Not distance but WvN was never the same after his ACL tear.
Donavan brazier was on top of the world and seems to be done.
The US also always has a few marathoners that contend for the team in one Olympic cycle and then just vanish on the next, like Parker Stinson or Jake Riley.
Fall from grace only meaning that the runner was once at a very high level, then due to some circumstances became a very weak runner. I probably should have made that clear in the post, so my bad. Looks like Alan Webb is the victor if we're going by majority vote.
Okay. That's not I understand the term but I suppose you can look at it this way. How about Mary Cain?
Most of the top candidates fit into one of three categories: dopers, died young, or had a tragic accident/injury. Given there are so many athletes in these three categories, I will put forth an athlete outside: Henry Rono. Set four world records in 81 days, one of the greatest stretches in the history of the sport, but fell deep into alcoholism after that and spent the next years of his life in and out of rehab centers and homelessness.
Bekele - the best distance runner in the world by far for years. He could not duplicate that success in the marathon. He has had some good marathons here and there and after years of sub par results clawed himself back for one more attempt at the olympics. The deprioritization of world xc really hurt him. When world xc was big, he was the most dominant xc runner in the world.
Are you referring to Kenenisa Bekele, the man who holds Ethiopia's record in the marathon, which at the time it was set was seconds away from the world record? The man who won two world major marathons and finished in the top three in several others? The man who holds the masters record in the marathon and finished second in London this year?
I'll concede that Bekele's marathon career isn't as good as his track career—but only because he went from "arguably the greatest distance track runner of all time" to "one of the best men's marathoners of the 2010s/early 2020s". This is nowhere near the type of "fall from grace" that OP was talking about.
Farah's track-to-marathon progression is much closer to a fall from grace like you're talking about.
Alberto Salazar? Went from unbeatable in the marathon to not being able to break 30 min for 10k.
Julien Wander? Went from ER in 10k and half to DNF almost every race.
Other candidates?
Discus..
"Fall from grace" means a moral collapse or loss of social capital.
You meant to write, who "fell off a cliff in terms of performance." Or who kept competing even after their performances were terrible.
I think Alberto wins in both categories. He broke his body and could barely train. He also has been discredited as "America's best coach" and is banned by Safe Sport.
Alberto Salazar? Went from unbeatable in the marathon to not being able to break 30 min for 10k.
Julien Wander? Went from ER in 10k and half to DNF almost every race.
Other candidates?
Discus..
"Fall from grace" means a moral collapse or loss of social capital.
You meant to write, who "fell off a cliff in terms of performance." Or who kept competing even after their performances were terrible.
I think Alberto wins in both categories. He broke his body and could barely train. He also has been discredited as "America's best coach" and is banned by Safe Sport.
Yeah you're right, I used it for lack of a better term, English is not my first language.
Alberto did return to win Comrades some years after he stopped running competively.
The cases where no doping scandal or career ending injury is the culprit is more interesting to me. Like Alberto, Webb and maybe Wanders - going from being on top to a complete non factor in a short period of time. I guess overtraining is the simple explanation then.
Boaz Chemboywoi. He murdered someone drunk and is in prison serving time. He went from NCAA XC champ with biggest margin of victory for the men’s race to doing hard time. Winner
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