Khalid Skah Best Kicker Ever?

ventolin^3

RE: Khalid Skah Best Kicker Ever? 4/14/2012 1:27AM - in reply to break it up

break it up wrote:Abraham Chebii? 50 point at the Prefontaine Classic 5000 one year in a 13:04 race. Maybe it was 51. That has to be the greatest kick in a one shot deal I ever heard of.

he had best 400 speed of any of them & likely in slow race, the best kick

he recorded a 50.6 in an 8-flat 3k, so maybe close to open 50-flat ( article says only full sprint from 250 ot )

http://www.iaaf.org/news/athletes/newsid=27394.html

In late autumn, altered training to improve ability to stay with fast pace and finish still faster. After quick-kicking wins in first three GPs of 2003, tested new training in Oslo GL 5000 against Kenenisa Bekele, staying with 13-minute pace and streaking to the front shortly after the bell. Held lead into home straight but tied up badly and finished 4th (in PB 12:52.99) behind Kenenisa and Kenyans Sammy Kipketer and Eliud Kipchoge. A week later, in Paris, followed famous kick of Haile Gebrselassie with faster one of his own, leaving the "Emperor" nearly a second adrift (12:53.37 to 12:54.36), and a week after that blew past both Haile and Kenenisa in Rome (12:57.14).

Abraham Chebii may be the most explosive kicker in recent distance running history. Even in an era in which a top-class 5000 runner has to be able to close a 13:00 race with a 55 second last lap, Chebii stands out. In the Grand Prix Final at the end of the 2002 season, he clocked 50.68 for his last 400 meters, and he didn't start his full sprint until 250 to go. As he says, however, "It is easy to kick when the pace is slow. You must be able to follow a fast pace and then kick." Which is what he trained himself to do over the 2002-2003 off-season. The most convincing evidence of that training's effectiveness came in the Rome GL, where Haile Gebrselassie, having been outsprinted by Chebii in Paris, started driving for home from 600 meters out, with Kenenisa Bekele and Chebii in tow. Haile was spent by the final turn and moved wide to let Kenenisa through, but Chebii slipped through the gap as well and bounded after the sprinting Kenenisa. He passed the Ethiopian with 50 to go and was timed at sub-25 for his last 200 -- in a 12:57 race

i saw that race on tv - absolutely stunning

it's pretty obvious he was capable of well below 12'50 at even pace that year

i'd go with provisional line of fit for him as

50.0 / 1'46.2 -> 3'29.7 ! , 4'46.0 , 7'22.6 ! , 12'46.2 , 26'49.9

he couda gone 3'29 & well below 7'25 in '03 if he'd targeted those in his brief bulldozing shape when he destroyed 1st geb then kennster in races

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