Who in history has "unique" performances?

JumpsDoctor wrote:

Jones 12uns wrote:

Obviously this isn’t in the OP’s criteria, but I just want to point out that WVN might be the best all around sprinter of all time. I think the only guy to go sub 10, sub 20, and sub 44.

Lagat has some pretty good PR’s, he makes up for slower distance times (27:48 10K, 1:02 HM) with his 1:46 and 3:26. However, if you consider El G as clean, then yeah he is better than Lagat.

Not to mention WVN has the 300m and 400m world records.

Well, yeah.

said88 wrote:

It seems you didn't understand the question at all?

He wouldn't be alone.

automorphic wrote:

I know this thread has been done before, but I can't find it. What I'm saying is: who has run times in various events than no one person has equaled or exceeded in EVERY event. So for instance, Dennis Kimetto would be on the list for his 2:02:57 marathon, but so would Patrick Makau for his 2:03:38 marathon combined with his 58:52 half-marathon.

There would be thousands of people if you took all events, but I'm thinking:

800m

1500m (maybe I'll give you mile or mile equivalent)

3000m

5000m

10000m

Half-marathon

Marathon

Any surprises on the list?

There is only one = Kip Keino.

1st time steepler in May; Olympic champ in August.

Range:

800 -1:46.7

10,000 - 28:08

And all this from a prior era without rabbits or major championships every year.

don't get it at all wrote:

said88 wrote:

It seems you didn't understand the question at all?

He wouldn't be alone.

OK, clearly I didn't explain it well enough. Let's try this:

A runner DOMINATES you if that runner has run equal or better to ALL your PRs. This idea is kind of similar to the "fastest runner you've beaten" question, but a different twist. For instance, Nick Symmonds is (was) a much faster runner than you are, but if you can run sub-3, you can at least say "well, I'm a better marathoner".

It's a little silly when done like that, but on the elite level it can tell us something else: who are the runners who have done something (time-wise) that no one else has ever done? Who are the runners who are dominated by NO ONE?

What this means is that in an least one event, your PR is faster than Bekele's. And in at least one event (probably a different one), your PR is faster than Aouita's. Etc. So what it means is that for everyone else in the world, there's at least one event where you have a faster PR.

Let's see this in action: Eliud Kipchoge is third on the all-time marathon list, behind Dennis Kimetto and Kenenisa Bekeke. So versus everyone else in the world, he can say "I have a faster marathon PR than you". To Bekele, he can say "I have a faster half-marathon PR than you", and to Kimetto, he can say "I have a faster 10k PR than you". So Kipchoge makes the list, using the events (10k, HM, M) (or 5k, HM, M).

You might wonder if this is biased towards people who have done a bunch of random events. And it is! If you're an elite marathoner who's even run a 1500, you're much more likely to make the list even if you were slow, because in order to dominate you, another runner would have to both beat your marathon time and also run a 1500 (faster than you did). It's what gets runners like Aouita, Webb, Choge on or near the list.

Hope that makes sense!

Duane Solomons 3:08 for the 800m at the 2015 USAs takes the cake for a guy who ran 1:42

OK, this is too hard to program, esp. with indoors, but here is a (hopefully correct) partial list. Turns out the 800 is a real killer since so few of them do other distances. Whereas the distance events were much easier thanks to Geb.

So I did a list where I JUST looked at athletes' 3k-marathon times. In order to be on that list, you have to (at the very least) beat Geb's time in one of the events. But he's 4th-2nd-2nd-15th-9th all-time in those five events, so that's not a lot of guys to check!

The events in parentheses are the events the athlete uses to get on the list. Obviously there are different possibilities for some of them.

3k-5k-10k-HM-M athletes

Kimetto (M)

Bekele (10k)

Kipchoge (10k + HM + M)

Kipsang (HM + M)

Makau (HM + M)

Adola (10k + HM + M)

Gebrselassie (10k + HM)

Tadese (HM)

Wanjiru (HM + M)

Kisorio (5k + HM)

Kitwara (HM + M)

Oloitiptip (5k + HM)

Kamworor (5k + HM)

Komen (3k)

I also did the same thing with 800-1500, since Coe was a good benchmark here.

800m-1500m athletes

Rudisha (800)

Coe (800 + 1500)

El Guerrouj (1500)

Kiprop (800 + 1500)

Makhloufi (800 + 1500)

And using all the events 800-marathon, I checked some people I was curious about.

