Pre ran his first 10k in Cali in 1974 and set a US record and was 12 secs off Virens world record while lapping the field on a windy day. Four seconds off the wr in the 5k and was only 23 when setting those pr times. Hardly an also-ran.
This is along time ago, and Oregon centric. Lorenzo West, Died when Oregon wrestling team van crashed also killing Ken Kesey's son. Hit me hard as he was a friend
Wanjiru comes to mind first, but extending to other sports — José Fernández. Dead at 24 while at the top of his game. Two-time All Star and Rookie of the Year.
Sammy Wanjiru?, maybe..he likely would have had the career Kipchoge ended up having.
Len Bias, if the 30 for 30 is to be believed but who knows.
I think this puts sub 2 back 10 years at least. Shoe tech or no Shoe tech.
its a terrible tragedy.
Excellent analysis.
I think we all saw Kiptum following in Wanjiru's footsteps to Olympic gold, unfortunately we won't see that realized. One thing that Kiptum had over Wanjiru was being :36 from sub 2:00:00 in just his 3rd marathon.
Len Bias was that good and could do huge things had he lived. Could you image the NBA in the mid 80s through the 90s w/ Jordan and Bias going at it the level?
So very sad we'll never see what Kiptum could've done. Kind of like if we lost both Roger Bannister and John Landy in early 1954 just before their sub 4:00 races.
That 27:43 was 50 years ago when the world record was 27:30. Shoes , nutrition and support for athletes was primitive compared to now . You can’t compare times from then to now .
Prefontaine for sure. He had such a legendary status by the time he died. Kiptum had just stamped his authority with the WR and was on the up and up but didn’t have the same type of cult following as it was still so early in his career. Such a super tragic loss.
You guys keep comparing Kiptum to Pre. Please. Kiptum was one of the greatest marathoners the world has ever seen. He is the world record holder in the marathon. He had a good shot at winning golds in Paris and Los Angeles and of course might have been the first to break 2 hours in a legitimate race. He was undefeated in the marathon, never ran slower than 2:01:53. He has three of the top seven best times ever run in the marathon.
By strong contrast, Pre never set a world record, never won an Olympic medal. He was an also-ran in Munich. He is beloved for pushing the pace, a tactic that did not work in the biggest race of his life and which he pursued because his kick was inferior to those of other runners.
In the 5000, Pre was ranked 4th in the world in 1972, 5th in 1973, and 6th in 1974. In the 10000, he ranked 10th in the world in 1974. His best time, 13:21, is closer to the current women's WR than the current men's WR. He is the 925th best performer on the world list. Even with super shoes, I doubt he could've broken 13 minutes (something 128 people have done).
Pre was good for an American runner but likening him to Kiptum is absurd.
Also, Pre was drunk driving when he died. He has no one to blame but himself. We do not know the details of Kiptum's death, but I doubt he was drunk.
* Pre, back then and I remember it was universally thought that 76 was going to be his Olympic Games. Shorter even talked him into doing altitude training for the first time.
* Len Bias, OMG Boston worked that Boston magic and picked him the very year that they won the Championship with one of the greatest teams ever. With him they would have had a great chance of repeating in 87 and perhaps even beating Detroit in 88. But we'll never know.
I think what's so tragic about this is that it has completely changed my perspective on the sub 2 hour marathon. When I first got really into running in the early 2010s, a 2 hour marathon still felt a long way away and was bordering on impossible. Then super shoes happened and it got a whole lot closer with Kipchoge in Berlin. The INEOS sub 2 was cool but it was so put together that I was more impressed with Kipchoge's legit world record, as I'm sure many of you were too.
But then we enter Kelvin. I think anyone who was paying close attention could tell this guy was going to push records very close on the roads given how good he was right off the bat and being so young. His time in Chicago, though shattered my expectations and had me fully believing that a legit sub 2 marathon was just a matter of getting him to Berlin on a good day. So even in my short time following the sport of running for ~ a decade and a half the sub 2 marathon went from near impossible to just beyond the horizon because of one special athlete.
Now that he's gone I don't know if that barrier comes under threat in the next decade. Or maybe ever. This wasn't just someone who was going to win medals and break records but this was someone who was going to break human barriers. It really is a tragedy without apt comparison in sports. I've seen a lot of major outlets just start reporting on it but I'm not sure they can truly do justice to what a loss this is.
