Optimal Runner Height

laxmack117 wrote:

Geb's not 5'3". Hes 1.65 meters which works out to 64.96 inches, or pretty much 5'5".

Yeah... just like Manzano is 5'5".

A lot of good runners are mid-short size but that doesn't mean that its best to be that height. I would say that the taller the better because simply you'll have bigger strides naturally and a 7 foot person will spend less energy than a 5 foot person if their in the same fitness because the 7 footer has bigger legs.

pretty sure its more to do with length lower body (below belly button) compared to length of upper body (above belly button).

Miloxc, you are confused. Stride length is a matter of how fast one is running. When you start to run faster, your stride lengthens. Your rate of strides per minute remains essentially the same. Leg length does not affect stride length; speed does. If you take runners of all heights but similar ability and have them run together, their stride lengths will be almost identical.

Nero wrote:

Someone more industrious than myself should list recent -past 20 years- WR holders and their height, that would be interesting.

ok we'll do from 1980 on to make it easy (note some sites conflict just took the most common result)

800m

1979-1997 Coe 5'9"

1997-2010 Kipketer 5'8"

2010-present Rudisah 6'3"

1500m

1980-1983, 1983-1985 Ovett 6'0"

1983 Maree 5'11"

1985 Cram 6'1"

1985-1992 Aouita 5'8"

1992-1998 Morceli 5'9"

1998-present El Guerrouj 5'9"

5000m

1978-1982 Rono 5'8"

1982-1985 Moorecraft 5'11"

1985-1994 Aouita 5'8"

1994-1995, 1995-1997, 1998-2004 Gebrselassie 5'5"

1995 Kiptanui 5'9"

1997-1998 Komen 5'6"

2004-present Bekele 5'7"

10000m

1978-1984 Rono 5'8"

1984-1989 Mamede 5'9"

1989-1993 Barrios 5'9"

1993 Chelimo 5'5"

1993-1994 Ondieki 5'6"

1994-1995 Sigei 5'10"

1995-1996, 1997, 1998-2004 Geberselassie 5'5"

1996-1997 Hissou 5'9"

1997-1998 Tergat 6'0"

2004-present Bekele 5'7"

Marathon

1980-1981 Nijboer 6'0"

1981-1984 de Castella 5'10"

1984-1985 Jones 5'10"

1985-1988 Lopes ? can't find it

1988-1998 Densamo ? can't find it

1998-1999 da Costa 5'6"

1999-2003 Khannouchi 5'5"

2003-2007 Tergat 6'0"

2007- present Geberselassie 5'5"

Very cool thanks for doing that!

Build != height. The 6 ft kenyans appear to be as fast as the 5'8 ones. If the kenyan average height was 6' you would see a ton of them.Compare that to basketball where 90% of the players are in the top 5% of height.

some crazy runner guy wrote:

toujour wrote:

That's because most of the greats come from Kenya and Ethiopia, where 5'3-5'9 IS the average height for reasons unrelated to running.

So you are saying that the reason that Kenya and Ethiopia are so dominant in distance running has nothing to do with their average build?

Appreciate the effort, but Bekele can't be 5'7". He's shorter than Geb. He's probably closer to 5'4". And Wilson Kipketer had to have been taller than 5'8".

vinethumper wrote:

If you take runners of all heights but similar ability and have them run together, their stride lengths will be almost identical.

This clip of Bekele vs. Mottram seems consistent with that idea. Both seem to running at about the same cadence, but Mottram is around 10 inches taller than KB and obviously has much longer legs.

Now we're getting somewhere! Unfortunately, I don't know that WR time is necessarily the best metric. To small of a set, and too prone to outliers. I think the top 25 all-time individuals per event would be more telling. Anybody have access to that info? If you post, we can as a group try to fill in the heights.

If you make a WP entry with the main source being data collected in a letsrun discussion, I will delete it! There is no way that would pass mustard by WP standards.

You have a point but it might be better to do top 25 world leaders for each event for the past 20-30 years.

Nero wrote:

You have a point but it might be better to do top 25 world leaders for each event for the past 20-30 years.

Wasn't there someone on these boards that maintained spreadsheets with all this data? Is he still around?

Here's a list of all time sub-13 minute 5k guys I compiled from

www.alltime-athletics.com

. If anyone wants to look up the heights of these guys go for it, I'm too lazy.

