In 2012, Anselm LeBourne again broke the 2-minute barrier when he ran a still-listed M50 indoor world record for 800 meters at the Boston Terrier Classic. The listed M50 outdoor WR is 1:58.65 by Nolan Shaheed in 2000. So when my California friend Matt B saw the entry list at Torun 2019 indoor worlds, he was incredulous. Kenya’s Robert Langat claims a time of 1:56.80 in the M50 800.

Robert is listed in IAAF — as a 30-year-old distance runner (with a 2014 marathon PR of 2:13:49). But he doesn’t show up in mastersrankings.com. The M50 Langat also gave a 400-meter qualifying time of “53:02.00.” So he’s consistently cuckoo.

Methinks his name, times or age group is wrong. Does not compute.

But another Kenyan is worthy of celebration. Mark Muttai is entered in the M40 200 and 400 with submitted marks of 22.90 and 48.53. The listed indoor M40 400 WR is 48.95 by Italy’s Enrico Saraceni in 2008. So another record-claimer.

In Mark’s case, he has undeniable plausibility. In 2010, he ran outdoor marks of 20.9 (hand-timed) and 45.28. So keep an eye on him in March.

Kenyans have had issues with submitted times in the past. I wish WMA did some vetting for the sake of heat seeding.

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