This thread is so classic LR. Talk about hijacking a thread. 18 responses and maybe 2-3 of them are actually relevant to what she asked. Come on guys. She's a hs girl about to try the 2 mile for the first time. She doesn't give a crap about hypothetical matchups across generations of past world class athletes.
Let's give her some useful input. A couple posters did. I know we can do better than that.
I have known lots of runners who were very competent over 5-6 miles X-country struggle with 3000m. Maybe it's the greater oxygen debt incurred, maybe it's the greater speed making demands of muscles unaccustomed to moving that fast. Whatever.
Any well trained 1500 runner can run a very good 3000m/2miles (Ovett, Cram, Scott, Maree etc, etc. It's 5000 that causes problems for many 1500 guys when they try to move up in distance to another Olympic distance.