Who are some of the runners who peaked late in their careers?

Mamede ran a world best over 10 miles (45.13a) in 1986. He was 35 at that time. Some tailwind involved (thus the "a")

Mohammed Ezzher ran a pb over 10000m in 1996 (age 36) in 27.43.69

Abdellah Behar ram 7.38.28 over 3000m at age 35

Also: M35 28.04 Adellah Behar,FRA 050763 Berkane,FRA 310301

This thread is about runners who PEAKED in their late 30's.

Because of this some examples mentioned are really bad examples.

Carlos Lopes and Miruts Yifter in particular.

Lopes won 1976 World X-C and silver in 1976 Olympics.

Yifter bronze in 1972 Olympic 10,000...and a given medal in the 5,000 had he been allowed to run.

Also, Gaston Roelants (Belgium) was 1964 Oly Steeple champ.

These are runners who HELD their peak, not who peaked.

My contribution is Mariano Haro of Spain.

Yes, Lopes won the Olympic marathon at 37, set the world record in the marathon at 38. Yes also at 37 he was second in a race in which the 10k world record was set by Mamede. However Lopes also went under the old record in the at race.

What people tend to forget is that he ALSO won the world cross country championships in both of those years. That's pretty much domination.

Mariano Haro placed 3rd in the International Country Championships in 1963. The highest he ever placed was second (in 1972 through 1975). Haro reached a high level and managed to maintain it for a really long time. So using your own criterion, the example of Mariano Haro is a particularly bad one for this thread.

Priscilla Welch didn't even begin running until age 35. She was an Olympian by age 39.

Women distance runners run phenomenally well into their 30's. Men usually peak during their 20's.

Living in the Past wrote:

Mariano Haro placed 3rd in the International Country Championships in 1963. The highest he ever placed was second (in 1972 through 1975). Haro reached a high level and managed to maintain it for a really long time. So using your own criterion, the example of Mariano Haro is a particularly bad one for this thread.

I did not know that about 1963.

Based on your wording (not the poster) I could have sworn this is exactly the way Malmo would have worded this....you have learnt from the master.

Sidenote - didn't some Frenchman make the Guinness World Records for having competed in every World X-C from 1963-1979...like a 15 year spread.

I agree with Average Joe. Lopes medaled in Montreal, but he really was better at age 37, 38.

And, as I mentioned, Gaston Roelants was great (and ultimately better) when he was young, but if you saw him when he was old it would have really blown your hair back. So saying he maintained his peak is nearly correct. He was a complete freak of nature. He had so much power in his stride as an oldster, he looked like the hulk out there just sprinting away.

Steve Prefontaine peaked late in his career;)

Also, Martin Mondragon and Linda Somers-Smith.

Living in the Past wrote:

This is an inside joke. I ruffled some feathers when I made the case that Ryun's coach burned him out. Also, not too many runners who started at Oregon as true freshmen under Bill Dellinger managed to improve past the age of 25. That's what overtraining at a young age will do to you.

Now, some of the guys who transferred to Oregon like Matt Centrowitz and Art Boileau did quite well after college. But that might be because they avoided coming under Dellinger until they were a little older than 18. There are some exceptions, of course, like Ken Martin who was a steeplechaser but ended up running 2:09 for the marathon.

From the sound of it you must be the board buffoon? Centrowitz transferred to Oregon as a 19 year old sophomore. Boileau didn't transfer anywhere. He came to Oregon as an 18 year old freshman. Martin transferred to Oregon from Lane Community College, in 1979, when he was a 21 year old junior.

Do you often get things so wrong?

WichitaLineman wrote:

I agree with Average Joe. Lopes medaled in Montreal, but he really was better at age 37, 38.

And, as I mentioned, Gaston Roelants was great (and ultimately better) when he was young, but if you saw him when he was old it would have really blown your hair back. So saying he maintained his peak is nearly correct. He was a complete freak of nature. He had so much power in his stride as an oldster, he looked like the hulk out there just sprinting away.

Was Roelants win in 1972 World X-C champs (Cambridge, England) over Ian Stewart & Mariano Haro a better performance ATHLETICALLY than his Olympic steeple win. Remember, I said ATHLETICALLY.

Thanks for the correction. Now let's see where that leaves us. I said that of those three guys, one was an exception to the general proposition I was making. Given the fact that you clearly know more about the Oregon program under Dellinger than I do, I'm surprised you didn't refute the general proposition rather than correcting a point of minutia.

silly old fossil wrote:

This thread is about runners who PEAKED in their late 30's.

Because of this some examples mentioned are really bad examples.

Carlos Lopes and Miruts Yifter in particular.

Lopes won 1976 World X-C and silver in 1976 Olympics.

These are runners who HELD their peak, not who peaked.

.

No way.

-Lopes was a faster 10k runner at 37 than he was in the 70s. If it weren't for Mamede, he would have set the 10k world record in that race.

-His Olympic medal at 37 was GOLD, not silver like in 76. He had 2 back to back world XC wins at 37/38, not the 1 he'd had earlier. And those wins were dominating.

-Finally he set the marathon world record.

You can't peak more than that.

silly old fossil wrote:

[quote]WichitaLineman wrote:

Was Roelants win in 1972 World X-C champs (Cambridge, England) over Ian Stewart & Mariano Haro a better performance ATHLETICALLY than his Olympic steeple win. Remember, I said ATHLETICALLY.

No. What I am trying to do is agree with you on the Roelants part. I was just trying to remark that he was still very good once he got old. But you are right to point out that he peaked as a young man. In my memory--that's how it went down. I've heard so little about Roelants on this board though. I was young. Sometimes things didn't happen exactly the way I remember them (because I idolized Roelants).

To make an even weirder comment, do you remember hockey goalie Gump Worsley? Roelants was a little bit like old Gump--still getting it done, still intimidating the younger kids a little (Gump never even wore a goalie mask) as an old man. He just said, "See if you can beat me."

Other than Evans Rutto, all sub 2:06 marathoners have peaked after age 30. Geb and Tergat at 34.

Marathoners usually start running marathons late in their running careers, of course, but many keep getting better into their 30s.

Wejo???

28:01 10K, how old was he when he ran this?

Weldon was 27 when he ran 28:10, 29 when ran 28:06, his PB.

Marla Runyun; she did the Hept earlier in her career.

Jack Foster Commonwealth silver at 41.

John Campbell 2:11:04 at Boston at 41.

Mohammed Ezzher has to be the best of the lot.

His credentials: He not only peaked in his mid-to-late 30s, he also competed against the best in the world (Komen, Tergat, Geb, Skah, etc..). And not only road and track races, but world cross races!!! I think he forgot he was not supposed to be running at that age, esp not the highest level races.

Also, he was unknown before 1995.