the World Championship final in 2013 plus the World Junior champ (Kejelcha). It's missing some guys (Edirs, Gebremeskel, Rupp), but that's an incredible field. Should be a great race!

Link doesn't work. Here's another source:

http://doha.diamondleague.com/news/single-news/news/double-olympic-champion-mo-farah-to-kick-off-season-in-doha/?tx_news_pi1

[controller]=News&tx_news_pi1[action]=detail&cHash=846ace1862d711454d2ba4723d41dc14

Date of the meet is May 15. Who ya got? I think Ndiku is gonna crush Mo, especially seeing as the distance is 3000m - Ndiku's specialty. Can Mo handle a 2:20 last 1k?

Wow. And who said Farah avoids competition?

TAA wrote:

Wow. And who said Farah avoids competition?

What someone does now or in the future doesn't erase the past. Furthermore, how many of those guys are actually in competitive shape vs just riding on times they ran 1-3 years ago?

rrt wrote:

What someone does now or in the future doesn't erase the past. Furthermore, how many of those guys are actually in competitive shape vs just riding on times they ran 1-3 years ago?

oh good call, this will be a pretty easy race. Typical Mo, still dodging the competition...

If they go with the pacers and the pacers are very good and get them to 2k significantly under 5:00, we could actually see a low 7:20s victory here. What a great field! I really hope that Farah and all go for that fast time, rather than another slow sit and kick. With 3:28.81, Farah is eminently capable of closing in 2:20. But that would be hard to pull off from an opening 2k of 5:00 (=7:20, Komen's record). This series of races will quickly answer the questions about Farah's competition in the last couple of years.

Too bad we won't see any Americans in the field.

Letsrun is all trolls wrote:

rrt wrote:

What someone does now or in the future doesn't erase the past. Furthermore, how many of those guys are actually in competitive shape vs just riding on times they ran 1-3 years ago?

oh good call, this will be a pretty easy race. Typical Mo, still dodging the competition...

What are you talking about? I didn't say anything like that.

jjjjjj wrote:

If they go with the pacers and the pacers are very good and get them to 2k significantly under 5:00, we could actually see a low 7:20s victory here. What a great field! I really hope that Farah and all go for that fast time, rather than another slow sit and kick. With 3:28.81, Farah is eminently capable of closing in 2:20. But that would be hard to pull off from an opening 2k of 5:00 (=7:20, Komen's record). This series of races will quickly answer the questions about Farah's competition in the last couple of years.

That's only assuming that he is currently in 3:28 shape. Is that really likely in March?

truz wrote:

That's only assuming that he is currently in 3:28 shape. Is that really likely in March?

Mo has been doing special non-officially coached training in Africa, running with non-interested running mates. Anything is possible.

This will be another boring jogfest.

Maybe the race of the year? 3k allows for more pace then 5k, where they use to slow it down. I hope they go sub 7:30! Ndiku vs Farah vs Alamirew vs Soi !!

It's not going to be a jogfest. When was Caleb Ndiku, just to name one, ever in a jogfest, especially in a 3K rather than a 5K?

Don't expect much from Ndiku yet. He just recovered from Achilles problem which caused him to miss indoor season as well cross country. It probably going to be a test to see if he has recovered well. His real race should start in July and that is when Mo Farah needs to be at his best.

jjjjjj wrote:

If they go with the pacers and the pacers are very good and get them to 2k significantly under 5:00, we could actually see a low 7:20s victory here. What a great field! I really hope that Farah and all go for that fast time, rather than another slow sit and kick. With 3:28.81, Farah is eminently capable of closing in 2:20. But that would be hard to pull off from an opening 2k of 5:00 (=7:20, Komen's record). This series of races will quickly answer the questions about Farah's competition in the last couple of years.

Are you joking? I'd bet my bottom dollar this is going to be a sit and kick affair. Mid 7:30's FTW with a fast last lap.

The men run 3000m every other year. There are always pacemakers to get things going.

In 2011, Alameriw won in 7:27 MR and the top six finishers set PBs

http://universalsports.com/video/2011-diamond-league-doha-yenew-alamirew-wins-3000m/

In 2013, Gebriwhet won in 7:30, Ndiku fourth in 7:32. The pace did slack a bit in the second 1000m after the pacemakers dropped out.

http://universalsports.com/video/2013-diamond-league-doha-mens-3000m-gebrhiwet-wins/

The safe prediction for 2015 is that it will be fast through the first half of the race following the pacemakers. Then it probably slows down as people start looking at each other and at Farah in particular. Farah doesn't usually like to leave it too late. As long as someone gives him some serious competition, shouldn't be much slower than 7:30.

IT'S GONNA BE SICK