My favorite race ever is that El G vs. Lagat Olympic 1500 I mentioned. Two titans battling. Neither gave up. Lagat came back on him maybe twice down the final stretch. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. Also the context of El G NEEDING to win an Olympic 1500 after losing multiple times in dramatic ways. It was just perfect. Then he came back and trounced the 5k field and went out with two golds.
My favorite race ever is that El G vs. Lagat Olympic 1500 I mentioned. Two titans battling. Neither gave up. Lagat came back on him maybe twice down the final stretch. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. Also the context of El G NEEDING to win an Olympic 1500 after losing multiple times in dramatic ways. It was just perfect. Then he came back and trounced the 5k field and went out with two golds.
Um. Bekele lost that race. He was third. Kipchoge won it and El G was second.
Bekele in the 2003 World Championship 10k. He ran 12:56 last 5k to beat Geb. He ran 26:49 after coming through the 5k in 13:53. This was in a championship race and before the super-spikes. One of, if not the greatest, distance running performances ever. Geb's second in that race was close it as he went 12:57 last 5k.
That’s a great mention. Arguably the two greatest distance runners of all time, with Geb really making Bekele do something amazing to take the torch.
Since Geb’s last 10k gold was 2000, one might think he was past his prime, but just barely: he won the World Indoors 3k in 2003, and ran 26:29 12 days after the WC 10k.
Bekele in the 2003 World Championship 10k. He ran 12:56 last 5k to beat Geb. He ran 26:49 after coming through the 5k in 13:53. This was in a championship race and before the super-spikes. One of, if not the greatest, distance running performances ever. Geb's second in that race was close it as he went 12:57 last 5k.
That’s a great mention. Arguably the two greatest distance runners of all time, with Geb really making Bekele do something amazing to take the torch.
Since Geb’s last 10k gold was 2000, one might think he was past his prime, but just barely: he won the World Indoors 3k in 2003, and ran 26:29 12 days after the WC 10k.
Still though. The opening 5k of that race WC race was barely under 14 minutes. That's 67xx 400 pace. That's a joke for those guys. They could run that pace eating a pack of skittles in their hand. The fact that they closed in under 13 minutes after such a slow opener meant next to nothing. It's what it is, just an impressive push from the halfway point to get rid of any potential kickers that may have lingered until the last lap.
Geb had been outkicked by Charles Kamathi at 2001 WC and he was in Paris, so it was primarily to get rid of him because his 10k best was only around 26:52 and there was no way he could have handled a close in under 13 because he wasn't strong enough.
Bekele could have done the same thing at practically any other WC or Olympics 10k, but instead did the more sensible thing which was to conserve energy by drafting and smoke anyone remaining with a lap to go. So, the 2003 Paris 10k race is overrated. Still impressive but not really a candidate for the greatest distance performance ever in my mind.
This is my pick too. It was basically run without pacers. All but one official pacer had been dropped by him within something like the first 5k, and then he was essentially pacing the pacer and Mateiko until they dropped.
This is my pick too. It was basically run without pacers. All but one official pacer had been dropped by him within something like the first 5k, and then he was essentially pacing the pacer and Mateiko until they dropped.
It's an insanely good performance. I'm curious to see how it holds up. Sawe and Kiplimo would seem like the best candidates, but you just never know. I think it's probably more likely some new person will come out of the woodwork just like Kiptum did and be freakishly good at the marathon right away. I think the evidence lately with guys like Koech is that Kenya has a meticulous and systematic talent identification program where they can pluck these guys from obscurity, get them a real coach and whatever else, and they are breaking records in 6 months.
That’s a great mention. Arguably the two greatest distance runners of all time, with Geb really making Bekele do something amazing to take the torch.
Since Geb’s last 10k gold was 2000, one might think he was past his prime, but just barely: he won the World Indoors 3k in 2003, and ran 26:29 12 days after the WC 10k.
Still though. The opening 5k of that race WC race was barely under 14 minutes. That's 67xx 400 pace. That's a joke for those guys. They could run that pace eating a pack of skittles in their hand. The fact that they closed in under 13 minutes after such a slow opener meant next to nothing. It's what it is, just an impressive push from the halfway point to get rid of any potential kickers that may have lingered until the last lap.
