I think the reason the majority of fast runners are shorter because they could not make is at any other sports when they were young so they started running. If you are tall you have much more opportunity to do better at the more popular sports. You know the sports that people care about and the type of athletes the girls are actually attracted to.
It's science.
295murase wrote:
Ryan Hall: 5'10"
Josh Cox: 6'3"
Jason Hartmann: 6'3"
Matt Tegenkamp: 6'4" / 165lbs
Galen Rupp: 5'11"
Scott Bauhs: 5'11"
Alan Culpepper (retired 2007): 6'1" / 130lbs
Brian Sell (retired 2009): 5'10" / 140lbs
Fernando Cabada: 6'2"
Chad Hall: 5'9"
Peter Gilmore (retired 2010): 6'0"
Jason Lehmkuhle (retired 2012): 5'9"
Is this a joke? He is listed as 6'0" in his bio but I have seen Josh numerous times in person and he is not 6'0". I am 6'0" and he is probably closer to 5'10"
Nothing against the guy. He is really nice. Just wondering why you have him at 6'3"
Dennis Kimetto and Ryan Vail are 5'6"-5'8".
A couple of 6'5" guys: Luke Puskedra, Jim Spisak
Taller = more weight. more weight = more energy wasted. Plus there's heat dissipation, smaller guys have an easier time regulating body temp
Marathoners
6'5"
Luke Puskedra
6'4"
Matt Tegenkamp
6'3"
Bobby Curtis
Jacob Riley
6'2"
Fernando Cabada
6'1"
Tyler Pennel
Sage Canaday
Christo Landry
6'0"
Ricky Flynn
Aaron Braun
5'11"
Andreas Carlson
Brett Gotcher
Scott Bauhs
5'10"
Ryan Hall
Jared Ward
5'8"
Dathan Ritzenhein
5'6"
Ryan Vail
Jeffrey Eggleston
Dennis Kimmetto (Africa)
1500m runners
6'1"
Chris Solinsky
5'9"
Matt Centrowitz
400/800m runners
6'0"
Nick Symmonds
Jeremy Wariner*
5'11"
Casimir Loxsom
5'10"
Bram Som
*Never compete 800m events
295murase wrote:
6'0"
Nick Symmonds
Nick Symmonds is not anywhere near 6'0". I saw a picture of him standing next to Alexa Efraimson and he was slightly shorter than her.
jamin wrote:
295murase wrote:6'0"
Nick Symmonds
Nick Symmonds is not anywhere near 6'0". I saw a picture of him standing next to Alexa Efraimson and he was slightly shorter than her.
I saw Nick Symmonds at American Ninja Warrior. What a joke. This guy has basically no strength.
I'm 6'0, 155lbs, with long legs, so I seem to fit in pretty well with the long distance runners.
50 State Challenge:
I think this has some merit. Scientific answers presented here have some merit, but we shouldn't overlook the sociological factors. Tall athletes have a better chance at excelling at basketball, volleyball, football, etc. Larger (and usually taller) athletes have a better chance at excelling at football, soccer, etc. They are self-selecting themselves out of running. Similarly, smaller athletes find a niche and self-select to become runners.
Hate the game... wrote:
I think the reason the majority of fast runners are shorter because they could not make is at any other sports when they were young so they started running. If you are tall you have much more opportunity to do better at the more popular sports. You know the sports that people care about and the type of athletes the girls are actually attracted to.
It's science.
DannyJ wrote:
I'm 6'0, 155lbs, with long legs, so I seem to fit in pretty well with the long distance runners.
50 State Challenge:
http://dannyharitan.wordpress.com/
Your blog seems to be filled with a bunch of unscientific crapola. Stop posting it everywhere, you vegan Vibram wearing hippie.
Marathoners
6'5"
Luke Puskedra
6'4"
Matt Tegenkamp
6'3"
Bobby Curtis
Jacob Riley
Jason Hartmann
6'2"
Fernando Cabada
Max King
6'1"
Tyler Pennel
Sage Canaday
Christo Landry
6'0"
Ricky Flynn
Aaron Braun
5'11"
Andreas Carlson
Brett Gotcher
Scott Bauhs
Ryan Sheehan
5'10"
Ryan Hall
Jared Ward
Dan Browne
Brian Sell
5'9"
Jason Lehmkuhle
5'8"
Dathan Ritzenhein
Ian Burrell
5'7"
Meb Keflezighi
5'6"
Ryan Vail
Jeffrey Eggleston
Dennis Kimmetto (Africa)
5000/10000m runners
6'5"
Jim Spisak
6'2"
Ben True
6'1"
Brent Vaughn
5'11"
Galen Rupp
Ryan Hill
1500m runners
6'1"
Chris Solinsky
5'9"
Matt Centrowitz
400/800m runners
6'5"
Andrew Wheating
6'0"
Nick Symmonds
Jeremy Wariner*
5'11"
Casimir Loxsom
5'10"
Bram Som (Netherlands)
*Never compete 800m events
mark b wrote:
Maybe in the longer distances smaller guys dominate the rankings but at 800/1500 athletes of at least 6 feet in height have performed just as well as shorter guys; Ryun, Walker, Ovett, Scott, Snell, Cram could hardly be described as short! And, no doubt, other names could easily be added to that list.
