G. Dibaba vs C. Semenya at 800m, who wins?

Semenya is not a doper

yyy wrote:

Semenya is not a doper

But he is a man.

caster semenya would win this,easily.she'd use her greater strength ,and faster leg speed to outrun genzebe.if semenya runs to what she might be truly capable of,dibaba would stand no chance.i saw youtube videos of semenya winning the 400 metres at the south african championships,and she looked like she was jogging it,in 50.7.

Beauty vs. the Beast.

Dibaba's final 800 in her 1500 gold win is almost as fast as Semenya's 800 PR. Dibaba would win easily.

I think Faith Kipyegon will win the 800 in Rio, not Semenya.

Genzebe's PR in the 1500m is 3:50 1500m. McMillian converts that to 1:50.7 for the 800m and 14:24 for 5km. GD's PR for 5km is 14:15 maybe she could go a hair faster in the 1500m.

Caster Semenya has never broken 1:55 but she's clearly better now than she's ever been. If it comes down to a kick CS wins but I think GD would try to run a fast time and I have more confidence that a 3:50 1500m runner could run 1:51 than that a 1:55 runner can PR by 4 seconds. I'd take Dibaba.

test2 wrote:

Genzebe's PR in the 1500m is 3:50 1500m. McMillian converts that to 1:50.7 for the 800m and 14:24 for 5km..

That puts her 3 seconds under the WR! The longest standing WR in track history (FAT era). I love Dibaba, but I don't think she can run that fast in the 800. Whoever this McMillan is needs to reconsider his conversion table.

I do think Genzebe could break the 800 WR if she targets it. But not by that much

Human Torch wrote:

test2 wrote:

Genzebe's PR in the 1500m is 3:50 1500m. McMillian converts that to 1:50.7 for the 800m and 14:24 for 5km..

That puts her 3 seconds under the WR! The longest standing WR in track history (FAT era). I love Dibaba, but I don't think she can run that fast in the 800. Whoever this McMillan is needs to reconsider his conversion table.

I do think Genzebe could break the 800 WR if she targets it. But not by that much

I don't put a lot of faith in the conversions either. McMillan popped up at the top of google so I used it to keep the conversation going.

My only remaining argument is that we probably would have had the same doubts you expressed when Dibaba's 5k time predicted she could run 3:50. That said, at some point a 5k runner just doesn't have the speed to run equivalent middle distance times (although she does appear to have good speed).

Anyway, I think it's interesting that Dibaba may be the best female 800m runner right now yet she'll probably never attempt a serious race at the distance.

I would love to see Genzebe run a few 400s, just to see where she goes. I think she could approach 50. As for 800, you may see it, her coach has said there is a possibility of her running that and he thinks she would be running the 1:54 range in her current shape

Both of her mile rivals, Hassan and Kipyegon, have run and are going to be running the 800 more. Both have recorded fast times.

Approach 50? By approach 50 do you mean 52? Because there's no way Dibaba could run a 50.x

depends.caster has run 1.55,but looks like she might be capeable of MUCH faster than that.when she runs she looks like she holds back,wary of drawing too much attention.if she runs to her true capabilities (which some have suggested)of 48 second range at 400,and 1.50 flat in the 800,or even under,genzebe will be left in the dust.yes,if caster was simply a 1.55 runner,genzebe might win,but i dont think she is.we may never see how fast caster really is,because she usually only runs fast enough to win races.as for genzebe,id say she could run a 400 close to 51 seconds.

Dibaba could run 50 flat if she trained for it. 52 right now in her mile form. She has the hip flexors of a quartermiler and strong lower legs, despite her overall slight frame.. She has a lot of speed. You don't have to be a big grunting powerhouse to be a fast quartermiler. Look at Allyson Felix...

I'll put my money on Dibaba to win the women's race.

Semanya will win the men's race, as long as he's the only guy in it.

Human Torch wrote:

Dibaba could run 50 flat if she trained for it. 52 right now in her mile form. She has the hip flexors of a quartermiler and strong lower legs, despite her overall slight frame.. She has a lot of speed. You don't have to be a big grunting powerhouse to be a fast quartermiler. Look at Allyson Felix...

Are you 12? Dibaba would not run 50 flat.... Classic case of distance runners thinking distance runners have more speed than they really do.

McMillan gives you equivalent times, not what you could run at different distances. Like 3:50 1500 is as good as a 1:50 800, not that if you can run one, you can run another.

The rule of thumb for a sub-4 mile is that you need to be able to run right about 1:52 or better in the 800. Dibaba could go about 4:07-4:08 for a mile, so I'd say in peak mile fitness, she's closer to 1:54 shape.

I'm still taking Semenya here.

Dibaba can beat a lot of dudes, but CS is not one of them.