3:40/3:40 7:20 wrote:
...
How hard would 2 back-to-back 3:40 1500s be for Mo? Bekele, Geb, El G were all capable.
Bekele: I don't think he had quite enough speed to hit it. Obviously had the strength, had good 1500 speed but not Komen speed (3:29 to 3:32 I believe). KB probably could have run 7:22 or 7:23 if he had the right pacing though.
Geb: His attempts (if there were any) are too long ago for me to be familiar with. But we do know he ran essentially the same 5k time and his 331 indoors stacks up pretty well with Komen's 3:29. One strike against Geb is that the tried for the 2 Mile on three different occasions and ran 8:01 every time. That says to me Geb was maxed out AND ran the right race for him. I think he ends up right in that same range as KB with a 7:22.5 maximum clocking.
El G: He is the one that could have broken it. Superior speed and strength. Don't think he ran too many super fast attempts at 5000, but he did manage a 12:50 and Olympic Gold. Ventolin has convinced me that his one shot at 3000 was atrocious and yet he still manged a 7:23 with a super fast last kilometer. He may have just pipped the WR without that "mickey mouse first lap"
Mo: I have to say his chances might have actually been better than Geb and KB. He is clearly faster with his double 3:28s, and his two mile indoor record is pretty good too, taking it from KB.
Put all 4 in their prime with the pacing to 2km like Komen had, and you'd get:
1) El G @ 7:20.0
2) Mo @ 7:21.3
3) Geb @ 7:22.6
4) KB @ 7:22.9