As for longer distances, I'll just throw the name of Derek Clayton into the mix!
Yeah, the middle distance/milers are usually guys that look like they'd be good at other sports too. They look like athletes, marathoners and such well.. we tend to be short, thin, and with an over all small build. Most really good marathoners look like they'd only be good at doing that.
Runner heights:
6'5"
Jim Spisak
6'4"
Luke Puskedra
6'2"
Matt Tegenkamp
Jacob Riley
6'1"
Christo Landry
6'0"
Bobby Curtis
Ricky Flynn
5'11"
Galen Rupp
Tyler Pennel
Scott Bauhs
Brett Gotcher
Aaron Braun
Chris Derrick
5'10"
Ryan Hall *1
Timothy Richie
Mark Leininger
Abdi Abdirahman *2
5'9"
Jared Ward
5'8"
Dathan Ritzenhein
Diego Estrada
Jeffrey Eggleston
5'7"
Meb Keflezighi
Ryan Vail
5'6"
Nick Arciniaga
Notes:
*1: Replaced by Luke Puskedra in May 2015.
*2: Replaced by Galen Rupp in January 2016.
Jack Bachelor!
Also, wasn't Derek Clayton more than 6 feet tall?
At 1500/mile think Ryun, Walker, Ovett etc all 6 feet or more.
Jim Spisak: 6'5"
Chris Moen: 6'4"
Luke Puskedra: 6'4.5"
Bobby Curtis: 6'0"
Ricky Flynn: 6'0"
Tyler Pennel: 5'11"
Galen Rupp: 5'11"
Scott Bauhs: 5'11"
Brett Gotcher: 5'11"
Ryan Hall: 5'10.7"
Alan Webb: 5'9"
Jason Hartmann: 6'3"
Jacob Riley: 6'2"
Dathan Ritzenhein: 5'8"
Andrew Carlson: 6'0"
Aaron Braun: 5'11"
Meb Keflezighi: 5'7"
Jared Ward: 5'9"
Jeffrey Eggleston: 5'6"
Ryan Vail: 5'6"
Joe Stillin: 6'2"
Cameron Bean (died 2015): 6'0"
Griff Graves: ?
Bad Wigins wrote:
Mr. Obvious wrote:This is the right answer. Body surface area only increases at 2/3 the rate of mass, generally. Shorter guys have a greater ratio of skin/mass and are able to dissipate heat better.
Heat dissipation is not a significant limiting factor compared to aerobic fitness, running economy, speed and so forth.
More likely is that long legs are less energy-efficient at full gait. What Cram calls "long levers" are in fact type 3 levers - the glutes act on them near the fulcrum at the hip, to move an object at the end of the lever, i.e. the ground. While this can accelerate the ground faster, like a caveman's atlatl, it requires the glutes to exert more force than if the legs were shorter.
And the amount of force the glutes can exert is limited by their cross-sectional mass, which does not increase proportionally with leg length. Tall people are thicker than short people but not by as much as they're taller.
Short distance runners often have huge range of motion, looking like sprinters in lift phase, while tall ones tend to have choppier strides.
I have no idea what a type-3 lever is but I agree with Wiggin's broad point here. The 2/3-scaling thing assumes that tall runners and shaped like short runners and that just isn't true.
As has been mentioned, most distance runners are about average height but there certaily seem to be more very tall elite runners than very short elite runners. I imagine that if anyone studied it, they'd find a mild positive correlation between height and speed at all distances but in track that this is more than compensated for by the talent drain of tall athletes being pulled into more popular sports (basketball, football etc) where height is hugely helpful.
I think there was a 6'10" runner (forget which university) that was like a 14:20 guy or something.
You mean Luke Beevor? He was 6'10 and sub 14:20.
I think there was a 6'10" runner (forget which university) that was like a 14:20 guy or something.
You mean Luke Beevor? He was 6'10 and sub 14:20.
Affiliation contract expired tall runners:
Luke Puskedra: contract expired with Nike Oregon Project in late 2014.
Chris Moen: contract expired with ZAP Fitness Reebok in early 2016.