Not X, just Bol. She wold win if she wanted to train for the 800. No doubt.
You are just trolling now. Mu is likely the greatest non doped, non DSD 800 runner ever. You are 100% certain that Bol is better when she’s never run a single 800? That’s preposterous.
The "moving up" is also particularly implausible/daring for 400 -> 800m. That's why it happens so rarely, once an athlete is established on a high level. It's very different from 1500 -> 10000m or 10000m -> marathon.
the 2nd best runner in the world in a particular distance doesn't become bad by moving up or down one distance. One or the other, they will be elite at.
You just proved that you know very little about the history of track and field.
The number of 400 runners who were "2nd best runner in the world" who were also elite at the 800 is incredibly small.
Most top 400 women couldn't even break 2 minutes in the 800, never mind be elite at 800.
The posters who think Bol could be an Olympic medalist in the 800 or run 1:54 have no idea what they're talking about.
He might have been lean, but he was also in sub 10, sub 20 shape over 100/200.
Worth remembering that the best 4/800 doubler was built like a tank - Juantorena
You might be forgetting our favorite head bobbing Kenyan, Korir.
No, just think that a world record and Olympic 4/8 double are worth more than anything Korir has done.
My reason to reference Alberto is just to point out build shouldn’t be a determining factor, prompted by the implication that sub10 WVN was a 4/8 type just because he’s lean.
400m hurdlers have a tradition of making successful 800m transitions, and she is not at all the large muscular type that tends to struggle at 800m (El Caballo aside). She has the 500m indoor world record, so she obviously has the strength to go beyond 400m successfully. I think she would go sub 1:56 her first year at the event. She is a sub-50 400m runner as well. But there you can see why she couldn't be expected to run away with the 800m, because if Athing Mu is at her top form of 2021, she would be significantly faster at 400m than Bol, and also significantly faster at 1300 or 1400m or whatever Mu ran fast indoors last year. So, how would Bol win?
If you look at Femke Bol's 800m potential, her being 6' 143 lbs jumps out at you. She doesn't look super tall and she looks very thin. That is a good height and weight for a middle distance runner. However, Athing Mu, though, is listed at 5'10" 124 lbs! That is thin. Another thing, Bol did not show remarkable speed as a teen and still hasn't run a sub-23 200m. At 18, she still sported bests of only 25s 200m and 54s 400m! For years she was stuck near those numbers. The speed decay is still very good, because she has pr's now of just 23 for 200m and 49.44 for 400m, which is very good. However, there again Athing Mu looks even better for speed decay. She ran 23.5 already at 16, but her pr is still slower than Bol's at 200m. At 400m, her pr is still slightly slower than Bol's at 49.57 but her relay split in the Olympics in 2021 was 48.xx, so I see her 400m ability as still significantly better. Then at 1500m, Mu ran 4:16 and was going a lot faster before running out of steam at 1200 or whatever last year, so she has a big aerobic edge over Bol.
You laugh, but we're talking about a 49.44 runner with just a 23 second 200m pr, a 52 low 400mH. Jearl Miles-Clark had a very similar 23.03 200m pr with 49.40 400m pr, only slightly slower than Bol. She ran 1:56 multiple times from the year (1997) when she ran 49.40. Near the end of her career in 2003, she ran a 4:31 1500m best, so hardly unreachable for Bol. The following year she also ran a 500m pr of 1:08.71, three seconds slower than Bol just ran, and Clark had run the event in 1:11 earlier in her career.
You showed you know even less. The point was that the 2nd best runner will elite at either up or down one event, not both. List the 2nd best 400 runner who you believe wasn't good at either 200 or 800. You lose because they all are good at one or the other.
Some of the comments in this thread are starting to remind me of a guy in another thread that believes Sydney would easily be the best 100/200 sprinter in the world if she switched to those events.
You showed you know even less. The point was that the 2nd best runner will elite at either up or down one event, not both. List the 2nd best 400 runner who you believe wasn't good at either 200 or 800. You lose because they all are good at one or the other.
You showed you know even less. The point was that the 2nd best runner will elite at either up or down one event, not both. List the 2nd best 400 runner who you believe wasn't good at either 200 or 800. You lose because they all are good at one or the other.
You have no idea what you're talking about. There are only a few elite 400 women who are also elite at the 200, but most aren't.
And almost none of the elite 400 women, except Athing Mu, are also elite at the 800.
The fact is that there are a lot of elite 400 women who aren't elite at either the 200 or the 800.
Your wacky theory that just because Bol is elite at the 400 means that she would also be elite at the 800 is a bunch of nonsense.
Some of the comments in this thread are starting to remind me of a guy in another thread that believes Sydney would easily be the best 100/200 sprinter in the world if she switched to those events.
There are quite a few people who post here that don't actually know that much about track.
What's wrong with an athlete doing more than one event?
Nothing wrong with Bol trying the 800. In fact, I wish she would try it so she could show all these delusional posters that she can't run at Athing Mu's level in the 800.
You are obviously right; I agree. But a lot of fans think that the truly brilliant 800m runners have a lot of speed as well. So when we see people with tons of speed AND strength, we secretly wish to see them try the 800m.
It like my fantasy NBA league where I would want to see one-on-one games between Damian Lillard and Steph Curry. I know they don't want to do that, but I want to see it! Ja Morant vs. Jokić. Let's go!
That is how I see the 800m. It would be fun to see more match-ups! Where 400m stars and 5000m stars clash!
This post was edited 2 minutes after it was posted.
You laugh, but we're talking about a 49.44 runner with just a 23 second 200m pr, a 52 low 400mH. Jearl Miles-Clark had a very similar 23.03 200m pr with 49.40 400m pr, only slightly slower than Bol. She ran 1:56 multiple times from the year (1997) when she ran 49.40. Near the end of her career in 2003, she ran a 4:31 1500m best, so hardly unreachable for Bol. The following year she also ran a 500m pr of 1:08.71, three seconds slower than Bol just ran, and Clark had run the event in 1:11 earlier in her career.
I laugh at your saying that she'd run sub 1:56 in her first year at the event, yes. Resoundingly so.
I think that Usain Bolt could have run about 1:35 relatively easily had he chosen to. He's lean, has long legs, and runs like a gazelle. I'm just an uninformed track fan but because I think he could have done it, he would have - probably within his first year of running the event. 🙄
What's wrong with an athlete doing more than one event?
Nothing wrong with Bol trying the 800. In fact, I wish she would try it so she could show all these delusional posters that she can't run at Athing Mu's level in the 800.
It's the only way to find out. Her 500m is far better than her 200m so that is an indicator.