NYC is not an easy course. 2:08 even now would very respectable. What could have Al Sal ran at courses like Berlin, Chicago and London in Alphafly. 2:05 easily. Whether he was ever clean is a question for the ages.
NYC is not an easy course. 2:08 even now would very respectable. What could have Al Sal ran at courses like Berlin, Chicago and London in Alphafly. 2:05 easily. Whether he was ever clean is a question for the ages.
Didnt want to be “that guy” but I have on good authority that all those Athletics West guys were doped to the gills or as they say these days “Wanyonyi-ed”
NYC is not an easy course. 2:08 even now would very respectable. What could have Al Sal ran at courses like Berlin, Chicago and London in Alphafly. 2:05 easily. Whether he was ever clean is a question for the ages.
Didnt want to be “that guy” but I have on good authority that all those Athletics West guys were doped to the gills or as they say these days “Wanyonyi-ed”
Al Sal acts like his WR in 1981 NY marathon was the greatest accomplishment by any runner ever, but if he ran it today it wouldn’t even QUALIFY for the Olympics.
Has running really gotten that much better in 40 years or is it just the cheater shoes and bicarbonate doping routines?
is AlSal washed? Discuss
The marathon qualifier is a mix of time-qualified entries, and world-ranking entries.
But looking at 2:08:13, that is still an amazing time for Americans.
According to the World Athletics all-time lists, only 9 American athletes have ever run faster, a total of 16 times. 4 out of these 9 Americans were born in Africa: 1 Moroccan, 1 Ethiopian, and 2 Kenyans. 5 of these athletes ran faster in the supershoe era (including the 2 Kenyans).
Hate him or love him, but Salazar did not run the tangents, not even close. It was measured in the early 80's following his footsteps that day the best that they could via using the race video and apparently still came up slightly short, 50 yards. Don't ask me how, but that's what I read.
The bummer on it is with all of the pre-race hype, national TV coverage mainly because of the WR prediction by Salazar, and it wasn't balls on accurate. I'm not blaming Mr. Katz, I'm just still shocked that it wasn't triple dog checked for accuracy. I realize too that the rules were apparently different back then.
Salazar ran 2:09:29 the next year, so did that time count? It's not Boston, it's New York.
All in all it was a total bummer for him. Look at his 1/2 marathon split that day, how accurate was that and if not, how far off could it have been?
I was not the original course measurer. I measured it along with Tom Knight months after as part of the ratification process.
Hate him or love him, but Salazar did not run the tangents, not even close. It was measured in the early 80's following his footsteps that day the best that they could via using the race video and apparently still came up slightly short, 50 yards. Don't ask me how, but that's what I read.
The bummer on it is with all of the pre-race hype, national TV coverage mainly because of the WR prediction by Salazar, and it wasn't balls on accurate. I'm not blaming Mr. Katz, I'm just still shocked that it wasn't triple dog checked for accuracy. I realize too that the rules were apparently different back then.
Salazar ran 2:09:29 the next year, so did that time count? It's not Boston, it's New York.
All in all it was a total bummer for him. Look at his 1/2 marathon split that day, how accurate was that and if not, how far off could it have been?
I was not the original course measurer. I measured it along with Tom Knight months after as part of the ratification process.
And would you not agree that Pat Petersen was the rightful American record holder for 9 years?
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