1 12:37.4 Kenenisa Bekele

2 12:39.4 Haile Gebrselassie

3 12:39.7 Daniel Komen

4 12:46.5 Eliud Kipchoge

5 12:47.0 Sileshi Sihine

6 12:48.7 Issac Songok

7 12:48.8 Stephen Cherono

8 12:49.3 Brahim Lahlafi

9 12:49.7 Mohammed Mourhit

10 12:49.9 Paul Tergat

11 12:50.2 Hicham El Guerrouj

12 12:50.3 Abderrahim Goumri

13 12:50.6 Moses Masai

14 12:50.7 Moses Kipsiro

15 12:50.8 Salah Hissou

16 12:50.9 Ali Saïdi-Sief

17 12:51.0 Joseph Ebuya

18 12:51.4 Vincent Chepkok

19 12:52.0 Thomas Longosiwa

20 12:52.0 Saif Saeed Shaheen

21 12:52.3 Sammy Kipketer

22 12:52.4 Edwin Cheruiyot Soi

23 12:52.5 Tariku Bekele

24 12:52.8 Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam

25 12:53.0 Abraham Chebii

26 12:53.4 Khalid Boulami

27 12:53.5 Mark Kiptoo

28 12:53.6 Dejene Gebremeskel

29 12:53.6 Imane Merga

30 12:53.7 Augustine Choge

31 12:53.7 Philip Mosima

32 12:53.8 Assefa Mezgebu

33 12:54.1 John Kibowen

34 12:54.1 Bernard Lagat

35 12:54.1 Dejene Berhanu

36 12:54.2 Abreham Cherkos

37 12:54.5 Moses Mosop

38 12:54.6 James Kwalia

39 12:54.6 Isiah Koech

40 12:54.7 Dieter Baumann

41 12:54.8 Moses Kiptanui

42 12:55.0 Benjamin Limo

43 12:55.1 Lucas Rotich

44 12:55.5 Hicham Bellani

45 12:55.5 Chris Solinsky

46 12:55.6 Abebe Dinkesa Negera

47 12:55.6 Mark Bett

48 12:55.8 Craig Mottram

49 12:55.8 Boniface Songok

50 12:55.9 Thomas Nyariki

51 12:56.0 Josphat Kiprono Menjo

52 12:56.3 Albert Chepkurui

53 12:56.3 Dathan Ritzenhein

54 12:56.3 Paul Koech

55 12:56.5 Luke Kipkosgei

56 12:56.5 Mohamed Ali Abdosh

57 12:56.7 Richard Limo

58 12:57.0 Mulugeta Wondimu

59 12:57.1 Boniface Kiprop

60 12:57.2 Worku Bikila

61 12:57.3 Alemayehu Bezabeh

62 12:57.4 Josphat Bett

63 12:57.8 David Chelule

64 12:57.8 Mathew Kisorio

65 12:57.9 Mohammed Farah

66 12:58.2 Bob Kennedy

67 12:58.2 Leonard Komon

68 12:58.4 Saïd Aouita

69 12:58.5 Yusuf Biwott

70 12:58.5 Bekana Daba

71 12:58.6 Matt Tegenkamp

72 12:58.6 Hailu Mekonnen

73 12:58.6 Moukhled Al-Outaibi

74 12:58.6 Mike Kigen

75 12:58.8 Ismaïl Sghyr

76 12:58.9 Paul Bitok

77 12:59.1 Jonas Cheruiyot

78 12:59.3 Zersenay Tadese

79 12:59.4 Million Wolde

80 12:59.7 Jacob Chesari

81 12:59.8 Musir Salem Jawher

To be scientific, we have to get rid of as many variables as we can.

Thus, I think the best thing is to induce a 10-let identical twin pregnancy. Give them the I-want-to-be-5'0"/5'2"/5'4"/5'6"/5'8"/5'10/6'0"/6'2"/6'4"/6'6" drug and then raise them and train them to be runners.

See who is the fastest.

Make charts.

Publish to Nature.

Done.

Pre 5'9" according to a web search.

I had thought he was more like 5'7" or a bit more.

Archeologist wrote:

Appreciate the effort, but Bekele can't be 5'7". He's shorter than Geb. He's probably closer to 5'4". And Wilson Kipketer had to have been taller than 5'8".

I completely agree that bekele seems much shorter than this I found it on a couple of sites and took the lower number as it made more sense. But if if you look at his official profile on IAAF he is listed at 1.74 meters which is equal to 5'8.5". Clearly from pictures he is not this tall but I couldn't find a site that stated the 5'4" he appears to be anywhere so I didn't put it.

As far as kipketer I have no idea how tall he is in real life but many sites list him at 1.72 meters or 5'7.7" so that is what I put.

asfdasf@adsfda.com wrote:

Build != height. The 6 ft kenyans appear to be as fast as the 5'8 ones. If the kenyan average height was 6' you would see a ton of them.

Compare that to basketball where 90% of the players are in the top 5% of height.

some crazy runner guy wrote:

So you are saying that the reason that Kenya and Ethiopia are so dominant in distance running has nothing to do with their average build?

So you are proving your point with a hypothetical situation "if the average height in kenya was 6'0"? Clearly we will never know how many kenyans would win if they were on average 6'0" as this is not the case. All I was saying was that I think one of the many factors that makes kenyans and ethiopians dominant in distance running is their size. Surely you would agree that lighter is generally better in distance running. My point is that generally speaking taller runners are heavier than shorter runner and as a result must carry more weight with each stride.

As far as 6'0" kenyans are concerned you can find outliers in any statistical pool. Muggsy Bogues was drafted 12th over all to the NBA and played 14 seasons despite being only 5'3". Sure there are 6'3" kenyans who run great races. My point was on average great runners tend to be medium to small in height. I am sure that there are kenyans who are 6'10" but none of them have ever won an OC or WC or set a world record have they?