who is your favorite miler of all time?

Marty Liquori...a trainer, a thinker and most importantly, a racer...we here in the USA have not seen another the likes of ML in many a year...oh, and remember that he eventually "moved up" and set an AR at the 5000...want to know more about this guy? read:

http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/4844110/used/On%20the%20run%20:%20in%20search%20of%20the%20perfect%20race

MF

in this particular order:

1. jim ryan

2. sebastian coe

3. john walker

other top favorites of mine: bernard lagat, alan webb, the king, peter snell, herb elliot, roger bannister, noah ngeny

I've always loved the miler and have been a kind of student of past miler greats. I find it interesting how they train and progress throughout their careers. However, I can never find any info whatsoever on Herb Elliot. All the other Cram Coe Ovett there are pages and pages on this very site, but there is nothing on Elliot. Why no love?

Jim Ryun, Joe Falcon

NCAA 1500m champ Clyde Colenzo (SMU, via South Africa) comes to mind. What a horse! And Joe Falcon, for that fist-pump at the NCAA indoors...

was joe falcon native american? that would be cool.

i'm not familiar with him

Coghlan and Lagat...I'm a sucker for MSG

therealmince wrote:

no shout out for venuste niyangabo?

has to be a worth a mention. loved his anonymity at races, until he started whacking out times that made people's heads spin. a 3:46.7 mile and a couple of 3:29 15's.

also: in 96 he gave up his spot on the olympic 1500m to let his countryman (can't remember his name) race, who had missed out on the previous two olympics due to burundi not sending a team. (i guess they could only send one athlete per event?)

anyway, to prove that this kind of generosity is not always unrewarded, he raced the 5000m instead. and won that sucker.

so, venuste gets my vote.

niangabo was just ducking me, he knew he couldn't take my heat

jim beatty

the first sub 4 minute miler indoors (3:58.9). thanks to wide world of sports, i watched this as a 12 year old. his running opened me up to the world of track and field. beatty's running helped make me aware of bowerman's oregon teams, elliot's villanova teams, mihaly igloi, tom o'hara at that time.

from this starting point i have enjoyed peter snell, dyrol burleson, jim ryun, dave wottle, steve scott, ovett, coe and cram with great insights of what it takes to succeed. beatty was a little guy who had a goal, positive attitude (rarely found in lets run posters) and a huge heart. i was able to catch the running fever because of a great runner --- jim beatty.

Webb. Anyone who has got to hang out with him would agree. He's got a fun, great personality and very down to earth. Webb trains at another level. When he's on he is unstoppable. His drive to succeed is tough to find.

I grew up admiring Ryun, grew into a Bayi and Walker fan, and eventually got to meet a few top milers and thought Steve Scott and Marcus O'Sullivan were two of the finest people I've met (I'd add Rod Dixon if you want to consider him a miler). I more recently became a big admirer of Bernard Lagat as a person and an athlete.

I understand preferences for El G on here, but I'd say Morceli is the best 1500/mile guy I've seen.

Ryun

el g

and still haven't given up on webb yet

myself and alan webb.

tergat also split 357 during several of his 3k trials.

he would have been the greatest miler ever hath he trained for it.

The 430 miler. The kid may not be much of a runner, but all these My Space rumors bump him to the top of the list.

Seb Coe - his 1st mile record was fab, he went through 1500m in exactly the same time as when he set his 3:47, but looked back in the home straight about 5 times as he virtually jogged over the line. The guy was and is class.

Michel Jazy (France)

In the Mid-Late 60's WR Mile, 2000, 3000 until injury forced his early retirement.

He had a fierce kick, would sit till last 220; later on in my un memorable running career I tried the same game, to my coach's tirates and dissapointment!

You sir, have picked out probably the most underrated runner of all time. This guy was all class, but got overshadowed a lot by Morceli. If you want to catch somebody out in running trivia, ask them who the 5k gold-medallist was in Atlanta. Very few will get the right answer.

Sebastian Coe

Also Filbert Bayi (for his ballsy Commonwealth Games win from the front) and Coghlan

I may have only ran a 4:08, but I'm my favorite. I'm undefeated in the mile, and surprisingly enough my 1500m PB is only 4:01 (HS), but was my only run at the distance. I ran primarily the 400m and 800m but took a stab at the mile after a university teammate said I didn't have endurance. Although it was tough to decide between Coe, Walker, and myself I decided to go with me based on my personality. I'm the only one to buy me a beer, hook me up with a girl, or make me laugh. Coe gets a nod because I trained similar and Walker gets the nod because he like Bjorn Borg in tennis was a trendsetter. In the female category I'll have to go with Sarah Jamieson.