Many years ago there was a young British athlete who won 400m Olympic silver in 1968 at the age of 19. She was passed in the last 10m of the race. The following year suffering back pain, she went up in distance and won 800m gold at the European Championships defeating the world record holder in a time just shy of the world record. She also anchored the 4 x 400m relay to gold and was named the best female athlete in the games.
Known as the Golden Girl of British athletics, she looked set to become one of track's stars of the 1970s. However, troubled by stomach pains, her 1970 season was curtailed. She was later that year diagnosed with colon cancer and sadly passed away on Boxing Day a few days after her 22nd birthday. A memorial service was held in St Paul's Cathedral in London.
She died in Munich, the place where she would have challenged again for Olympic gold. As you leave the U-bahn station, the road that takes you to the Olympic stadium is named Lillian Board Weg in her honour.
Another thing against Pre's chances in 76 was that in the last few years of his life he was increasingly dogged by sciatica problems. I'm not sure he would've been 100% by Montreal, and he would've had to have been if wanted to have a chance in a stacked 5K field that included Viren, Quax, Hildebrand, Foster, Stewart, Dixon
I think what's so tragic about this is that it has completely changed my perspective on the sub 2 hour marathon. When I first got really into running in the early 2010s, a 2 hour marathon still felt a long way away and was bordering on impossible. Then super shoes happened and it got a whole lot closer with Kipchoge in Berlin. The INEOS sub 2 was cool but it was so put together that I was more impressed with Kipchoge's legit world record, as I'm sure many of you were too.
But then we enter Kelvin. I think anyone who was paying close attention could tell this guy was going to push records very close on the roads given how good he was right off the bat and being so young. His time in Chicago, though shattered my expectations and had me fully believing that a legit sub 2 marathon was just a matter of getting him to Berlin on a good day. So even in my short time following the sport of running for ~ a decade and a half the sub 2 marathon went from near impossible to just beyond the horizon because of one special athlete.
Now that he's gone I don't know if that barrier comes under threat in the next decade. Or maybe ever. This wasn't just someone who was going to win medals and break records but this was someone who was going to break human barriers. It really is a tragedy without apt comparison in sports. I've seen a lot of major outlets just start reporting on it but I'm not sure they can truly do justice to what a loss this is.
Very well said. I am only a causal fan of distance running at this point. But Kiptum, was so exciting, I truly believed, we were going to to see something that would have been a legendary sporting performance, of this century. No other athletes death has hit like this, at least not for me.
What made Kiptum so special and the reason most of us are so devastated at his passing is the way he rose to greatness. At the young age of 24, he made his mark as the world record holder in an event that usually only sees runners of such caliber enter after successful careers on the track and well into their later twenties, if not thirties. Not only that, he quickly rose to prominence without a professional contract and all of the training and amenities that come with one. He embodies the spirit of greatness that most of us long to see. We longed to see what else this superstar could accomplish and we lived vicariously through him, hoping for his continued success in further exceeding what the human body can achieve on the roads, the only way that we could taste in the slightest what such greatness is remotely like. Thank you, Kelvin, for leaving us a taste of such greatness. You will be fondly remembered and sorely missed.
Firstly I'm deeply shocked by Kelvin's tragic passing. its very sad.
I can't think of any parallel story that touches it to be honest. He was already a superstar within the sport, on course to transcend and become a historic figure comparable any sporting icon you care to mention, if Sub 2 were to be recognised as a legitimate WR.
It’s like if Maradona had died just prior to 86 or something. Nothing I can think of comes close.
NFL football isn’t a worldwide sport, but Ernie Davis could be listed here as well. Won the Heisman then died of leukemia before he could even start his NFL career.
This post was edited 14 minutes after it was posted.
Another thing against Pre's chances in 76 was that in the last few years of his life he was increasingly dogged by sciatica problems. I'm not sure he would've been 100% by Montreal, and he would've had to have been if wanted to have a chance in a stacked 5K field that included Viren, Quax, Hildebrand, Foster, Stewart, Dixon
We will never know, but I think Pre would have had a hard time medaling in that Montreal 5000M.
I think he would have had a better shot in the 10000m. I wonder if he was considering doubling at Montreal?
Mythology was created about him because he died young, like the fiction that he took a heroic stance against amateurism or that he was the first Nike runner
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