I find it remarkable she was first an 800m specialist with a PB of 1:59.24 back when that was a big deal. She ran in many Diamond League 800m races. Now 10 years later she is a great marathoner. It raises interesting questions about the physiology of running and what can be expected in terms of potential over various distances.
Interestingly, all three 2024 Olympic marathon medalists have an incredible range and were very strong 800m runners: Hassan 1:56, Assefa 1:59 at age 17, and Obiri 2:00 at the beginning of her career.
All three also have a running style that departs from the usual running economy of pure marathon specialists.
I wonder whether this is just pure coincidence to have those three "outliers" at the same time or whether we will see similar patterns in the future.
Gebrselassie, Bekele and Kipchoge were excellent 1500m runners too, but their range didn’t extend to the 800m. Their running economy is more in line with the one of a typical marathon runner too.
Obiri started put as a 1500 runner. She even won Bronze in the 2013 WC. And she was in the final in 2011 and got tripped up with Uceny.
It's somewhat of a shame we don't ever see the most talented runners take on the marathon in their primes. How fast would Bekele or Geb have run if they focused on the marathon at their peak? How fast could Chebet be?
Interestingly, all three 2024 Olympic marathon medalists have an incredible range and were very strong 800m runners: Hassan 1:56, Assefa 1:59 at age 17, and Obiri 2:00 at the beginning of her career.
All three also have a running style that departs from the usual running economy of pure marathon specialists.
I wonder whether this is just pure coincidence to have those three "outliers" at the same time or whether we will see similar patterns in the future.
Gebrselassie, Bekele and Kipchoge were excellent 1500m runners too, but their range didn’t extend to the 800m. Their running economy is more in line with the one of a typical marathon runner too.
Obiri started put as a 1500 runner. She even won Bronze in the 2013 WC. And she was in the final in 2011 and got tripped up with Uceny.
It's somewhat of a shame we don't ever see the most talented runners take on the marathon in their primes. How fast would Bekele or Geb have run if they focused on the marathon at their peak? How fast could Chebet be?
This post was edited 25 seconds after it was posted.
Women's athletics is less competitive. We saw insane range like this back in the day on the mens side as well. But with more athletes and more specialization today, athletes ranges are lowered. Whenever women's athletics catches up (10-30 years) the top athletes wont have the range they do today.