Geb had been outkicked by Charles Kamathi at 2001 WC and he was in Paris, so it was primarily to get rid of him because his 10k best was only around 26:52 and there was no way he could have handled a close in under 13 because he wasn't strong enough.
Bekele could have done the same thing at practically any other WC or Olympics 10k, but instead did the more sensible thing which was to conserve energy by drafting and smoke anyone remaining with a lap to go. So, the 2003 Paris 10k race is overrated. Still impressive but not really a candidate for the greatest distance performance ever in my mind.
A correction to the post that first mentioned that race: Bekele ran the first half of that race in 13:52 (not 13:53). His second half was 12:57 (not 12:56).
To put that 12:57 second half in perspective, it was faster than Bob Kennedy's 12:58 American record at the time. It was also faster than Saïd Aouita's 12:58 world record set just 16 years before. At that time, only 26 other men (including Geb) had ever run a 5,000m faster than Bekele's second half split. The rough equivalent today would be 12:48, aka what Graham Blanks recently ran in Oslo.
To show how devastating it was, the 4th place finisher was nearly 30 seconds behind Bekele. Charles Kamathi, the defending world champion you mentioned, finished nearly a minute behind!
If you don't believe Bekele's performance deserves mention in this thread, read what World Athletics wrote about it in their 2003 year in review:
“The best ever 10,000m race,” that is how the Paris World Championships final in 2003 has been described. A race that started out almost leisurely (2:52 – 2:44 – 2:48 – 2:46 – 2:42) and finished in an absolute blaze (2:34 – 2:38 – 2:37 – 2:38 – 2:29). The halves of 13:52/12:57 tell much of the story – but certainly not the whole. Because much of the second half was in fact run at a pattern more resembling fartlek training than championship racing!
Add to that the historical significance of Bekele taking the torch from Geb, and it's absolutely one of the all-time great performances.
In the third installment of their eight edition review of the highlights of the 2003 Athletics year, A. Lennart Julin and Mirko Jalava review the long distance running events.
Still though. The opening 5k of that race WC race was barely under 14 minutes. That's 67xx 400 pace. That's a joke for those guys. They could run that pace eating a pack of skittles in their hand. The fact that they closed in under 13 minutes after such a slow opener meant next to nothing. It's what it is, just an impressive push from the halfway point to get rid of any potential kickers that may have lingered until the last lap.
Geb had been outkicked by Charles Kamathi at 2001 WC and he was in Paris, so it was primarily to get rid of him because his 10k best was only around 26:52 and there was no way he could have handled a close in under 13 because he wasn't strong enough.
Bekele could have done the same thing at practically any other WC or Olympics 10k, but instead did the more sensible thing which was to conserve energy by drafting and smoke anyone remaining with a lap to go. So, the 2003 Paris 10k race is overrated. Still impressive but not really a candidate for the greatest distance performance ever in my mind.
A correction to the post that first mentioned that race: Bekele ran the first half of that race in 13:52 (not 13:53). His second half was 12:57 (not 12:56).
To put that 12:57 second half in perspective, it was faster than Bob Kennedy's 12:58 American record at the time. It was also faster than Saïd Aouita's 12:58 world record set just 16 years before. At that time, only 26 other men (including Geb) had ever run a 5,000m faster than Bekele's second half split. The rough equivalent today would be 12:48, aka what Graham Blanks recently ran in Oslo.
To show how devastating it was, the 4th place finisher was nearly 30 seconds behind Bekele. Charles Kamathi, the defending world champion you mentioned, finished nearly a minute behind!
If you don't believe Bekele's performance deserves mention in this thread, read what World Athletics wrote about it in their 2003 year in review:
“The best ever 10,000m race,” that is how the Paris World Championships final in 2003 has been described. A race that started out almost leisurely (2:52 – 2:44 – 2:48 – 2:46 – 2:42) and finished in an absolute blaze (2:34 – 2:38 – 2:37 – 2:38 – 2:29). The halves of 13:52/12:57 tell much of the story – but certainly not the whole. Because much of the second half was in fact run at a pattern more resembling fartlek training than championship racing!
