¶2012 OG: mMar–Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda) 2:08:01

[EPelle]

Wilson Kiprotich, has fallen 32 seconds behind Kurui (40KM)

[Alan Shank]

2:01:12 at 40, 15:09 both pace projections now 2:07:51. No OR, might as well stop watching now!
19 seconds to Kirui
another 32 to Kipsang
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[Alan Shank]

Dos Santos 1:42 behind Kipsang
Nakamoto and Meb another 26 behind DS
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[EPelle]

Stephen Kiprotich will win Uganda's first gold at this Olympics, and second ever in the Olympic Games.

[croflash]

40 years after John-Akii Bua, Kiprotich is going to win Uganda's second gold medal at the Olympics.

[EPelle]

2.08.01 Kiprotich wins, draped in Ugandan flag.

[Alan Shank]

2:08:01 for Stephen Kiprotich, Uganda.
Congratulations!
Alan Shank

[EPelle]

Kiprotich's Ugandan victory ties the total number of Kenyan Olympic marathon titles at one apiece.

[TR]

Meb into 4th. Unbelievable!

[Alan Shank]

Meb caught Dos Santos and got 4th!! An excellent, excellent race for Meb, moving up steadily over the second half. Gained 30 seconds on Dos Santos over the last 2195 meters!!
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[oldtrackguy]

Darn, just a bit more dying by Kipsang and he would have metalled

[Alan Shank]

Race times:
15:23
15:23
14:12 !
14:59
15:01
15:17
15:48
15:09
6:49

1:03:15
1:04:46

Viktor Rothlin in 11th has been around forever! He's 37.
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[Alan Shank]

Darn, just a bit more dying by Kipsang and he would have metalled

Well, he was a minute and a half behind Kipsang.
Cheers,
Alan Shank

[aaronk]

Meb's final 7.2K and 2:2K were both faster than 3rd placer WK Kiprotich!!!!
But he was too far behind to get the Bronze!!

[aaronk]

In THIS race....at least they TRIED to get the OR!!!!

But the heat and the twisting course stopped them!!

They'd hit halfway perfectly....at 1:03:15....so they lost the record in the second half!!!

They were really sweating.....DRIPPING it......so it must have been HOT!!!
If the course had been the London Marathon course.....the record would have gone....heat or no heat!!!

[Randy Treadway]

Abdi has just stepped off the course as well.

Anybody hear any reason why?

[Bruce Kritzler]

Meb is amazing.
Other 2 US guys, not so much (lots of talk, short on results).

[einnod23]

Great run by Kiprotich! NBC missed the move!

[aaronk]

Race times:
15:23
15:23
14:12 !
14:59
15:01
15:17
15:48
15:09
6:49

1:03:15
1:04:46

Viktor Rothlin in 11th has been around forever! He's 37.
Cheers,
Alan Shank

They're off OR pace....probably close to 2:07.
Still a chance, but the last 7K will have to be a burner!!!

Why watch, if they're not going to break the OR? >:-)
Cheers,
Alan Shank

Mr Shank!!
I ranted against the travesties of the REALLY slow races because, when you have several REALLY fast athletes in a race.....it's unforgivable to go out at a pace a high schooler could stay with!!
I'm not insisting on a WR or even OR, but come on......the times run (considering the QUALITY of the fields!!!!) in the women's 5K and 1500, and the men's 5K, 10K, and SC.....were a pathetic JOKE!!!

In the women's 5K, you had the two fastest runners of all time!!
In the 1500......even good (but not great!!) high schoolers would've been embarrassed to go out in 75!!
In the men's 5K, they ran the final 2K in under 5:00!! Ridiculous first 3K .....again because of the QUALITY of the field!!!
The 10K too....even though for us Americans it was somewhat redeemed by Rupp's Silver!!
The SC was atrocious too!!!
The time was so bad, I can't even remember what it was!! 8:21-something??

This marathon (and the women's) were affected by the heat and the winding course....so their "slowish" times were totally forgivable!!
And like I said, the guys WERE on OR pace through the half....but it was too hot and the course made me dizzy!!!

BTW, the guy you mentioned being 37??
Meb is ALSO 37........and he did kinda okay too, eh??!!

Cheers,
AaronK

[Dutra5]

Meb is amazing.
Other 2 US guys, not so much (lots of talk, short on results).

There was marathon smack talk?

