I really think you guys are underestimating him. We are talking about the greatest cyclist to walk the earth with a Vo2 max in the high 80s. Running isn't that complicated, it's literally putting one foot in front of the other. A few weeks to get used to the mechanics of running and he easily breaks 30. Tom Pidcock of all people has run a low 15 just time trialing in the streets
I really think you guys are underestimating him. We are talking about the greatest cyclist to walk the earth with a Vo2 max in the high 80s. Running isn't that complicated, it's literally putting one foot in front of the other. A few weeks to get used to the mechanics of running and he easily breaks 30. Tom Pidcock of all people has run a low 15 just time trialing in the streets
We are not talking about "a cyclist" though, we are talking about a complete freak of nature.
For people that don't follow cycling it's hard to properly explain just what level Pogi is at but I would say that a running equivalent would be if somebody were to, in a single year, rack up the results:
London marathon - 1st
World/Olympic 1500m - 2nd
World/Olympic 5000m - 1st
World/Olympic 10000m - 1st
Chicago marathon - 1st in world record
Diamond league - 6 wins and 2 world records in distances ranging from 1500m to 10000m
Also, cycling is a sport with more money in it than track and field.
I think that if we assume 1. that Pogacar's success comes entirely from his legs and not some form of motor doping, 2. whatever he is doing to be that good, he is allowed to continue doing it while running and 3. he is given a full year to train with a team setup of the level that he has in cycling, then I think 28 minutes is very conservative. I would think rather that Cheptegei's world record would be in danger.
That is not the running equivalent.
First, cycling has more money, but much less global participation. Most of the riders are from one continent. Very few people outside Europe cycle competitively, thus the level of competitiveness in cycling is simply much lower than running. Even within Europe I don't know how many people take up cycling relative to running. Could you imagine how much weaker the fields in running would be if they were similarly limited?
Second, championship running races often become tactical and margins of victory can be tiny. Cycling is incredibly tactical of course, but you have a team to help. What would Pogacar's tactics be in that 5000? He won't have teammates to lead him in the early stages of a race. Would he go hard and let everyone else draft on him? Would he go in the pack and try to out sprint everyone?
Third, the risk of injury is much higher in running if anyone even attempted to do all those events in one year.
What would his tactics be? Probably the same as his tactics in most of the classics races that he wins: attack in the first half of the race and blow everybody else away.