yyy wrote:
I wonder. Ovett set his WR there and commented afterwards he was confident that he hadn't run so fast.
Someone (Ventolin?) said they rebuilt the track a few years ago.
It may or may not be short (or may used to be), and Ovett may have felt this way, but he set FOUR WRs over mile/1500 and the 3:30.77 was his last and in Rieti in 1983.
He was at his best for fast races in perhaps 1978 -- 1:44.09 800 (world record at the time was Alberto Juantorena's 1:43.44) up to 8:13 WR for 2-mile beating Rono. More likely 1981 where he traded WRs with Coe for the mile with a 3:48.8 and then 3:48.40.
He also set 1500m WRs in '80 and '83. 3:31.36 and 3:30.77.
So I wouldn't take one person's comments (no matter how great they were) as the definitive word about a track being fast/short.