[EPelle]

Code: Select all

1   3113   Stephen Kiprotich    UGA   2:08:01
2   2304   Abel Kirui    KEN   2:08:27
3   2302   Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich    KEN   2:09:37
4   3225   Mebrahtom Keflezighi    USA   2:11:06
5   1226   Marilson dos Santos    BRA   2:11:10
6   2230   Kentaro Nakamoto    JPN   2:11:16
7   3368   Cuthbert Nyasango    ZIM   2:12:08   (PB)
8   1229   Paulo Roberto Paula    BRA   2:12:17
9   2672   Henryk Szost    POL   2:12:28
10   2139   Ruggero Pertile    ITA   2:12:45
11   2971   Viktor Röthlin    SUI   2:12:48
12   3147   Oleksandr Sitkovskyy    UKR   2:12:56   (SB)
13   1222   Franck de Almeida    BRA   2:13:35
14   2824   Aleksey Reunkov    RUS   2:13:49
15   3367   Wirimai Juwawo    ZIM   2:14:09   (SB)
16   1059   Michael Shelley    AUS   2:14:10
17   2315   Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai    KEN   2:14:49
18   2457   Rachid Kisri    MAR   2:15:09
19   1593   Yared Asmerom    ERI   2:15:24
20   1304   Dylan Wykes    CAN   2:15:26
21   2629   Raúl Pacheco    PER   2:15:35
22   1288   Eric Gillis    CAN   2:16:00
23   2825   Dmitriy Safronov    RUS   2:16:04
24   1615   Carles Castillejo    ESP   2:16:17
25   2484   Iaroslav Musinschi    MDA   2:16:25   

[Master Po]

NBC missed the move!

You stated that as if you were surprised! The joys of NBC's athletics coverage...

Congratulations to Kiprotich! Given the way that KEN & ETH have come to dominate in the last few years not just major marathons but pretty much all the 2nd tier, 3rd tier & most other marathons around the world, I just wanted someone else to win this, for variety's sake if nothing else. Happy for Kiprotich for doing it. And a mere 2:07 guy at that.

Of course KEN gets two medals, which might assuage some of their frustrations elsewhere. & nothing for ETH in this event, also giving KEN an advantage in this event of their "dual meet." (Moreover, it's 3 DNF's for ETH.) Of the KEN & ETH athletes, I most wanted Kirui to medal. In the wrangling about who should be selected for KEN's marathon team, & on what basis, the questions related to Kirui (himself a mere 2:05 guy, & that from the ancient times of 2009 when 2:05 still meant something ) were primarily how his WC medals should be compared to those 2:03-2:04 we've seen more recently. So, I was happy to see Kirui make his WC medals pedigree matter here.

KEN wins the "team competition" with 22 points (2, 3, 17). Brazil close 2nd (5, 8, 13 = 26), Canada 3rd (20, 22, 27 = 69). (I will be sending them their prizes in the mail.)

& congratulations to Keflezighi, too -- what a great, smart run for him! He seems to know himself well as a marathoner -- getting the most out of himself in relation to the course & the conditions. This was not a straightforward course, & given that he's run NYC more than any other marathon, I wonder if that experience on NYC's rather difficult course (and in the US marathon trials, which also have been on more racing courses rather than time trial courses) helped him make sense of how to approach this one. So many major marathon courses have been optimized for fast times in terms of course design & timing for ideal weather -- some of these guys come to a course & day like this one and have never marathoned on what is now an unusual course, & in less than optimal conditions. I am inclined to think that Kirui's recent WC experience served him well for similar reasons. Kiprotich also was 9th in Daegu, iirc. But so many variables are in play that it's hard to say what leads any of these to their success, or not, on a given day.

Meb represents USA well -- I would love to see him make one more go of it at WC next year. I noticed that Meb seemed to make a point of turning back to greet Szost, who finished 9th, about 1:20 behind Meb. Perhaps he was congratulating everyone who finished around him, but it seemed like Meb knew Szost. Probably wrong about that, but it was just a small point of curiosity. Sometimes I'm almost as interested in what these athletes do after they've finished as much as I am in what happens in the competition.

[Jnathletics]

I believe USATF should hire Meb as it's official marathon coach for the future.

Well done MEB!!!!!

[lovetorun]

Not only Hall and Abdi dropped out but 18 others! What's behind that?

[Mighty Favog]

Meb's 2nd and 4th places are the best combo ever in Olympic marathons eight years apart. My data says only three others have a pair of top-8 finishes that far apart (plus another who did it in '36 and '48).

