We've worked very hard and spent a lot of time on our year-end rankings. For the men's marathon, we are taking a mini break and publishing the rankings that our friend David Graham sent us as they are very well done and we've got New Year's eve parties to attend.
You can read them here.
We only have one major problem with the rankings. He has Galen Rupp ranked #4 which we think is way too high.
We think Rupp should be ranked no higher than #6 and maybe should be as low as #8 or #9. In all honesty, it's hard for an American to be ranked really high an Olympic year as they have to run the Trials which isn't that hard for an internationally competitive marathoner to win (so we don't give him a lot of credit for that), but we don't see how anyone could possibly think Rupp could be ranked ahead of Wilson Kipsang (2nd in Berlin in 2:03:13) or Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (NYC champ and 4th in Rio and London). The highest we'd rank Rupp is #6 but also think he could be as low as #8 or #9 as David's #8 Lemi Berhanu Hayle won Boston and ran 2:04:33 in Dubai and David's #7 Tesfaye Abera won Dubai (in 2:04:24) and Hamburg.
Here is a snapshot of David's rankings.
1. Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya, 32 years old - (London, 1st, 2:03:05/Rio Olympics, 1st, 2:08:44)
2. Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopia, 34 years old - (London, 3rd, 2:06:36/Berlin, 1st, 2:03:03)
3. Feyisa Lilesa, Ethiopia, 26 years old - (Tokyo, 1st, 2:06:56/Rio Olympics, 2nd, 2:09:54/Honolulu, 4th, 2:15:56)
4. Galen Rupp, USA, 30 years old - (LA U.S. Olympic Trials, 1st, 2:11:12/Rio Olympics, 3rd, 2:10:05)
5. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, Eritrea, 21 years old - (London, 4th 2:07:46/Rio Olympics, 4th, 2:11:04/New York City, 1st, 2:07:51)
6. Wilson Kipsang, Kenya, 34 years old - (London, 5th, 2:07:52/Berlin, 2nd, 2:03:13)
7. Tesfaye Abera, Ethiopia, 24 years old - (Dubai, 1st, 2:04:24/Hamburg, 1st, 2:06:58/Rio Olympics, DNF)
8. Lemi Berhanu Hayle, Ethiopia, 22 years old - (Dubai, 2nd, 2:04:33/Boston, 1st, 2:12:45/Rio Olympics, 13th, 2:13:29)
9. Evans Chebet, Kenya, 28 years old - (Seoul, 2nd, 2:05:33/Berlin, 3rd, 2:05:31)
10. Stanley Biwott, Kenya, 30 years old - (London, 2nd, 2:03:51/Rio Olympics, DNF/New York City, DNF)
Here are our revised rankings (the 2nd number is where David has them). Should we keep Rupp at #6 or move him down even further?
1. 1. Eliud Kipchoge, Kenya, 32 years old - (London, 1st, 2:03:05/Rio Olympics, 1st, 2:08:44)
2. 2. Kenenisa Bekele, Ethiopia, 34 years old - (London, 3rd, 2:06:36/Berlin, 1st, 2:03:03)
3. 3. Feyisa Lilesa, Ethiopia, 26 years old - (Tokyo, 1st, 2:06:56/Rio Olympics, 2nd, 2:09:54/Honolulu, 4th, 2:15:56)
4. 5. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, Eritrea, 21 years old - (London, 4th 2:07:46/Rio Olympics, 4th, 2:11:04/New York City, 1st, 2:07:51)
5. 6. Wilson Kipsang, Kenya, 34 years old - (London, 5th, 2:07:52/Berlin, 2nd, 2:03:13)
6. 4. Galen Rupp, USA, 30 years old - (LA U.S. Olympic Trials, 1st, 2:11:12/Rio Olympics, 3rd, 2:10:05) –
7. 8. Lemi Berhanu Hayle, Ethiopia, 22 years old - (Dubai, 2nd, 2:04:33/Boston, 1st, 2:12:45/Rio Olympics, 13th, 2:13:29)
8. 7. Tesfaye Abera, Ethiopia, 24 years old - (Dubai, 1st, 2:04:24/Hamburg, 1st, 2:06:58/Rio Olympics, DNF) –
9. 9. Evans Chebet, Kenya, 28 years old - (Seoul, 2nd, 2:05:33/Berlin, 3rd, 2:05:31)
10. 10. Stanley Biwott, Kenya, 30 years old - (London, 2nd, 2:03:51/Rio Olympics, DNF/New York City, DNF)