Kerr was not an extraordinary gear shifter? He blasted a sub 13 100m to completely gas Jakob while passing him at the end. Why would he have to execute the pass much better? El Guerroujs final 300 in that race was only a 40.5. With that fast penultimate 100 he would have beaten el guerrouj as well in 2003.
A sub 13 is not blasting and he hardly blew by Jakob…it took a while. El Guerrouj in 04 ran the last lap in 51.91. Do the math on the average there. The difference in the El Guerrouj 03 race is he going hard for more than 1 lap. Kerr would have to hang with it and have enough to surge by. That is different than getting by a sick Jakob who slowed the pace somewhat to preserve for his last lap.
A sub 13 100m is 3:14.xx 1500m pace or about 1:44 800 pace. It most certainly was blasting for a race won in 3:29.
The difference of Jakob taking over with 3 laps to go with Hicham taking over with 2 means nothing if the final 800 was the same. It looks like El Guerrouj only split 1:42 at 1100 and then ran a 800 in just under 1:50 while Kerr split 1:40.15 and ran closer to 1:49 for the final 800 while seriously challenging Jakob. He even ran most of his race in lane 2. Nobody in history is beating Kerr in Budapest except for El Guerrouj in 99’. He is that good.
Also, bringing up a final where it was as slow as 2:01 at 800 is pointless because it was too slow. Kerr can blast a 100 in a 3:29 race when the other was a 3:34 race
Kerr was not an extraordinary gear shifter? He blasted a sub 13 100m to completely gas Jakob while passing him at the end. Why would he have to execute the pass much better? El Guerroujs final 300 in that race was only a 40.5. With that fast penultimate 100 he would have beaten el guerrouj as well in 2003.
Are we supposed to be impressed by that? El G:s WR is sub 14 seconds for every 100 meter.
In a championship race, yeah. Like I said above, its 1:44 800m pace in a 3:29 race, it’s extremely impressive.
After 1999, he could never run super fast in a championship race again. Just like ngeny, Josh would have overtaken him in the last 300 in probably any year listed above.
This is not as crazy of a take as the rest of you are making it out to be. El G was a lot like Ingebrigtsen, with the same strengths and weaknesses. If you believe Ingebrigtsen was at full strength in that race (which you may not), then I don't see any reason why the same things couldn't have happened to El G.
Maybe El G/Ngeny were a stronger duo that Ingebrigtsen/Kerr, but not THAT much stronger.
The problem is that Ingebrigtsen clearly was not at full strength. Look at the version of him that ran Silesia, Brussels, and Eugene. Look at the Budapest semis. Josh Kerr wasn’t touching that last year.
Anything can happen, so maybe Kerr gets El G once in a hundred tries, but with both at their best it’s not even close. El G’s speed is underrated and Kerr’s is overrated.
Championship racing is different than paced time trials. Jakob may have been sick or not but my original point still stands.
You don’t have a point. Kerr beating a sick Ingebrigtsen is not evidence he would beat El G. He’s crushing Kerr at any distance in any type of race.
It is based on how they performed on the day it actually mattered. I don’t care about any other races in this argument other than the day it matters. For El Guerrouj, his finishes in any championships from 2000 onwards aren’t good enough to beat kerr. That is the point
No chance. El G with super shoes probably would have run 3:23. Josh Kerr couldn’t sniff his undies.
At least. Super shoes: 3:23. Better Nutrition: 3:20. Modern tracks: 3:17. I guess he wouda have ran at least 3:16.9. Alone from the front of course. With a pacer more like 3:14.