How many humans have faster 5k/Marathon PR's than Ritz

Ritz's 5k time has been beaten 114 times.

His marathon time has been beaten 1121 times.

Look at this:

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/men.htm

I think you might be correct in saying only 5 or so have run faster than Ritz in the 2 events.. That group ahead of him in the 5k is pretty much a hall-of-fame list.

Geb 12:39.36/2:03:59

Tergat 12:49.87/2:04:55

Goumri 12:50.25/2:05:30

Berhanu 12:54.15/2:08:46

That's all I've got. Not many top 5k runners that have run marathons yet.

Wanjiru, quite obviously.

Wanjiru's PR - 13:12

Not so obvious.

Wow - as great as Paul Tergat was/is - his 5K PR just a bit better than Ritz'es. Pretty impressive. Just a few years ago he was considered (and still may be) as one of the very best distance runners of all time.

To borrow from Bum Phillips ... Ritz may not be in a class by himself - but whichever class he is in - it does not take long to call roll

Do you mean to say people alive or just people that have set the mark higher.

Who has the shortest combined 5km + 10km + marathon time US & overall?

Jism wrote:

Ritz's 5k time has been beaten 114 times.

His marathon time has been beaten 1121 times.

Look at this:

http://www.alltime-athletics.com/men.htm

I think you might be correct in saying only 5 or so have run faster than Ritz in the 2 events.. That group ahead of him in the 5k is pretty much a hall-of-fame list.

Four to be exact. I cross referenced the two lists, and only these four had faster 10,000 and marathon PR's than Ritz.

Haile Gebrselassie (12:39.74, 2:03:59)

Paul Tergat (12:49.87, 2:04:55)

Abderrahim Goumri (12:50.25, 2:05:30)

Dejene Berhanu (12:54.15, 2:08:46)

wick wrote:Four to be exact. I cross referenced the two lists, and only these four had faster 10,000 and marathon PR's than Ritz.

Haile Gebrselassie (12:39.74, 2:03:59)

Paul Tergat (12:49.87, 2:04:55)

Abderrahim Goumri (12:50.25, 2:05:30)

Dejene Berhanu (12:54.15, 2:08:46)

I meant 5,000, not 10,000.

Thanks! good to know some of those sorts of facts

wick wrote:

[Four to be exact. I cross referenced the two lists, and only these four had faster 10,000 and marathon PR's than Ritz.

Haile Gebrselassie (12:39.74, 2:03:59)

Paul Tergat (12:49.87, 2:04:55)

Abderrahim Goumri (12:50.25, 2:05:30)

Dejene Berhanu (12:54.15, 2:08:46)

So you are saying bspence's earlier post was correct?

Most of the best marathoners (and there are many, many, many better than Ritz has done) don't actively compete in the 5k on the track once their marathon careers become serious.

The rest of the world, and Africans in particular, usually compete on the track until they feel they have exhausted their potential there, then move to the marathon and stay there.

Wanjiru is a great example. After four years of monster mileage since his 13:12 from 2005, could he easily focus on taking down his PR (and also Ritz) in 5k? I would very, very comfortably bet on it. Will Wanjiru ever race another 5k on the track? Doubtful. Why would he?

It seems to be a fairly American thing to want to race at such a broad variety of distances, without truly excelling in any, but bragging about being among the best in 1500/5k/10k/marathon combined. At the end of the day, though, you should know that this makes you sound a lot like...um...triathletes.

You are being ridiculous. Maybe Ritz just IS more versatile than most Africans like Wanjiru.

stupidd letsrunners wrote:

It seems to be a fairly American thing to want to race at such a broad variety of distances, without truly excelling in any, but bragging about being among the best in 1500/5k/10k/marathon combined. At the end of the day, though, you should know that this makes you sound a lot like...um...triathletes.

this is a terrifically incorrect post in which you take douchebagginess to the next level.

Your second paragraph destroys your entire argument. You say most runners move to the marathon after exhausting their track careers (aka run as fast as they're going to run on the track), so why would we expect any (or at least most) of the runners ahead of Ritz on the marathon list to have been capable of a faster 5k if that's true? In conclusion, you're an idiot.

Wrong again, fool. Africans moving up to the marathon doesn't mean they will never improve another second in the 5k, you retard, it just means that they aren't expecting it to be their best event and probably aren't going to spend much more time racing it. Wanjiru hasn't raced track seriously for years, as an obvious example.

My point stands: not excelling at any one thing but bragging about being the best at an arbitrary combination is the stuff of losers, triathletes and yourself.

"The rest of the world, and Africans in particular, usually compete on the track until they feel they have exhausted their potential there"

Key phrase is "exhausted their potential there" aka have run very close to what they believe they can possibly run.

Also, how long have you been following t&f? Wanjiru moving to the marathon so young is the exception, not the rule. You even said yourself that most runners move to the marathon after they "exhaust their [track] potential", Wanjiru doesn't fit that. Are you really so dense you don't realize how badly you're contradicting yourself?

But how many animals have done it - officially?

You are the only dense one here, as the slow-minded repetition of your non-argument proves.

By "exhausted their potential," I obviously don't mean that they believe they will never cut another 0.01 off of their 5k time. Try for one minute to be logical, if you can do so without hurting yourself. What I mean, as any simpleton (other than yourself, it seems) could surmise, is that they have reached a competitive level in that event from which they are unlikely to advance significantly. In Kenya and Ethiopia, upon leveling off in shorter events, the tendency is then, almost without exception, to go longer and stay there. (I'm guessing you have never lived and trained in Africa, right?)

So, while Ritz and other Americans continually come back down to the track and we see what they could do at 5k after marathon training, we will never see that for a runner like Wanjiru, who could absolutely crush Ritz (if that meant anything to the rest of the world) but would rather do one thing very well. You can talk all day about who has the best 800/5k/10k/marathon/100 mile combined time, but you will continue to sound like you're trying to squeeze imagined combined success out of relative failure in separate events. Like a triathlete who never got near the top in the 10k but brags about being the best swimmer+cyclist+runner all at once.