Wilson Kipketer 1:41,11 800m - Cologne 24/08/1997

Wilson Kipketer trims his 1:41,24 from Zurich 11 days previously to the current mark.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• 800m
• Denmark
• Wilson
• Kipketer

[traviscky2012]

The most brutal race ever.

[iMaDeMoN2012]

@newromantic888 NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO... That is exactly wrong! Sebastian is Neil Armstrong. Wilson is buzz Aldrin. The moon is the moon. Moon == 1.41

[MrTriathlonian]

i think the 800m is one of the worst events for me...i almost collapsed into complete exhaustion, but i how in hell is this guy not tired!!??

[eaglefly0823]

Wao wao wao!

[TheEctomorph]

@Bakuhatsu233 I would certainly agree that the 800 metres is an event for real men; it requires a combination of physical qualities, including speed endurance, pure speed, pure endurance and a high degree of strengh/power in relation to bodyweight. Of these physical qualities, the most important - for an 800 metres runner - is speed endurance.

In order to excel as a half-miler, an athlete also needs to have certain other attributes; one of which is MENTAL toughness/hardness.

[TheEctomorph]

@cmartinrun has repeatedly demonstrated that he is a great athlete. In fact, Mr Rudisha may well have a talent which is as rare and as remarkable as Mr Bolt's ... but one of those gentlemen excels at sprinting, whilst the other excels at 800 metre running. Imho, it would be invidious -  and churlish - to claim that one of those two super-talented sportsmen is a greater athlete than the other.

[TheEctomorph]

@cmartinrun [Continuing on from my previous 'post' about David Rudisha]: speedster's personal best (and world record) of 9.58. In a race as short as the 100 metres sprint, a time differential of one full second is vast. In other words, a man who is capable - on top form - of sprinting that distance in 10.00 seconds flat is in a completely different league, so to speak, from a man who - at his best - is an 11.00 second 100 metres sprinter.

No disrespect to David Rudisha, who

[TheEctomorph]

@cmartinrun The 800 metres is soooooooo not a sprint ! David Rudisha is a fabulous athlete - one of the greatest half-milers that has ever lived - but if you lined him up against Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake,Tyson Gay and four of the world's other top fast men, in a 100 (or 200) metres dash, he would be beaten by a proverbial street or two. I do not know what Mr Rudisha's personal best time (for the 100m) is ... but it is likely to be more than a full second outside the 6 foot 5" Jamaican

[TheEctomorph]

@thenorthfacetrek [Continuing on from my previous 'post' about Sebastian Coe and Wilson Kipketer]: 1980; Gold at 1500m (again) four years later, in Los Angeles; Silver at 800m in Moscow, 1980, and Silver at 800 (again) in LA, 1984. Mr Kipketer - who succeeded him as the world record holder in the two lap event - won two Olympic medals during the course of his lengthy and distinguished career: Silver at 800m in Sydney in the year 2000, and bronze at 800m four years later, in Athens.

[TheEctomorph]

@thenorthfacetrek Well, as an athlete, Lord Coe excelled at TWO different (Olympic) distances: 800 metres AND 1500 metres. Kipketer, on the other hand, was always considered to be an 800 specialist; his personal best time for the longer distance was WAY slower than Coe's. In fact, he seldom competed in 1500m or mile races at international level.

Lord Coe and Mr Kipketer both competed in two Olympic Games (not the same two, obviously). Coe won four Olympic medals; Gold at 1500m in Moscow, 

[thenorthfacetrek]

He was faster....but was he better...?