2:07 Is the New 2:11 - Except for Americans
Posted October 21st, 2007 at 1:36 PM by Jimmie R. Markham
Section: News & Results, Marathons, SoundOFF
I read a humorous and revealing quote today by a user named Kuha over at the Track & Field News message boards: “2:07 is the new 2:11.” This statement came after 7 athletes finished the Amsterdam Marathon today in under 2:08 (another 4 athletes finished in under 2:10):
1) Emmanuel Mutai (KEN) 2:06:29
2) Richard Limo (KEN) 2:06:45
3) James Rotich (KEN) 2:07:12
4) Paul Kirui (KEN) 2:07:12
5) Yonas Kifle (ERI) 2:07:34
6) Jason Mbote (KEN) 2:07:51
7) Shadrack Kiplagat (KEN) 2:07:53
Including the times above, 21 men have run a marathon in under 2:08 in 2007:
2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie (ETH ) Berlin, 9/30/2007
2:06:29 Emmanuel Mutai(KEN) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:06:45 Richard Limo(KEN) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:06:51 Abel Kirui (KEN) Berlin, 9/30/2007
2:07:12 James Rotich(KEN) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:07:12 Paul Kirui(KEN) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:07:19 Mubarak Hassan Shami (QAT ) Paris, 4/15/2007
2:07:29 Salim Kipsang (KEN) Berlin, 9/30/2007
2:07:32 Rodgers Rop (KEN) Hamburg, 4/29/2007
2:07:33 Oleksandr Kuzin (UKR ) Linz, 4/15/2007
2:07:33 Wilfred Kibet Kigen (KEN) Hamburg, 4/29/2007
2:07:34 Yonas Kifle(ERI) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:07:41 Martin Lel (KEN) London, 4/22/2007
2:07:42 Kiprotich Kenei (KEN) Hamburg, 4/29/2007
2:07:44 Abderrahim Goumri (MAR ) London, 4/22/2007
2:07:47 Felix Limo (KEN) London, 4/22/2007
2:07:51 Jason Mbote(KEN) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:07:53 Shadrack Kiplagat(KEN) Amsterdam, 10/21/2007
2:07:54 Jaouad Gharib (MAR ) London, 4/22/2007
2:07:56 Hendrick Ramaala (RSA ) London, 4/22/2007
2:07:57 Philip Singoei (KEN) Eindhoven, 10/14/2007
Notice that, of these 21 men, 14 are Kenyans. Also notice that none of them are Americans, yet these are the kinds of times Americans are going to need to be able to run to compete at the world level. The fastest American this year is Ryan Hall, who ran a time of 2:08:24 in London. That puts him at 28th place on the world’s fastest marathon list. Khalid Khannouchi has run a 2:07:04, but that was a year and a half ago. Other than them, the only Americans in this millennium who have run faster than 2:10 are Abdihakem Abdirahman, who ran a 2:08:56 in 2006, Alan Culpepper who ran a 2:09:41 in 2002 and Meb Keflezighi, who ran a 2:09:53 in 2004. That’s it.
Brian Sell is almost there, having run a 2:10:47 in 2006, but from there the pickings get pretty slim for Americans as far as world-class times go. Peter Gilmore ran a 2:12:45 at Boston in 2006. Mbarak Hussein, a former Kenyan who is now an American citizen ran 2:12:53 in Seoul, Korea last year, although he does have a PB of 2:08:10. After that, were talking 2:14 times when we look through the trials qualifiers list.
The upcoming U.S. Olympic Trials men’s marathon is almost certainly not going to be that fast. Tactics usually come into play during qualifiers and in championships. Tactics equal slow times, relatively speaking. I took plenty of heat before the track & field world championships for writing that there is no resurgence in American middle-distance running. People called me delusional and an idiot for writing that, but – other than Bernard Lagat’s double-dip of gold – Americans were left high and dry in the middle-distance medal count. I do have to point out that Matt Tegenkamp was impressive with his 4th place finish in the 5000m run.
So here we go again. I keep hearing rumors of American resurgences, this time in marathoning, but the numbers speak for themselves. Despite what people are saying, on the world stage (except for a few notable exceptions who show some promise) Americans aren’t there yet, and I have to wonder if we ever will be again. East African genetics is working against us. I hope I’m wrong, but so far I have yet to be proven so.
Sources: [Track & Field News][Amsterdam Marathon][IAAF] [USATF]
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Tags: amsterdam marathon, marathon, olympic trials marathon
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The Final Sprint
Yeah, I suppose genetics is real from what I’ve read. But I think it’s more than that. In America you can become rich being mediocre in so many sports that no one wants to work hard enough to achieve world class in a sport as demanding as distance running. When you don’t have a large pot to choose from, there isn’t much to replace someone who got hurt. Jimmy Connors said many, many years ago, that if we can make a million being ranked [100] in tennis, why should anyone work hard? Americans just need to work harder and let the $$$ not be so important.
November 4th, 2007 at 1:22 pmI agree that Americans have a ways to go before they are competitive in the marathon, but I absolutely disagree that genetics has anything to do with it. Here’s a post I wrote on that very topic.
http://optimaltraining.typepad.com/blog/2007/05/quote_of_the_we_1.html
In short, genetics is a fall-back excuse for East Africans’ success in distance running. I think it has a lot more to do with incentives.
January 21st, 2008 at 9:27 pm