I'm a big Fisher fan, but his weakness is that so far he lacks the ability to close faster than ~55 seconds. This is why he regularly loses tactical races to inferior runners. He has struggled to win national titles and he has a lot of 2nd and 3rd place finishes in his resume (to people like Teare, McDonald, Klecker, McGorty and the like).
His strength is that he can run very fast times, and he can close in 55 off pretty much any pace (54.9 on Friday, in a 26:40 race).
Those of you saying Rupp and Fishers times are close… they aren’t. 12:58 v 12:44…. That’s not close. Fisher has run consistently under 12:55 many times indoor and out. 26:33 and 26:44 are closer but still not. Shoes don’t give you 14 seconds in a 5k lol… Also, while he didn’t have super shoes, let’s not act like Rupp didn’t have every possible advantage (grey area or not) at his disposal.
Id say after this meet Grant nudged just ahead of Rupp if we’re talking track. If you throw in Marathon Rupp probably has the edge currently.
Those of you saying Rupp and Fishers times are close… they aren’t. 12:58 v 12:44…. That’s not close. Fisher has run consistently under 12:55 many times indoor and out. 26:33 and 26:44 are closer but still not. Shoes don’t give you 14 seconds in a 5k lol… Also, while he didn’t have super shoes, let’s not act like Rupp didn’t have every possible advantage (grey area or not) at his disposal.
Id say after this meet Grant nudged just ahead of Rupp if we’re talking track. If you throw in Marathon Rupp probably has the edge currently.
Exactly. People defending a guy that slept in an altitude tent and had a professional (sus, btw) coach in high school, trained as a pro through college, had custom prototype shoes, etc.
Those of you saying Rupp and Fishers times are close… they aren’t. 12:58 v 12:44…. That’s not close. Fisher has run consistently under 12:55 many times indoor and out. 26:33 and 26:44 are closer but still not. Shoes don’t give you 14 seconds in a 5k lol… Also, while he didn’t have super shoes, let’s not act like Rupp didn’t have every possible advantage (grey area or not) at his disposal.
Id say after this meet Grant nudged just ahead of Rupp if we’re talking track. If you throw in Marathon Rupp probably has the edge currently.
Exactly. People defending a guy that slept in an altitude tent and had a professional (sus, btw) coach in high school, trained as a pro through college, had custom prototype shoes, etc.
Nonsense. Time is not really a factor, it is how you did against other competition at the time. Rupp has outperformed Fisher to date. Would you say Jessie Owens is trash because he is slow to today's standards? What about Carl Lewis? What about Phelps and his 23 GOLD MEDALS but no WRs? People will always get faster so I reject using that as the deciding factor.
Exactly. People defending a guy that slept in an altitude tent and had a professional (sus, btw) coach in high school, trained as a pro through college, had custom prototype shoes, etc.
Nonsense. Time is not really a factor, it is how you did against other competition at the time. Rupp has outperformed Fisher to date. Would you say Jessie Owens is trash because he is slow to today's standards? What about Carl Lewis? What about Phelps and his 23 GOLD MEDALS but no WRs? People will always get faster so I reject using that as the deciding factor.
LOL- flail more!
Follow me here.
Competition is better in Fisher’s era than in Rupp’s era. And Fisher just left with TWO medals. Case closed.
Fisher ran Rupp’s PR in the 10000m - with a faster last 400m - to get 3rd in the Olympics.
What did Rupp finish in the 5000m after his 2nd place in the 10000m? …7th. (Puke, garbage- LOL)
Imagine Fisher stayed where he was with 200m to go today. That’s basically what Rupp did in his 5000m. Instead, Fisher passed 5 guys - 3 at once with 50m to go - and earned the bronze.
He already beat all Rupp's records. The only thing missing was olympic medals, and now he has one. Yes, silver > bronze, but arguably the field was much better this year than in 2012. And Fisher was a whisker away from silver. 3k PR: Fisher 7:25, Rupp 7:30 2mi PR: Fisher 8:03, Rupp 8:07 5k PR: Fisher 12:46, Rupp 12:58 10k PR: Fisher 26:33, Rupp 26:44 Olympic finishes: 10k: Fisher 3rd & 5th, Rupp 2nd & 5th 5k: Rupp 6th, Fisher 9th
It is close - if Fisher can place in top 5 in the 5k next week, he has an even better case as GOAT.
Since this post, he got a 2nd bronze in the 5k and now has set two WRs in a week in the indoor 3k/5k.
The last American to own either the indoor or outdoor 5000m record was in 1923 (Joie Ray 14:54 indoors).
Exactly. People defending a guy that slept in an altitude tent and had a professional (sus, btw) coach in high school, trained as a pro through college, had custom prototype shoes, etc.
Nonsense. Time is not really a factor, it is how you did against other competition at the time. Rupp has outperformed Fisher to date. Would you say Jessie Owens is trash because he is slow to today's standards? What about Carl Lewis? What about Phelps and his 23 GOLD MEDALS but no WRs? People will always get faster so I reject using that as the deciding factor.
Rupp was my favorite pro athlete when I first started following the sport like 5 years ago. His double bronze at the Olympics was pretty much equal with Rupp's silver-bronze imo, but with 2 WRs, I've gotta hand it to Fisher. Rupp tried to break a couple WRs in his career, definitely the indoor 2 mile (and I think the indoor mile as well), but just missed.
This is why comparing medals and WRs is better than straight up times. A WR requires you to not only be better than those in the past but those in the present too. Rupp (who is one of my favorite athletes btw) was never close to scaring WRs. Closest he got was the indoor 2-mi when he ran 8:07 when the WR was 8:04. Fisher is one of the top 2-3 distance athletes in the world right now for 3k-10k. Rupp was never better than 5th-6th best.
There aren't any American distance athletes who were ever at Fisher's level on the track. Frank shorter was on this level but on the roads. Sydney Maree was at the WR level in the mile but never got any medals.
Rupp had an altitude tent in his house in high school.
Rupp had an AlterG treadmill in high school.
Rupp had professional coaching in high school AND college.
And there were always questionable tactics going on around Salazar- the inhaler thing, the “Rupp-approved” weather and courses, etc.
Rupp won NOTHING at the national level in high school. No FLXC, NXN, Indoor 1 or 2 Mile titles, and no Outdoor 1 or 2 Mile titles. (Kind of hard to believe, really.) He ran his crazy fast times in European meets the summer after high school. It was very strange.
Then it even took him a few years to even start dominating in the NCAA (training as a pro, mind you).
Make no mistake- He had EVERY advantage handed to him- including prototype Nike shoes- from the age of 18 and above.
Grant has definitively surpassed his achievements. Deal with it.
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