Was Paula Radcliffe the biggest genetic outlier in running history? Underappreciated on Letsrun

Edgar Rosenvomit wrote:

Be careful.... if you anger Paula, she will urinate on your street.

could we gather up enough to test ;-)

Under appreciated on Letsrun?

Deserves more credit than she gets on this forum?

Back in the day, everyone on this site fawned over her.

She was the most appreciated and talked about female runner ever on Letsrun.

Unlikely. Genetics is only a partial explanation.

Similarly, doping is an unlikely explanation. If doping could help women in the marathon that much, then her performance would not have remained such an outlier for 15 years.

Marathon runners cannot be compared before and after the advent of the Vaporfly. The way I think about it is Kipchoge is the post-VF GOAT, Radcliffe is the pre-VF GOAT.

Everyone likes to pin the GOAT title on Kipchoge but no one knows his true potential, the best we can say is he ran 2:04 flat before he got the VFs. Radcliffe did it all in standard flats so at least I know how to judge her performances

rekrunner wrote:

Unlikely. Genetics is only a partial explanation.

Similarly, doping is an unlikely explanation. If doping could help women in the marathon that much, then her performance would not have remained such an outlier for 15 years.

Because doping is only a partial explanation.

People forget she was a World Junior Cross Country champion. She was always outstanding. The bit about her bad form is overexaggerated. Whatever works. Plus she worked like a dog, had about the highest pain threshold ever seen in the sport, and was wealthy enough to afford more physical therapy than the next 12 elite runners combined.

casual obsever wrote:

rekrunner wrote:

Unlikely. Genetics is only a partial explanation.

Similarly, doping is an unlikely explanation. If doping could help women in the marathon that much, then her performance would not have remained such an outlier for 15 years.

Because doping is only a partial explanation.

For the marathon, it is very likely a small part.

Rosebud wrote:

People forget she was a World Junior Cross Country champion. She was always outstanding. The bit about her bad form is overexaggerated. Whatever works. Plus she worked like a dog, had about the highest pain threshold ever seen in the sport, and was wealthy enough to afford more physical therapy than the next 12 elite runners combined.

Working like a dog is easy when your doped up so you can recover between those workouts.:) And while we can't measure it, I doubt her pain threshold is different than just about any other elite runner.

The part to remember about her is that she was fast for a marathoner. Not many 30 min 10k woman take the marathon seriously. After all normaly they can medal in track races. And of the ones that try (Ingrid Kristiansen comes to mind. Of course there were no 10k on the track in championship races for most of her career), few have the marathon as there best event. If you take say 100 guys with 30:00 10k times, you will find a couple of them running 2:15s (go look at the japanese marathoners for guys with ratios like that). Her times are outliers but they aren't absurd to the level we have never seen before.

Steve Jones 1984

Carlos Lopez 1985

I'm sure she made a ton of money too.

Ron Clarke of the 60s

Davide from Malaga wrote:

Michael Johnson set a world record that lasted even longer while running like he had a broom handle stuck up his ass

Michael Johnson 19.32 (1996)

Usain Bolt 19:30 (2008)

Paula Radcliffe 2:15:25 (2003)

Brigid Kosgei 2:14:04 (2019)

So 12 years are longer than 16 years?

ck3237 wrote:

Ron Clarke of the 60s

Ummm... If Aussies are "West European" then Clayton and De Castella also had WRs.

A Factchecker wrote:

Davide from Malaga wrote:

Michael Johnson set a world record that lasted even longer while running like he had a broom handle stuck up his ass

Michael Johnson 19.32 (1996)

Usain Bolt 19:30 (2008)

Paula Radcliffe 2:15:25 (2003)

Brigid Kosgei 2:14:04 (2019)

So 12 years are longer than 16 years?

Do you think 17 years is less than 16? Michael Johnson held a world record record from 1999 to 2016.

ck3237 wrote:

Ron Clarke of the 60s

Ron Clarke wasn’t Western European ?

Anyway the answer seems to be Fernando Mamede in 1989 was the last Western European to hold a major distance WR.

dadsfadsfdasfdsafdas wrote:

A Factchecker wrote:

Michael Johnson 19.32 (1996)

Usain Bolt 19:30 (2008)

Paula Radcliffe 2:15:25 (2003)

Brigid Kosgei 2:14:04 (2019)

So 12 years are longer than 16 years?

Do you think 17 years is less than 16? Michael Johnson held a world record record from 1999 to 2016.

Factchecker goes home DEVASTATED

Yeah, all those Olympic gold medals confirm that without a doubt.

Or just an extreme responder like Lance Armstrong.

heelstriker wrote:

What is hard to understand?

In a sport dominated by East African runners she as a racially Northern European set a world record that stood for 15 years and was only defeated when new shoes were introduced that provided an unfair advantage. Genetic freak one in a million.

One in a million would mean there are thousands more like her!