Fastest kick in track history.

Dreadful wrote:

Ovett runs 24 at the 77 world cup, clowning the final 70. Walker stops flat and walks of the track with 150 to go. Morceli is left 40m behind. Watch the video, it is almost like a cartoon the way he left 3:47 milers behind.

Ryun closed in 37 a bunch of times.

Practically every statement you make is inaccurate or misleading!

Ovett's last 200m was 25.1, not 24.**.

He waved in the homestraight, which he always did, and eased off only slightly towards the end. Flat out he could have gone 24.7.

The Morceli you mention isn't Noureddine, but his older brother, who was nothing of note, certainly not in the World top 20.

The only other miler in that field to ever run a 3:47 Mile was Scott, who came last, and he didn't run that fast for another 5 seasons, in 1982.

I have only seen 1 account giving Ryun a 37 last 300m (the Dusseldorf race in 67), and even this is not readily available to be viewed by the public.

Dreadful wrote:

Ovett runs 24 at the 77 world cup, clowning the final 70. Walker stops flat and walks of the track with 150 to go. Morceli is left 40m behind. Watch the video, it is almost like a cartoon the way he left 3:47 milers behind.

No, he ran his last 200m in 26.5 (11.8, 14.7) indeed slowing down at the finish.

Leaders splits were 56.3, 1:54.6, 2:54.6

Ovetts splits were 56.9, 1:54.9, 2:54.9 which means is least 300m was 39.6.

malmo wrote:

Dreadful wrote:

Ovett runs 24 at the 77 world cup, clowning the final 70. Walker stops flat and walks of the track with 150 to go. Morceli is left 40m behind. Watch the video, it is almost like a cartoon the way he left 3:47 milers behind.

No, he ran his last 200m in 26.5 (11.8, 14.7) indeed slowing down at the finish.

Leaders splits were 56.3, 1:54.6, 2:54.6

Ovetts splits were 56.9, 1:54.9, 2:54.9 which means is least 300m was 39.6.

What!?

Ovett certainly did not run his last 200m in 26.5.

I have him going through 1200m in 2:55.0. giving a last 300 of 39.5, but happy to accept your almost identical 2:54.9/39.6.

But his last 200m was definitely 25.1. This was reported at the time and can be witnessed on the video footage.

His last 100m was 13.1, certainly not as slow as 14.7.

malmo wrote:

Ovett ran 37.0 in Oslo in 1978. I had a front row seat, pulling even with him at 1200m then promptly getting my doors blown off during that last 300m!

It was terrifying to see.

1. 3:35.80 Ovett GBR

2. 3:36.00 Scott USA

3. 3:37.90 Plachy CZE

4. 3:38.40 Coghlan IRL

5. 3:39.4 Engelund NOR

6. 3:39.8 Crawford USA

7. 3:40.8 Malley USA

Hey George, I seem to recall your mile pr is something like 4:00.x. You focused on other distances, but do you ever think "dammit, I should have run 3:56"!

Deanouk, I agree with you. Those splits came fron Track and Field News which has a history of being innacurate.

To believe the final 200 was 26.8 means the backstretch was run at the same pace. Clearly it wasnt.

The video shows Ovett passing the 5k start at 3:09,6. Making the last 200 a believable 24,8.

CottonPickinBlues wrote:

What does Robby Andrews' cover in the last 150 meters of a race?

I'll go with the answer '150 meters'.

Engrish wrote:

CottonPickinBlues wrote:

What does Robby Andrews' cover in the last 150 meters of a race?

I'll go with the answer '150 meters'.

I'm gonna hope that he was covering a bit more than that, mate.

* wrote:

And don't forget Bekele's 12:57 final 5000 of the 2003 10,000 World Champs.

I am unimpressed: he had a running start for the last 5K.

Have to say malmo, that I have never seen T&FN quote Ovett's last 200m in Dusseldorf as 26.5! Ive seen them quote his bend as 11.8 and his final 100m as 13.3 in their book, "The Milers". A 25.1 last 200 was also quoted in AW at the time.

Again though, I question that 11.8 split, which was a hand timed split from his coach.

