If Kipchoge wins in 11 days, he’ll dethrone K.B. as the G.O.A.T. distance runner

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

Jon Snow-man wrote:

Kipchoge as the GOAT is Nike manufactured PR, he is nowhere near Bekele or even Geb for that matter. He was lucky his marathon career coincided with the invention of the supershoe, because all those former 2:03 guys from the pre-supershoe days (Makau, Kimetto, Kipsang, Mutai, Biwott) would have run 2:01 if they got vaporflys.

Also nobody races each other in the Marathon, so to claim GOAT status for winning down a bunch of watered down Berlins is ridiculous. Get on a start line with Kelvin Kiptum before you retire

Bekele's mastery on the Track and in Cross Country (mind you both of these were in competition with Kipchoge in their primes) I've always thought separated him from Kipchoge. Now that Kiptum looks like Kipchoge 2.0 except even faster with no equipment/technological advantage (unlike Cheptegei), Bekele's greatness is even more apparent. I don't really believe that anyone thinks that Cheptegei's time advantages are significant (if they even exist) beyond wavelight/superspikes. Great as he is, he hasn't been able to pull of the doubles that Bekele did twice, nor the XC dominance.
This isn't to say Kipchoge wasn't the GOAT marathoner. He was, but being the GOAT Track and Distance Runner carries more weight to me. That is especially when the heir apparent is already here, and the likes of Sisay Lemma are now approaching Kipchoge's time.
If you had to make a cross-sports comparison Bekele is like Michael Jordan and Kipchoge is more like LeBron. Kipchoge's consistency/durability over the years is ridiculous. But Bekele was just better/more dominant at the peak of his powers.

OACHATERZZ wrote:

snowflakes wrote:

Do you still stand by what you said after Kiptum? Unfortunately he passed but EK record didn’t stand.

I feel like people are overrating Bekele’s success in the 10000. It is run way less often at the top than the Marathon. When was the last time there was a high level 10000m race outside the Olympics/WC? Heck, even the 3000 is probably run more often than the 10000m. I’d rather be the GOAT of the Marathon than the 10000 if you were to ask me. Bekele has the 5000 and XC success though (5000 case is a little flawed, Jakob and Farah are arguably better). This is a great debate. I think Bekele edges out Kipchoge based on the World XC golds but the problem is that it is simply impossible to surpass him there. They have discontinued the short race and now the senior race is held once every two years. That shows how unimportant the championship is to World Athletics. That makes it much closer between EK and Bekele than people have suggested on this thread. Only guy with a chance right now of surpassing either of these two runners is Jakob, barring injury. He is way better than them at the same age.

OACHATERZZ wrote:

snowflakes wrote:

Do you still stand by what you said after Kiptum? Unfortunately he passed but EK record didn’t stand.

I feel like people are overrating Bekele’s success in the 10000. It is run way less often at the top than the Marathon. When was the last time there was a high level 10000m race outside the Olympics/WC? Heck, even the 3000 is probably run more often than the 10000m. I’d rather be the GOAT of the Marathon than the 10000 if you were to ask me. Bekele has the 5000 and XC success though (5000 case is a little flawed, Jakob and Farah are arguably better). This is a great debate. I think Bekele edges out Kipchoge based on the World XC golds but the problem is that it is simply impossible to surpass him there. They have discontinued the short race and now the senior race is held once every two years. That shows how unimportant the championship is to World Athletics. That makes it much closer between EK and Bekele than people have suggested on this thread. Only guy with a chance right now of surpassing either of these two runners is Jakob, barring injury. He is way better than them at the same age.

1500m-enthusiast wrote:

OACHATERZZ wrote:

I feel like people are overrating Bekele’s success in the 10000. It is run way less often at the top than the Marathon. When was the last time there was a high level 10000m race outside the Olympics/WC? Heck, even the 3000 is probably run more often than the 10000m. I’d rather be the GOAT of the Marathon than the 10000 if you were to ask me. Bekele has the 5000 and XC success though (5000 case is a little flawed, Jakob and Farah are arguably better). This is a great debate. I think Bekele edges out Kipchoge based on the World XC golds but the problem is that it is simply impossible to surpass him there. They have discontinued the short race and now the senior race is held once every two years. That shows how unimportant the championship is to World Athletics. That makes it much closer between EK and Bekele than people have suggested on this thread. Only guy with a chance right now of surpassing either of these two runners is Jakob, barring injury. He is way better than them at the same age.

World XC isn't the only reason why Bekele edges out Kipchoge, it's their head to head record on the track (and the definitive manner in which Kenenisa routinely dispatched him) that makes him the undisputed better runner.