Who has the best finishing kick ever?

johnny gregorek

Lagat for mid distance and Bekele for long.

Lagat tended to very perfectly time his kicks and was almost always in the perfect position the last 100-200m of his races, often even being boxed only to have his competitors peel away to clear lane 1.

Bekele could drop 52-53 secs off ridiculous paces (watch the last 5 laps of the 2008 Olympic 5,000m).

Both had impeccable form.

Somehow even more impressive... El G's 2004 Double stands as one of the greatest championship performances ever

Like really bro wrote:

Mo Farah and it’s not even close. If your thinking it’s someone else then you are looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses.

He made a 7 year career out of it and was the most dominant winner in Olympic/World championship history for distance running. Always the kick to win, every race. Nothing comes close.

You can't compare mid d kicks vs distance kick.

Mo surely is among or the top 5k and 10 k kickers ever.

However, he wouldn't stand a chance at mile/1500 and especially 800. That's a different beast and no way is he even in the conversation for those events. He'd lose by 10s of meters to Ryun, Coe, and Rudisha.

There's a handful of NCAA 800 guys right now that would clean his clock in the 800. Mo never was close to top 400 speed to compare with the mid day guys.

His blazing fast sub 3:30 was not because his kick but his strength. He knows that even mediocre speed like Centro is better than his

Nick Symmonds, duh

Bolt

Another vote for 'the shifter.'

Probably Edson Barboza. He can finish his opponents with a variety of kicks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIIPvNlKW2o&ab_channel=DavidHermann

Like really bro wrote:

Mo Farah and it’s not even close. If your thinking it’s someone else then you are looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses.

He made a 7 year career out of it and was the most dominant winner in Olympic/World championship history for distance running. Always the kick to win, every race. Nothing comes close.

if winning Gold medals is the criteria for best kick (i'd say it's the goal of all elite runners!) then I agree it is Farah by a mile.

i think many on here think it's the ferocity or speed/pace of the kick though.

there are generally two camps on Letsrun for these types of questions (who is the GOAT etc) [1] How many gold medals did they win (Farah GOAT) [2] what were their times (Bekele GOAT)

for some reason, most prioritize times over medals, which is kind of not the point of competition

discus

Samuel DeChamplain wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nulJrt7i5I

imo Rui Silva one of the best kicks ever 50.3 last lap and last 450 was really crazy

all-time Bekele easy off a fast or slow pace he was always consistent and deadly, from the front or off the leaders shoulder...

My thoughts exactly. Couldn't quite remember his name for a second. I was like that dude from Portugal.

If medal count is going to be the overriding criteria for judging career success can the strength of the field be disregarded outright? Can the overall time be disregarded, too? These GOAT discussions are usually a composite of several factors.

How much greater is, say, Bekele’s 12:57 Olympic Record in 2008, where Kipchoge clocked 13:02 for silver, than Mo Farah’s 13:41 in 2012? (NCAA’s was won in 13:40 that year btw.) They’re not equal unless the sole factor of winning the race is considered, and doing so is hardly appropriate.

Several people have been able to close as fast as Mo Farah off of faster paces over better competition.

There is only one reason they called him Yifter the shifter!

Robby MF Andrews.

Paul Chelimo!

How has nobody ever mentioned Kemboi's kick in 2011 at Daegu?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGyBa1_YY4g

Has the dance moves to boot!

Bekele has way more global medals especially gold than anyone else with times to boot, no discussion on him and mo never will be

this however is about kick, someone can be the goat kicker and be 2nd or 3rd a lot ala Lagat(does have some wins too)

I just feel like Bekele had the most dominate kick ever, look at how many races he put away by 200m to go in just 150-200m, and also his ability to do it from the front and off fast paces

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

Daniel LaRusso.

Have you seen the original Karate Kid??

Came here to post this... u shoulda inserted a vid, tho...

I'm sure it will have been mentioned before, but the Modesto Mile in 1963, when Snell burst away from Grelle and Beatty was unreal.

I second Juha Vaatainen - killer kick!!