Colin Sahlman 46.98 split at Big Sky

1. I can guarantee you that 10k XC course was short

2. What 'barrier' is the 13:39 5k?

I might have been that poster, but if what you say is true is true, he is the second coming of Aouita. Given that Lex ran 13:35, Colin running 13:30 in HS doesn’t seem impossible at all. In the 800m, he is about a second out of the all-time top ten.

Runners don’t always improve equally across the full range of events as they mature. A kid with elite high school range from 800 through 5k XC isn’t necessarily going to progress to world class range from 800-10,000. If Sahlman was destined to be a 5k runner, I think he’d have done better in XC and 3k/5k races in college already. His 13:38.96 was a quality win but overall his distance performances have been pretty “meh” for a guy with his HS credentials and mid-distance results.

I won’t be surprised if he eventually runs 13:0X (I’d say I expect it), but his 800 and 1500 times at that point will be much better than 13:0X/5k, and I doubt he’ll ever run a meaningful 10k on the track.

Coe set 10 World Records. Two Golds and Two Silvers in Olympic Games.

Seems like a tall order.

1:48 is 1:48

Maybe, but can you name a single other runner that has converted from being capable of setting a HS 5000m record, to a 800-1500m guy? I have close to 100% confidence that had he not chosen to horse around in the 800m, he would have broken LV’s 2-mile record.

Tripling and running in non-ideal weather (plenty of snow on the infield, though people are wearing shorts) for sprints do not suggest that he is just a 48 open guy.

Many great 1500 meter runners had starts as more endurance focused runners. Guys like El G and Asbel kiprop had good finishes at world JR XC. People assumed Centro would be a 5k guy but he stuck with the 1500 and even ran 1:44, although he later ran 13:00 too. Seb Coe originally focused on the 3K, only later focusing on 800.

Training can certainly influence a lot and maybe if Colin was running for regular 30MPW high school instead of training with Nico,Lex and Leo we would have seen him as more of an 800-1600 focused in HS.

Credit is also due to Mike Smith for continuing the development of both Nico and Colin, getting both of them to a level of speed that many had not predicted.

Not really. Not even considering WRs and medals, to my mind a professional 800/1500 has to be able to make a living at both distances. Coe could. Mahkloufi could. Sahlman - no. His money distance is the 1500. Sahlman's 800 is good but nothing spectacular. Centro and Nick Willis both ran faster over 800 and nobody considers them 800/1500 runners. That breed seems to have disappeared.

He would probably say that he wants to be the first Colin Sahlman

Okay? No one was talking about him running the 4x4 but it’s kind of amazing that a former high school national cross country champion even was briefly discussed by a letsrun poster as having an outside shot at the Olympic 4x4 team

Of course Colin can’t make the US 4x4 squad. Can you imagine the Olympic announcers going:

“And now Matthew Boling passes the baton to the 2021 runninglane cross country champion Colin Sahlman”

That being said Colin has a considerable shot at both the 800m and 1500m team

He’s run 1:45.57 at age 20 and this thread is about a 46.9 400m split. I don’t see why he can’t run 1:43 in 2-3 years, which would obviously qualify as professional.

Willis’s lifetime PR was 1:45.54, for clarity. Centro didn’t run faster than 1:45.86 until he was 25.

The biggest gift Colin received from his genetics is his strength. If he did not develop it in HS and ran 30 mpw instead, he would have been slower at every possible distance besides the sprints. It would be as bad an idea as having Flatt running 50 mpw.

If you check the all-time 800m list, many of them improved less than second, or not at all, after their age 20 season.

It’s a nice story but my teammate and I used to have a term we called “Daddy splits.” They were the supposed out-of-body 4x400m splits that were conjured after the race. Don’t get me wrong it’s a great ploy for the NAU staff to say that was a 46-high. It’ll bolster his confidence. Some cursory video analysis I did has it in the 47-hi range.

lmao I pointed this out a while ago but his 1500 time was slower then. I also didn't catch the freshman 5k PR. Just more evidence of what can happen when you don't place mental limits on yourself.

Was this an official FAT split ? Or was this a coaches hand split?

I get Coe/Cram/that other british guy from around then mixed up, but I've been saying for a while that we should have more guys like them. I think Brazier could've fit that mold if he'd raced the 1500 more (during covid he ran 3:35 closing in I think 52 and it looked easy).

It's too early to say if 1:41 is on the table for Sahlman, but I'm starting to think he could be like Clayton Murphy, albeit maybe more 1500 focused than 800 focused. a 1:42 high or 1:43 low wouldn't shock me in the next 2-3 years, although I'd expect 3:29 from him before that. If he runs 1:43 this year I will be saying Mike Smith is the second coming of Christ (the first being Sean Brosnan ofc).

No it is not. It is sub 1:49.