In a 5000m race, would a miler or 10k runner have a better shot

Miler if it's a tactical race. He will sit and kick with ease.

10k guy if it's a fast pace from the start.

There are very few 10k guys. Was Ritz? Because he would beat any US "miler" ever, sans Lagat.

How about Shadrack Kipchirchir vs. Kyle Merber

Or Diego Estrada vs. David Torrence

However, on team miler, I would have picked Webb to beat most of our best 5000 guys in 2007-2008

Lenny Leonard wrote:

There are very few 10k guys. Was Ritz? Because he would beat any US "miler" ever, sans Lagat.

Didn't Webb beat Ritz in Webb's one and only 10000?

Yeah, I wonder what would happen if the Mile WR holder and the 10000m WR holder raced over 5000m. Imagine if it took place in the Olympics even. That would be rad. Especially if they'd already done the exact same thing in WC 5000m the previous year. Gnarly.

You'll have your answer when you decide if Farah is a miler or 10k guy.

There are plenty of pure milers, but few pure 10k runners because of how infrequently the event is run. Most guys who are going to be racing the 10k on the track are 5k/10k guys

El Geurrouj seemed to do pretty well in he 5K, winning gold at least once right? Although I don't know the details of it, it was probably a major sit and kick though right?

Welcome to 2004 wrote:

Yeah, I wonder what would happen if the Mile WR holder and the 10000m WR holder raced over 5000m. Imagine if it took place in the Olympics even. That would be rad. Especially if they'd already done the exact same thing in WC 5000m the previous year. Gnarly.

+1

Except Bekele was better. Logic, huh?

Well, he is the 5000m WR holder. And the 2008 Olympic 5000m champion.

Kipchoge (12:52.79) beat El Guerrouj and Bekele in Paris with less than half a second separating them. It should be noted that Bekele doubled and the Ethiopian squad worked together to obliterate the 10000m field, running the second half in 12:57.

El Guerrouj (13:14.39) won in a sit-and-kick in Athens ahead of Bekele and Kipchoge in what many consider a tactical blunder by Bekele. Again, Bekele doubled and won 10000m gold.

Bekele (12:57.82) beat Kipchoge in Beijing by about 5 seconds, setting a new OR in the process. Again Bekele doubled. Of note in this race, stellar miler Bernard Lagat finished well back in 9th.

Lagat and Bekele had several great races over 3000m and 5000m although Bekele appeared to have the edge, including a thrilling sprint finish in the 2009 WC 5000m final.

Bekele the 3rd wrote:

Welcome to 2004 wrote:

Yeah, I wonder what would happen if the Mile WR holder and the 10000m WR holder raced over 5000m. Imagine if it took place in the Olympics even. That would be rad. Especially if they'd already done the exact same thing in WC 5000m the previous year. Gnarly.

+1

Except Bekele was better. Logic, huh?

Did he win?

Using each wr holder for comparisson just doesn't seem right.

And using non rabbited races (aka championship races) is equally wrong.

First because El Guerrouj was a very complete athlete and probably could run about the same as Gebremeskel did in Paris 2012 given a few more attempts.

And even if a championship race is quick (the one in 2003 was actually very fast) whoever is leading is going to be more taxed than whoever is following, and at that level where the competition is very balanced it matters a lot.

Thirdly, these guys in question can obviously perform elite times (enough for Olympic/world standards) from 1500m-Marathon.

Down where on the average runner world, in a 5000m race (doesn't need to be overly quick), a 10000m runner would probably have an advantage over a miler, especially if the miler also runs the 800m frequently.

The 5km and 10km aren't really that much different (in the systems used that is).