SEBASTIAN COE

fighting800m wrote:

Who has the opinion that sebastian coe is the greatest 800m runner of all times. I think that he has shown absolute perfect 800m running by breaking the world records. When he ran his record in florence 1981 in 1:41,73 min, that was the best 800m race I have ever seen. His style even during the last 100m was absloute perfect.

If anybody has interesting knowledge about seb coes running career I would be thankful to hear it.

I watched his movie "born to run", read his book distance running, running free and so on. Maybe someone knows more thant that...Thanx

I agree with you 100%.

Of course there are a couple of others with an equally valid claim to being the best. It comes down to personal opinion and how one interprets what they have seen. Others on here, naming no names, will doubtless tell you otherwise!

In short, he would have run faster with a rabbit for longer and he would have run faster had he made a couple more attempts later in the season, being as the Florence run (June 10th) was very early.

He was running 21.5 for 200 and sub 46.0 for 400 in training that year. Coupled with way under 3:30 potential at 1500 (his 3:31.9 solo run in Stockholm was worth very much faster given the early pace ~ 52.4, 1:49.1), I'd say he could have run 1:41.0 that year.

Hi intention was to focus on bringing the WR down to 1:40 in '82, with experimenting running the first lap in 48.** in training. Unfortunately he was injured for most of the early summer, began to get back into top shape, then got ill. It was the start of 2 years of illness which probably prevented him running considerably faster in most of his events.

If he were running on today's tracks as a 24 year old with the more in depth talented opposition that exists today, then I'm sure we'd see a 1:40 800m.

His other two books:- "Coming Back" ('84) and "Born to Run: A Life in Athletics" ('92)- and Pat Butcher's "The Perfect Distance" (05, I think!) are also good reads if you want to find out more about his training, aspirations, disappointments, etc.

Hope that helps.

very interersting, I will try to get the book born to run, do you have any special knowledge about his training programmes, beside rhe aspect that he tried to run 1:40 and used to try 400´s in 48" before the season 1982, I never heard about that, do you know what his fastest 6 times 800m on the road has been, I heard that he did one of those even in 1:47"... excited to hear more...

I don't know what his fastest ever 6 x 800m in training were, but I can quote a couple of documented sessions. There are probably others on here who know more about the training aspect of his career.

He would often run between 6-8, 800m sessions with very short recoveries (between 1 and 1.5 mins). This was often carried out on a stretch of road called the Rivelin Valley road in Sheffield. Some of these were pretty flat, others slightly downhill, but some were also on a slight incline. You probably saw them being done in the Born to Run documentary. This would generally be used in the winter and spring. By the summer he would be doing the same sessions on the track.

In '79 one session was reported (and appeared in AW and later re-published in "The Coe & Ovett File" by Mel Watman) which involved 6 x 800m with 1 and a half minutes recovery between each, in which the first 5 were in 1:52 and the last one in 1:49.5. It doesn't state whether this was on the road or track.

In the US in 84 prior to the LA Games, he ran a series of 20 x 200m, the first 10 with 25 sec recovery, the second 10 with 35 sec recovery. Most were between 25 and 26 secs, "but the last one was 22.5, against a best ever for this session of 21.7"

He did another session of 4 x200m (not sure of recovery time) in 22 or under just prior to 800m win in the European 800 in 86.

Also that year he was witnessed training with Tim Hutchings (Olympic 5000m silver medalist and 13:11 runner) under the eye of Frank Horwill (Hutchings's coach).

"He did a set of 7 x 800 at 5K speed with 45secs rest. The rep times were fixed at 2mins.08secs because the 5K runner was returning to fitness after injury. Coe was on the track and came across and asked what we were doing and could he join in? I felt a little apprehensive that an acknowledged 800/1500m runner would not survive a 5K pace session with a short recovery. The 800s went like this: 2:08, 2:06, 2:04, 2:02, 2:00, 1:58 and 1:56! Coe led them all. Afterwards, he confessed that he did a 5K pace session at 13:20 speed each week."

I remember seeing a diary of some detailed training session he did prior to LA in 84 on one of the threads on here. Can't remember the title of the thread, but if you do a search you can probably find it.

Hope this is of some interest/help. If I come across any more training schedules I'll let you know.

maybe some more people know training secrets of sebastian coe!

While one of the all time greats, his win record in major events is sadly lacking. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) he only won 1 european final in many tries, no Olympic titles (at 800), no Commonwealth titles (perhaps I'm wrong on this one?) Without the wins, I can't really say he was the greatest 800 m runner of all times.

cooksferry king wrote:

While one of the all time greats, his win record in major events is sadly lacking. I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) he only won 1 european final in many tries, no Olympic titles (at 800), no Commonwealth titles (perhaps I'm wrong on this one?) Without the wins, I can't really say he was the greatest 800 m runner of all times.

Depends what you mean by titles. The only global titles he contested were 2 Olympics. Should have won in 80 (didn't~ dreadful tactics~ despite being much the quicker over the last lap). Has 2 Olympic silvers and was prevented from winning a third medal in '88.

There were no 2 yearly World Champs in his day, and the only one he could have contested was in 83 (ill).

In Europeans, he got bronze in 78 (first major outdoor champs at 21) behind Ovett and a dodgy East German who never ran anything like that again.

In '82 he ran the text book race but only got silver due to glandular fever.

Then got gold in 86 when past his best and against a much stronger field than those he had previously lost to.

What people conveniently forget is how he destroyed fields (running a variety of different tactics) when winning the European indoor gold in 77, 2 golds in the European Cups of 79 & 81 and the World Cup of 81.

They didn't have rounds as such, but in an era before the World Champs, the World Cup certainly was the next most important thing behind the Olympics. The standard in almost all events in the 81 Rome World Cup was superior to those in Moscow 80, as was the Europa Cup field in 81 (Wullbeck, Beyer, Kirov, etc). So he did win some important races. And in any case, being the only man to win successive golds at 1500 showed that there certainly wasn't anything wrong with getting it right when it mattered.

He had more than his fair share of bad luck with the 8, but still managed to win medals in every major 800m final he contested from 1977 to 1986.

Kipketer's record in the Olympics and Europeans was certainly no better.

An Olympic silver and bronze, plus one European Gold and an 8th.

Both had bad luck in important races, but when you assess them in terms of everything:- medals, longevity, World records, rankings and superiority over peers, then they are certainly up there in the top 2 or 3

fighting800m wrote:

maybe some more people know training secrets of sebastian coe!

not sure it is secret. Read the book by his dad Peter and David Martin. Better Training for Distance Runners