Add to that the historical significance of Bekele taking the torch from Geb, and it's absolutely one of the all-time great performances.
I admitted it was a great performance. I just don't think it's the best and is a little over rated. Your second paragraph where you mention great runners' all time best doesn't prove anything. The opening 5k in Paris was at 67 sec pace. That's slow for Gen and Bekele. It doesn't matter they closed in 12:57. That was twenty seconds off Bekele's lifetime best and 18 from Geb's. It's like if you had a two mile PR of 8:40, and ran a two mile and opened in 6 flat for mile 1 and closed in 4:18 for mile 2. Of course you could close in 4:18. A six minute mile would do nothing to sap your strength at your fitness level.
It's like when someone closes in 51 seconds in a tactical 5k. It doesn't mean they can run a 46 400, it just means they have incredible strength and can close close to an all out 400 when the rest of the 5k was slow for them.
12:57 was indeed faster than Kennedy or Aouata ever ran, but Bekele and Geb both broke 12:40. You need a better understanding of how distant strength works. Your assessment criteria is slightly off.
Jakob's 3k WR is overrated. If they had the super shoes; Komen could have run that fast easily, EL G could have at least come close, and others from the past like Morcelli could have run that fast as well. Aragawi ran 7:21 in the same race and it's likely that others of today's era can break 7:20. Grant even ran 7:22 indoors and can barely break 3:34 for 1500. I mean come on. Let's not be prisoners of the moment.
My vote for men would likely have to be Rudisha's 1:40.91. Though it may be on borrowed time; it's still the WR despite a much deeper current crop of 800m guys with shoe and training advantages, was set at the Olympics, was run against a deep field where the top 8 all broke 1:44 and eclipsed the 1:41 barrier for the first time in history.
We'll see how long Kiptum's time lasts. I have a feeling that others like Sawe, Kiplimo, and some new freak on the block may break 2 hours on a record legal course.
For women it has to be either Ruth C's 2:09 marathon or Wang Junxia's 8:06 3k, though almost no fan of the sport sincerely believes that either performance was clean, me included. It's just that since those two weren't caught I feel I have to go with them in the very low chance that they were clean.
Can't remember which 5000m it was in the 90s but Geb and Komen had their rivalry going and Geb just took off with 300m to go leaving Komen completely in the dust. That made a big impression on me as a kid and I always thought of 300m as the time to start kicking if you really wanted to be gutsy.
My favorite race ever is that El G vs. Lagat Olympic 1500 I mentioned. Two titans battling. Neither gave up. Lagat came back on him maybe twice down the final stretch. Couldn't believe what I was seeing. Also the context of El G NEEDING to win an Olympic 1500 after losing multiple times in dramatic ways. It was just perfect. Then he came back and trounced the 5k field and went out with two golds.
Um. Bekele lost that race. He was third. Kipchoge won it and El G was second.
Yeah, I mixed up the races. Give me a break, Bekele has run a lot of championships lol
My first instincts would say Jakob's 7:17, Bekeles 5000m olympic gold in 2008, Kipchoge running under 2hrs (even if not legal).
If we include factors like age, Bernard Lagat getting 5th in the 5000m in Rio at almost age 42 is pretty insane to me (and him winning the olympic trials the same year with final lap of 52.)
No mention of Kiplimo’s 56:42 half WR? That was a jaw dropping time breaking the previous best 57:30.
My first instincts would say Jakob's 7:17, Bekeles 5000m olympic gold in 2008, Kipchoge running under 2hrs (even if not legal).
If we include factors like age, Bernard Lagat getting 5th in the 5000m in Rio at almost age 42 is pretty insane to me (and him winning the olympic trials the same year with final lap of 52.)
No mention of Kiplimo’s 56:42 half WR? That was a jaw dropping time breaking the previous best 57:30.
It has been mentioned at least twice. And now a 3rd time by you. I think the shoes make some of us just roll our eyes at these times.
