Let's Hear it Now Olympic 10k Farah or Kamworor?

Still think that he can come away with the 10k gold, it's a perfect sit and kick distance for him, not long enough to reasonably believe that he'll get dropped.

I'd still bet on Farah. Just too hard for Kamwo to get the needed gap on the track.

AK should name Kamwo to the marathon team.

Mo still wins over 10K. He still needs a year or two of dedicated half marathon/marathon training with no 5K/10K focus to really compete with the best over 13.1. I really don't know if he'll ever be able to really compete with the best over 26.2.

It's still surprising to me that it HASN'T happened yet. Every time I cringe -- wow, making it a slow race again? how did that work out for you last time?

Probably making a fool of myself if there's something I'm forgetting. But I don't think someone's ever really try to drop Farah and pull a Bekele '08.

We don't know how seriously Mo was taking this race. It could simply be that Rio is his main goal, and serious build up hasn't taken place yet. 59:58 in those conditions at this time of year seems like he still has great strength.

oh please wrote:

We don't know how seriously Mo was taking this race. It could simply be that Rio is his main goal, and serious build up hasn't taken place yet. 59:58 in those conditions at this time of year seems like he still has great strength.

Mo looked like he was hurting today. I still think he wins at 10k.

Kam will smoke Mo in Rio and I'll tell you why: because Karoki will take it faster than any championship 10k you've ever seen and Mo will have to work very hard to hang in there.

Rio predictions: Gold- Kam, Silver - Karoki, Bronze - Mo/Tanui

Just you wait.

If they take it from the gun in 65 seconds and make a big surge at 5K and just don't let up until they drop him then they can win.

The only way they can win is if they're able to create a gap between them.

wejo wrote:

Does this change things for the track?

The one big thing I think it changes is Kamworor's confidence and make him realize to beat Farah he needs to drop him mid race.

This result in itself was not that surprising to me. In our preview and pre-race podcast we noted that Farah got dropped midrace in the Lisbon half and versus guys like Kamworor there might not be any coming back.

No one would expect Farah to win a marathon vs these guys and now I think they realize they shouldn't expect him to win a half marathon vs them.

At 10k Farah is still the favorite in my opinion, but this makes Rio even more interesting.

Wejo,

i once used an idiom here and someone somehow objected.

i'll however use it again.

WE WILL BEAT FARAH LIKE A RENTED MULE!

Kamworor, Karoki, (Paul Tanui- or whoever else).

That is recipe for disaster.

For Great Britain of course.

I am very confident. I hope his grazed knees will recover fast enought.

Gulan Rapp wrote:

Still think that he can come away with the 10k gold, it's a perfect sit and kick distance for him, not long enough to reasonably believe that he'll get dropped.

We have sat and kicked thrice to our own chagrin.

Today, we didn't.

Mo outkicked Ayele. That is his signature.

just take it away from him and he has no answer.

I cannot wait!

Suppose today had been 10k not a half. Same result? Not convinced. Breaking away on the track is way harder.

Having said that, they may pull it off, time/age has to be on their side.

The Scot wrote:

Suppose today had been 10k not a half. Same result? Not convinced. Breaking away on the track is way harder.

Having said that, they may pull it off, time/age has to be on their side.

Experience too.

They have had to run against Farah twice or thrice.

Each time, they get better.

How fast would they have to go out before they think they're definitely going to drop Mo in a 10k. 26:20? And how many can do that, particularly as a team? Zero. Therefore, the tactic doesn't exist.

I think that the first 5 today ran an amazing race.

4 sub 60 in those conditions can't be overlooked.

That said I think that the 10km in Rio will be very exciting to watch. However most likely they won't be able to form a gap like they did today in a track race.

It would probably take a front running 26:30 in order to surely beat Mo.

If the Kenyan guys work together they might be able to get away with a 26:45 win, however at the expense of 1 or maybe 2 elements.

Given that they probably won't sacrifice their chance of medalling in an Olympic year I still give Mo the upperhand.

Ayana had "no chance" against Dibaba's kick in Beijing...right?

A sub-13 last 5K is in the offing.

Outside of the first 800 they were on the gas and hitting 64-65s the whole way in shit conditions. 27:01 in Beijing is real running but wasn't enough. Throw that race at Stanford and the results would been 20 seconds faster. Rupp's 2708 may have been his best race ever beyond his doped 26:44 where he seemingly had more in tank.

Devil Dog wrote:How fast would they have to go out before they think they're definitely going to drop Mo in a 10k. 26:20? And how many can do that, particularly as a team? Zero. Therefore, the tactic doesn't exist.

you do realise 26'17 is a p!ss-weak wr ?

Kamwo was probably in 26'10 shape in peking & karoke maybe 26'15/'26'20 & the 3rd kenyan not much behind

mo probably was 26'25

unfortunately for Kamwo, the other 2 kenyans weren't willing to sacrifice themselves to run mo into the ground & let Kamwo use his far, far better endurance in last 2 - 3 km for the win & instead made Kamwo do the leading

Mo beats him on the track.

I'm not quite sure what you're trying to say.

I for one would never have rulled out Ayana. Especially knowing Dibaba had broken the 1500 World record and most likely 'sacrificing a bit of endurance'.

You, however are making it sound like Farah can't run fast times which was proven false last year.

When someone can kick, it just means that they were able to preserve quite a bit of extra energy, which they chose not to spend during the race capiche?

Otherwise 1500m runners would be winning the tactical 10km's which isn't happening anytime soon.