My first instincts would say Jakob's 7:17, Bekeles 5000m olympic gold in 2008, Kipchoge running under 2hrs (even if not legal).
If we include factors like age, Bernard Lagat getting 5th in the 5000m in Rio at almost age 42 is pretty insane to me (and him winning the olympic trials the same year with final lap of 52.)
My first instincts would say Jakob's 7:17, Bekeles 5000m olympic gold in 2008, Kipchoge running under 2hrs (even if not legal).
If we include factors like age, Bernard Lagat getting 5th in the 5000m in Rio at almost age 42 is pretty insane to me (and him winning the olympic trials the same year with final lap of 52.)
For me it's Lasse Viren's 4th place 2-mile in 8:21 in 1976.
I know it wasn't winning race and not very fast by today's standards, but a few days before this race Viren ran in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. He ran two 10k race with the second being gold, two 5k races with second being gold. Then he ran the marathon finishing 5th.
Viren ran that two-mile 4 days after the marathon. 8:21 was fast in those days. So almost 50 years later that is my great performances.
Agree. If my memory is correct, Viren's marathon in Montreal was his first official marathon run. so it was something like 44.8 miles of racing over the course of that Olympics.
Greatest performance: Hocker. On biggest stage, wins the 2024 Olympic Gold, sets Olympic record, sets personal best by nearly 3 seconds, and has to kick, downshift due to lane closing up, then kicksagain in last 100 meters FTW in the most exciting Olymic 1500m in history.
Carl Lewis 1991 worlds. People usually blow it in the 100 when behind. Man was a born a king or made into one. Thing is when your a king you have to live it all day every day. And when you live like that, in the split seconds, magic happens.
Carl Lewis 1991 worlds. People usually blow it in the 100 when behind. Man was a born a king or made into one. Thing is when your a king you have to live it all day every day. And when you live like that, in the split seconds, magic happens.
Just to educate you a bit here, when the OP says the greatest distance running performance, he would not be referring to the 100m as a distance running performance, even though it is a distance, but it wouldn’t be included in this conversation.
My daughter running sub 18 at Saratoga State Park for hs cross country suburban council championship meet in the fall 2020 by herself on a Sunday at 8 am.
Why was this so special? First, ALL hs xc teams (10 per team) had to run separate from each other. Every 30 minutes or so, each team would start their race. Boys were Saturday; girls Sunday.
Her hs's superintendent and athletic director insisted that Bethlehem girls run first to prevent covid spread for an OUTDOOR cross country race that was run like a tour de france team time trial!! Bethlehem only ran 10 girls over 3.05 miles. Worse, Bethlehem administration insisted that these 10 girls wear a mask for the ENTIRETY of the race!!
Meanwhile, Saratoga Springs XC head coaches were there to take splits of my daughter to plan their 15 point domination later that day. Their athletes of course ran last of all suburban council schools at around 12 noon. Further, the science in Saratoga said their athletes could lower than mask once they started racing. More, they also had a normal night of sleep and regular breakfast.
This same Saratoga team was the reigning 2019 Nike Cross Nationals champ. Congratulations to Bethlehem administration for "following the science" and to Saratoga for making sure you would get your 15 points of glory for spots 1-5. This speaks volumes to your sportsmanship.
Thank you for this post so I could share my story for the greatest distance performance of all time!!! I am still shaking my head that Bethlehem even hired mask minders to make sure all runners and fans kept their masks on for AN OUTDOOR CROSS COUNTRY MEET.
My daughter running sub 18 at Saratoga State Park for hs cross country suburban council championship meet in the fall 2020 by herself on a Sunday at 8 am.
Why was this so special? First, ALL hs xc teams (10 per team) had to run separate from each other. Every 30 minutes or so, each team would start their race. Boys were Saturday; girls Sunday.
Her hs's superintendent and athletic director insisted that Bethlehem girls run first to prevent covid spread for an OUTDOOR cross country race that was run like a tour de france team time trial!! Bethlehem only ran 10 girls over 3.05 miles. Worse, Bethlehem administration insisted that these 10 girls wear a mask for the ENTIRETY of the race!!
Meanwhile, Saratoga Springs XC head coaches were there to take splits of my daughter to plan their 15 point domination later that day. Their athletes of course ran last of all suburban council schools at around 12 noon. Further, the science in Saratoga said their athletes could lower than mask once they started racing. More, they also had a normal night of sleep and regular breakfast.
This same Saratoga team was the reigning 2019 Nike Cross Nationals champ. Congratulations to Bethlehem administration for "following the science" and to Saratoga for making sure you would get your 15 points of glory for spots 1-5. This speaks volumes to your sportsmanship.
Thank you for this post so I could share my story for the greatest distance performance of all time!!! I am still shaking my head that Bethlehem even hired mask minders to make sure all runners and fans kept their masks on for AN OUTDOOR CROSS COUNTRY MEET.
Wow. Congrats to your daughter. Sorry to hear what went down that day.
My daughter running sub 18 at Saratoga State Park for hs cross country suburban council championship meet in the fall 2020 by herself on a Sunday at 8 am.
Why was this so special? First, ALL hs xc teams (10 per team) had to run separate from each other. Every 30 minutes or so, each team would start their race. Boys were Saturday; girls Sunday.
Her hs's superintendent and athletic director insisted that Bethlehem girls run first to prevent covid spread for an OUTDOOR cross country race that was run like a tour de france team time trial!! Bethlehem only ran 10 girls over 3.05 miles. Worse, Bethlehem administration insisted that these 10 girls wear a mask for the ENTIRETY of the race!!
Meanwhile, Saratoga Springs XC head coaches were there to take splits of my daughter to plan their 15 point domination later that day. Their athletes of course ran last of all suburban council schools at around 12 noon. Further, the science in Saratoga said their athletes could lower than mask once they started racing. More, they also had a normal night of sleep and regular breakfast.
This same Saratoga team was the reigning 2019 Nike Cross Nationals champ. Congratulations to Bethlehem administration for "following the science" and to Saratoga for making sure you would get your 15 points of glory for spots 1-5. This speaks volumes to your sportsmanship.
Thank you for this post so I could share my story for the greatest distance performance of all time!!! I am still shaking my head that Bethlehem even hired mask minders to make sure all runners and fans kept their masks on for AN OUTDOOR CROSS COUNTRY MEET.
There have been several performances that I have woken up to over the last few years that have caused me to stare at my phone in disbelief. However, two stand out.
The first was Kiplimo's 56:42. I could not believe it, not one bit. I thought it was an error, or a joke. 56:42, how could that be? I knew the previous WR was 57:30, and before that 57:31. How could there have been a 50-second improvement on the WR?
The second is no where in the same league but was unbelievable to me as an American fan. Hobbs Kessler's 3:34 was earth-shattering at the time. We had yet to see the waves of sub-4 milers that would happen in 2022 and beyond, and Webb's 3:36 had long been seen as nigh-untouchable. When I saw the headline it took me a second to reframe my mind - the idea of a high schooler running 3:34 was so crazy that I thought he had run 3:44 and I couldn't understand why everyone was freaking out.
I don't think anything else comes close. Probably in my younger and more naive days, I would have said Alberto Salazar's win over Dick Beardsley, in the 1982, "duel in the sun" at the Boston Marathon. But, especially with more recent events and bans, I think Beardsley was most likely cheated out of victory by a doped villain.
Without shoes. Without super gels. Without speed suits. Without bicarb. The best performance of all time.