If you look at the video on YouTube, you see the leader, Hill I think, go through 1200m in 2:54.91, with Ovett on his shoulder in around 2:55.0. Ovett then hits the front, tearing the field asunder, just before the 200m from home mark. If you look closely on the infield, you can see a white post/marker, which represents the 200m mark. Ovett is level with this at 3:09.4. There is a similar pole at the 100m from home mark, and although the camera angle is a long shot, he is level with this at 3:21.4. This implies a 12.0 curve. For me, this is confirmed when the camera angle switches to a close up at 3:22.7, which clearly shows Ovett's torso above and inline with the 90m line on the track.

You can pause this clearly on video or YouTube. If he hits the 90m from home mark in 3:22.7, this means his last 90m took 11.8 Secs (rounding his winning time of 3:34.45 up to 3:34.5).

If you then divide 11.8 by 90 and multiply it by 100, one gets a 100m equivalent of 13.1. Thus if his last 100m was 13.1, and there would be little change in his tempo from 100 to 90 out, and his last 200m is generally agreed upon as 25.1, then his curve 100m must have been 12.0 rather than 11.8.

Hope I've explained that clearly enough.

malmo wrote:

No, he ran his last 200m in 26.5 (11.8, 14.7) indeed slowing down at the finish.

Leaders splits were 56.3, 1:54.6, 2:54.6

Ovetts splits were 56.9, 1:54.9, 2:54.9 which means is least 300m was 39.6.

I just watched the video. It looks like they go through 1300 in 3:10.0 and finish in 3:34.45, giving him 24.45. It's pretty close to that, but difficult to see the exact split that they cross 1300. He starts clowning and easing up 75m from the finish, though still going relatively fast. I remember seeing it on TV live and being just flabbergasted that anyone could move like that after a fast pace. It was ridiculous. Liquori was announcing and said shouted something like, "What an idiot, he just stopped 70 meters from the finish and blew the world record!"

Wiki says ovett did the final 200 in 25.1, easing off the final 70. His time from 1300 to 1400 was 11.8!!! Astonishing! "and here's one man's blazing speed tearing this field assunder.". I never saw anything like the way he dropped everyone. And it was off a hard pace.

Cartouche wrote:

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I just watched the video. It looks like they go through 1300 in 3:10.0 and finish in 3:34.45, giving him 24.45. It's pretty close to that, but difficult to see the exact split that they cross 1300. He starts clowning and easing up 75m from the finish, though still going relatively fast. I remember seeing it on TV live and being just flabbergasted that anyone could move like that after a fast pace. It was ridiculous. Liquori was announcing and said shouted something like, "What an idiot, he just stopped 70 meters from the finish and blew the world record!"

I don't think that Liquori was announcing. He was there competing.

1977 videos

1978 videos

But none of that particular race, Youtube is killing me.

* wrote:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-724HNIYJI

And as usual with these threads we have to show Paul Ereng's indoor 800m WR come from behind win.

Great visual over the last 200m.

Beat me to it.

BullSchtick wrote:

No way in hell did Scott and Plachy close in the 37/38 range...unless Ovett spotted them 20 meters with 300 to go....revisionist history being recounted.

Malmo said only that he pulled even with Ovett at 1200m; he didn't say that they were leading at the time.

altoroad

Malmo said only that he pulled even with Ovett at 1200m; he didn't say that they were leading at the time.[/quote]

Actually there was a wall of 4 or 5 runners including me on the outside with 300 to go. I went all-in at that point. Those guys just blew me off the track.

I don't know why some of you think 37-38 is out of the ralm of reality for them? I've run sub 39 in a 3:42 while in college. Those studs could certainly run 37-38 in a 3:36.

Mills!

I looked through the thread to see if anyone put in the link to Ovett's '77 World Cup win.

From 200 out, he slams the other guys in spectacular fashion, and runs about 25 point while waving his fist in the air at the end.

I watched it on TV. I was a big John Walker fan, I'm like, "when did Ovett get so good?"

At his peak, Ovett was as good as they come. A real entertaining athlete.

deanouk wrote:

Have to say that I have never seen this race and have never seen these closing splits given anywhere before.

deanuk. I was there. I was in the race. A wall of runners hit the 1200 mark together.