Ryan was a kid from Kansas that took on the world of middle distance running on dirt tracks in the sticks. Why wouldn't he be iconic?
Grew up 70 miles south of Wichita during Ryun's ascension. Remember being crushed when he didn't win in '68 Mexico City.
All I can say is that even between Ryun and Seb Coe... the changes in technology were stunning. And it all happened during the time I was running. Shoes, tracks, training methods. Seb Coe is went through that period as well. It would be interesting to see what he might say about Ryun given that in his earlier years even Seb probably ran on cinder tracks... in heavy track shoes.... and using those (for cinder) spikes that were as long as a snake's fangs.
For those who were there to see it or remember it, Ryun's peak seasons of '66/67 were something else. He took the sport to another level. But his time in the sun was all too brief.
I've only seen the footage but he was very impressive; beautiful form, goes to the limit everytime. Very bad luck in Munich - I would've liked to have seen him progress.
The answer is Coe. Didn’t bother reading all the other comments
Definitely, Coe would win 8 out of 10 times. The remaining two would be between Ryun and Snell.
I thought I read somewhere that Snell had the slowest 200m PR in the field when he won the 800m in Tokyo, but had the most left at the end because of his endurance. Not sure about his 400m PR.
Definitely, Coe would win 8 out of 10 times. The remaining two would be between Ryun and Snell.
I thought I read somewhere that Snell had the slowest 200m PR in the field when he won the 800m in Tokyo, but had the most left at the end because of his endurance. Not sure about his 400m PR.
You're probably right. Snell was a 22-low 200m runner and about 48 for the 400 - which he really only ran in training. Crothers and George Kerr, in the other hand were 46-low 400m runners. But they couldn't match Snell's strength. No one could.
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