V 11 N. 56 What to Look Forward to This Weekend at the Pre

 From Richard Mach:

Daniel Komen

Joshua Cheptegai, The Man Who Would Be King

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, WR @ 5,000 and 10,000 m, has been said to be going after the Kenyan Daniel Komen’s phenomenal 2 mile WR of 7:58.61  @ Pre.    Forty yrs before Sir Roger had broken the 4 minute barrier running 3:59.4.  Komen’s mile average was 3:59.3.  Cheptegei will have to average 59.78 per lap to accomplish his mission. His two podium compatriots in Tokyo’s 5000 m final will also be in the race. 

However, as the only homo sapien to ever run under 8 minutes,  this was not Komen’s finest race.    His 7:20.67 for 3000 m is.  Extended out to 2 miles, while preserving that same rather impossible pace,  would have manifested a projected 7:53 and change.    Hicham  El Guerrouj — owner still of 3 WRs —- has come closest to Komen’s mark, but he was still 2.42 secs slower and H. Gebrsellassie 4 seconds slower, a man who broke a total of 27 or 28 WRs in his time. 

Pre also promises Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands to go after the 5000 WR. And the talented S. Richardson, back from rather temporary MJ infamy, will square off against all three Jamaicans on the podium in Tokyo. 

from OUTV:

We will not be covering this meet live due to the difficulty of crossing the US Canada border both ways in three days.  Just too many hassles.  The weekend ferries are sold out for all kinds of reasons not related to the meet, and getting back into Canada also requires a negative covid test before returning.  So we'll be watching from the comfort of our home and subject to the whims of the networks and what they want us to see.   Bet there will be a lot of attention brought to that women's 100m.   

By the way, here are Daniel Komen's splits on his way to the 7:20.67 3000m record.  Great interval workout with 60 sec. rest.  George

PS,  check comments section on our previous post.  Mike Gregory has some interesting ideas about relay exchanges.

We x runners were just joggers!

                  Jerry Ashmore

For the two attempts at WRs, amen.  The big unknown, heat.  Pacing lights seem amenable to Cheptegei’s metronomic style as I believe both his WRs last year employed same.    So little common awareness about a sub- 8 two mile.   It’s extreme rarity — as in one — and lack of awareness Joshua is after Komen’s record now 24 yrs old. Let’sRun rather clueless putting the Richardson resurrection atop the pile of importance.   That 10.61 of Thompson-Herah, the Jamaican gold medalist, is no joke. She will dust Richardson and so might Fraser-Price.  Bromell all over again most likely.   Richard Mach