[Conor Dary]

I thought it was great that all of the splits were at mile points. Screw the metric system!

[Conor Dary]

Not only Hall and Abdi dropped out but 18 others! What's behind that?

The weather I presume. Kiprotich in 3rd ran almost 32 minutes for the last 10k, off an average, for these days, first 20 miles.

The overall times could have been from a race in the 1980's.

[Master Po]

Not only Hall and Abdi dropped out but 18 others! What's behind that?

Don't know what's behind it, but I can tell you that 18 is pretty typical DNF # for a men's OG marathon. Here are the men's DNFs in recent OG marathons:
2008 - 19
2004 - 20
2000 - 19
1996 - 13
1992 - 23
1988 - 20
1984 - 29

women's OG marathon tends to have rather fewer DNFs. This OG, 11. Prior OG:
2008 - 12
2004 - 16
2000 - 8
1996 - 21
1992 - 9
1988 - 5
1984 - 6

[Conor Dary]

Not only Hall and Abdi dropped out but 18 others! What's behind that?

Don't know what's behind it, but I can tell you that 18 is pretty typical DNF # for a men's OG marathon. Here are the men's DNFs in recent OG marathons:
2008 - 19
2004 - 20
2000 - 19
1996 - 13
1992 - 23
1988 - 20
1984 - 29

women's OG marathon tends to have rather fewer DNFs. This OG, 11. Prior OG:
2008 - 12
2004 - 16
2000 - 8
1996 - 21
1992 - 9
1988 - 5
1984 - 6

Not surprising. There is no money, and little reward for finishing outside the top 3. Save it for another day. Hall did the right thing, if things weren't feeling right.

PS. Also the Olympic marathon usually is in the middle of the day.
PPS. Why did they start the race at 11am? It didn't finish in the stadium so timing with the Closing Ceremonies was irrelevant. They could have started the race hours earlier.

[Master Po]

The overall times could have been from a race in the 1980's.

Depends on what we're comparing. Compared w marathons in general, I suppose that's right, and is also true for the 1990s, when as late as 1996 a 2:08 was the fastest time in the world and 1997 a 2:08 would get you in the top 10 list for the year. But it seems odd to compare OG marathons to marathons in general, which are more and more optimized for fast times, and which OG marathons, by their course design and time of year/day, are clearly not. I know you know this, so I'm puzzled by your dismissal of this race's times.

Here are some comparisons with other OG marathons:
Only one other OG marathon has had 3 medalists under 2:10 (1984, as you know. So, 3 @ sub-2:10 in an OG marathon is rare.)

We all also know that Wanjiru's 2:06:32 & Gharib's 2:07:01 in Beijing are OR and best mark for silver medal, but give Kipsang his due -- his 2:09:37 is the fastest bronze medal performance in OG history. Moreover, it's faster than all the silver medal performances save Gharib's. In other words, Kiprotich and Kirui ran the 3rd and 4th fastest times in OG history, and Kipsang ran the 6th (behind Lopes, 1984 -- and all of this by the way should encourage us to see just how extraordinary Lopes' run was that day).

Keflezighi's 4th place time was fast enough to medal in every OG marathon except 84, 88, & 08.

I realize that OG marathons are themselves different from each other, but they are much more alike in course difficulty, weather conditions, non-rabbits, etc. than other marathons. So, some rough comparisons as these among OG marathons are somewhat more meaningful than general comparisons with all marathons. Perhaps all this history and stats is bullshit, but we spend lots of our time on these boards discussing just such things, and on occasion lamenting the fact that the average fan -- whoever that might be -- doesn't "get" T&F in all its subtely and complexity, because they expect records every time out, etc.

This is just my foolish and delusional opinion, but I thought I saw a great OG marathon today.

[Conor Dary]

It wasn't a slam on the race today. Just an observation.

[ed gee]

I thought exactly the opposite.

I thought it was great that all of the splits were at mile points. Screw the metric system!

[JRM]

I like how all three Canadians finished within a minute of each other (i.e. between 2:15:26 and 2:16:29)!

[Conor Dary]

Watching the race again. At start, 70 degrees and 77% humidity on a sunny day. Which in Lewis Johnson's words are 'perfect conditions'. What an idiot.

[dj]

I thought it was great that all of the splits were at mile points. Screw the metric system!

They weren't. Splits were taken at every 5k as well. It's just that NBC chose to use mostly the mile splits.