Best kick ever?

Fermin Cacho

best long distance kick = the guy whose name i registered out of admiration and now feel a bit sheepish in case people think it's somehow impersonation.

In 800m races, S Coe's kick was day to day. Some days S Coe had a kick in 800m races and some days S Coe did not have a kick in 800m races. Actually, in big 800m races, S Coe usually did not have a kick.

1) 1978 European Championships 800m final, S Coe had nothing over the final 100m.

2) 1980 Summer Olympics, 800m final, S Coe looked great in the rounds but his kick failed him. S Coe barely caught up to Nikolay Kirov but not able to catch Ovett.

3) 1981 World Cup, 800m. S Coe knew not to wait around with James Robinson. S Coe knew he needed to move prior to J Robinson. If S Coe would have raced 1981 World Cup in the same manner S Coe raced 1980 Summer Olympics 800m final, S Coe would have lost 1981 World Cup, 800m.

4) 1982 European Championships, 800m final. Lost

5) 1984 Summer Olympics 800m final, S Coe had Joaquim Cruz right where he wanted him with 120m to go. S Coe was only a stride back from J Cruz with 120m to go. Relative to J Cruz, S Coe had no kick, 1984 Summer Olympics 800m final.

6 & 7) If a 20-something year old S Coe were in most recent Olympics 800m final and most recent World Championship 800m final, S Coe would have been outkicked by Emmanuel Korir in both races and it would not have been close.

Ezekiel Kemboi. 2011 world championship steeple. EOT

Rudisha won the 2015 World Champ's with a 54.17 first 400m then a 51.67 final 400m...

Dude had great 400m ability

Don’t be so confident, you’re often wrong. I said he “may have dipped under 25,” and if you watch the video the on-screen clock shows a split of 1:18.15 at 600 for Elliott with Cram a stride behind, so that’s 25.07 leader-to-leader for the last 200 and quite possibly 24.9x for Cram. Yes the rest of the field ran positive splits, but that’s irrelevant to Cram’s final 200 split since he won by 1.58 seconds.

Dude, they said he ran the last 200 in 24 and the last 100 was substantially faster. Had to be at least low 11s.

Completely not necessary but:

1982 was one I hadn't watched before and I was shocked Coe didn't win watching it go to the final 100. That being said, I still maintain my belief that Coe's is the best kick ever. Just because he didn't always produce it at peak championships doesn't mean he never had it. Also his Olympic shortcomings were both unique races and I think he'd readily admit he got 1980 all wrong and let Ovett barge his way to a pretty ideal race. 1984 he faced Cruz in superlative form and it was always going to be a tough ask after his struggles in 1983 to race like a 1:41 man again.

Seems like there’s two different convos here. Is the question who was the greatest kicker ever? As in the athlete showed an incredible kick throughout their career or is the question what is the single greatest kick of all time? If it’s the latter then it’s Wottle 1972, Centro 2016, and Andrews 2011. Your order is personal preference.

Love how Virgin tried every move, but could not shake Yifter.

600m split is not official. You pulled 25.07 at of your ... . No 24.9 final 200m for Cram. When a guy races the entire race with 25.xx splits for 800m we don't usually claim a great kick occurred.

Regarding often wrong: You have been significantly wrong! You are the one who stated Karsten Warholm would sprint low 42.xx 400m dash summer, 2021. That won't ever happen.

You have an opinion that Faith Kipyegon's is in 2:28 1000m shape. That is your opinion. Since I stated she is not in sub-2:29 1000m condition, we just differ, that is not you proving me wrong. I can be slightly wrong for ten years but I will never be as wrong as your K Warholm prediction.

It's quite misleading to list Bekele at 26:17 when it's quite clear he was no longer that man by the time Mo Farah started to dominate (even if you do clarify that right after). Let's not be disingenuous, now. Other than that, you raise a fair point, even if I do think Farah is not quite on the level of the 90's and early 2000's greats.

No…

Wottle didn’t really kick, he ran an extremely well calculated and ballsy race and the others came back to him.

Centro, again tactically brilliant, but he didn’t even have the fastest final 400 split in the race.

And Cacho and Morceli both ran more dominant final 400s in faster global championship 1500s.

Robby Andrews in the 2011 NCAA 800 splits a 26.xx last 200 in a 1:44.7 race to beat Charles Jock by half a stride; earlier in this thread I posted a video of Steve Cram splitting ~25.00 in a 1:43.2 race to win the Commonwealth Games by 12 meters…there are levels to this.

Helpful hint: the 3 best kicks ever are not all by Americans.

Sonia O'Sullivan

Gabi Szabo

I didn’t pull 25.07 out of my ass, I subtracted the 1:18.15 unofficial 600 split for Elliott from Cram’s 1:43.22 winning time. You see the difference?

As for pulling things out of your ass, I never predicted Warholm would run 42.xx for 400. How dare you make stuff up and slander my good name. Low 42??? Are you kidding me! I think I predicted like 43.9 after his 45.94 400h WR, which he hasn’t approached either.

You often reveal you don’t have a real grasp on the numbers, and operate with outdated preconceptions of what’s possible for elite athletes. Here you’re the one denying video evidence for no other reason than you probably believe “Cram as a 4’51” 2000m man, was not capable of sub-49, 400m”.

Jim Ryun!

On a chewed up clay track, Ryun, just 20 and a sophomore at Kansas, blazed the last lap in 53.7 on this day in 1967 to break his near year-old Mile world record, clocking 3:51.1 at the AAU Championships in Bakersfield, CA.

bringbackthemile.com

Jim Ryun: The world’s deadliest ever finisher?

High school phenom went on to produce finishing bursts that definitely would have won him modern medals in slow run races and apart from the unhelpful surfaces, remember there were no wonder shoes back then. By Steven Smythe,...

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