Others of note

Morceli (800 + 1500 + 3k)

Aouita (800 + 1500 + 3k)

Choge (800 + 1500 + 3k)

Farah (1500 + 10k)

Lagat (1500 + 10k)

Webb (800 + 10k) (probably)

Bucher (800 + 10k) (found by said88)

Symmonds (800 + 1500 + M) (perhaps, but no way to confirm)

I doubt this is even half the full list. I bet there are a lot more of the Bucher/Symmonds variety, but there's just no way to get those people.

Would love to see some similar data for women, but the HM might make it difficult.

OK, I actually did the same thing for women:

5k-10k-HM-M athletes

Radcliffe (M)

Keitany (HM + M)

Dibaba (5k)

Ayana (10k)

Cheruiyot (10k + M)

Jepkosgei (HM)

Kiplagat (10k + HM)

Chepkoech (5k + HM)

Kabuu (5k + HM)

Kristiansen (5k + 10k + HM)

800-1500-3k athletes

Junxia (3k)

Yunxia (1500 + 3k)

Kazankina (800 + 3k)

Dibaba (1500)

Yinglai (800 + 1500)

Kratochvilova (800)

Olizarenko (800 + 1500)

Other notables

O’Sullivan (3k + 5k + M)

Slaney (800 + 10k) (probably)

These were the only two I found. I think Houlihan might make it if the 800m list went deeper, but I'm not sure vs Dibaba. Genzebe Dibaba annihilated the 1500-5k crowd, and Vivian Cheruiyot did the same for those who tried to stretch down to 3k. Florence Kiplagat kept a lot of distance runners off the list, and Tatyana Kazankina kept 800-3k clear.

Interesting how so many fewer of these runners are household names. Likely because of the Russian/Chinese doping. Say what you want about Dibaba/Ayana, but at least we'll remember their names in 15 years.

Note: no Semenya -- Olizarenko DOMINATES her

automorphic wrote:

Oloitiptip (5k + HM)

Webb (800 + 10k) (probably)

Bucher (800 + 10k) (found by said88)

Symmonds (800 + 1500 + M) (perhaps, but no way to confirm)

I doubt this is even half the full list. I bet there are a lot more of the Bucher/Symmonds variety, but there's just no way to get those people.

Oloitiptip is not correct, since both his 5000m and HM times are bettered by Zersenay Tadese.

Webb is correct, no one of the faster 800m runners just comes close to him over 10000m (hardly anyone has run the distance ever seriously).

What's Symmond's Marathon time? Very few have better 800m and 1500m time, probably only: Coe, Cram, Makhloufi, A. Kaki, Y. Saad Kamel (I have not checked carefully). Coe and Cram have run the Marathon after their career in slow times, the others probably never. So should be easy to check.

You have left many of the names I have given, but I'm pretty sure all are correct.

I didn't find most of them. For example, did Kipketer ever run anything 1500 or farther? Did Kaki ever do anything Coe didn't?

Good point on Oloitiptip!

automorphic wrote:

said88 wrote:

Oloitiptip is not correct, since both his 5000m and HM times are bettered by Zersenay Tadese.

Webb is correct, no one of the faster 800m runners just comes close to him over 10000m (hardly anyone has run the distance ever seriously).

What's Symmond's Marathon time? Very few have better 800m and 1500m time, probably only: Coe, Cram, Makhloufi, A. Kaki, Y. Saad Kamel (I have not checked carefully). Coe and Cram have run the Marathon after their career in slow times, the others probably never. So should be easy to check.

You have left many of the names I have given, but I'm pretty sure all are correct.

I didn't find most of them. For example, did Kipketer ever run anything 1500 or farther? Did Kaki ever do anything Coe didn't?

Good point on Oloitiptip!

Rudisha - as far as I know - has never raced over 1500m.

Kaki is one of the 5 athletes (maybe you check, not 100% sure) who have better 800m and 1500m PBs than Symmonds. We just have to check the Marathon PBs of these 5 athletes (I think only Coe and Cram have run a Marathon at all) and compare them with Symmond's PB (which I don't know).

Maybe this helps:

I would say a guy like Nigel Amos would be on the list

200 Metres 21.34

400 Metres 45.55

800 Metres 1:41.73

1000 Metres 2:26.92

3000 Metres 8:33.93

And for the ladies

Jarmila Kratochvílová

60 Metres 7.33

100 Metres 11.09

200 Metres 21.97

300 Metres 34.95

400 Metres 47.99

600 Metres 1:25.0h

800 Metres 1:53.28