or another way of looking at it is that the current crop of 800m runners is not as strong the last 5 years, that's more likely. THe same thing happened with the 1500 in the late 80s and early 90s - not a lot of depth for who knows what reason, but it came back by the mid-late 90s.
Joel Tetreault wrote:
Actually Komen did make a point of it to go after the record that year, which is very different than things now. Yes, people run the 3k, but seldom do the races go out faster than 7:30 pace, so no one is really trying for it. Really, the guys who are going to get the 3k record are not 5k/10k types like Geb or Bekele, fast as they may be, but guys who run 1500-5000 like Komen or ElG since they have the faster footspeed. But there haven't been a whole lot of those types the last few years. It's possible Songok or Choge may have a shot when they're older, but they'd have to be able to run 3:29 or faster eventually.
I tend to think ElG could have gotten it had he actually he tried for it as seriously (and not a one-off deal like he did) as Komen did. But kind of like the 5000, we'll never know what his true range could have been.
Also, for what it's worth, after Morceli ran his 3:27 WR in the 1500 (in 1995, a year after his 7:25 WR) he said that he believed his mark translated to a 7:21 3000. Something to think about....
Actually the 3k/2 mile WR's and close marks over the years have been set by 5k/10k specialists and 1500/5k specialists almost equally.
Just off the top of my head I think of these people:
5k/10k
Puttemans 8:13 WR, 7:35 WR
Viren 8:14? WR
Foster 7:35 WR
Rono 7:32 WR
Mourhit 7:26
Tergat 7:26?
Geb 7:25?
1500/5k
Komen 7:58, 7:20
Saidi-Seif 7:26?
Moorcroft 7:33
Aouita 7:32 WR?
El G 7:23
Morceli 7:25?
My memory is a littel fuzzy and I am not remembering the 2 mile WR's between 8:15 and 8:01 that well, but ceratinly there have been a lot of 5k/10k greats that have run WR's or close to it in the 3k/2 mile over the years. Probably just as many as 1500 types.
And you didn't say this but I don't buy it that the 3000m is not a fiercely contested distance. Everybody runs it from the 1500 runners to the Steeplers to the 10k specialists. Also the quality of the 3k WR is right up there with every other record, even the rarely run 2000m is. Every worlds-greatest almost miler has set a WR in the 2000m: Jazy 4:54?, Walker 4:52, Cram 4:51.XX, Morceli 4:48?, El G 4:44.
And those marks fall right in line with their respective mile/1500 WR's.
i beg to differ, how many milers in the past eight years have really tried to run a fast 3000? Not a whole lot. None of the Spaniards do it, Baala focuses more on 800-1000-1500 distances, Kipchirchir Komen has yet to try a really fast 3000, Ngeny never tried. Most milers these days stick with the 1500/Mile. Don't know why, but that's just the case.
And yes the 3000 is run, but not one since ElG ran it has even bothered to have rabbits set up at WR pace. So yes 7:28-7:30 3000m's are competitive, but it;s usually the same 2-3 guys running those times. But they ask for rabbits to go out in 4:58-5:00 for 2000. So I disagree that there are 3000m races being set up to be as fast as between 1994-1999 when Komen, Geb, and company were going after things.