Amazing Haile versus Tergat stride-length observation video.

zzzz wrote:

5er wrote:

a lightweight upper body combined with the levers of a guy 6 inches taller than him.

Think of stride length as the amount your center of mass moves during a stride. It has do with how hard your push-off is, not how long your legs are. After all, there is air time when both your feet are off the ground at the same time. So it's more like left-right-left-right leaping rather than how far you can extend your legs.

So if Allie Mclaughlin

is running the same speed as Tergat, they would have the same stride length? Certainly that is counter-intuitive.

Thanks for posting the awesome video of the Sydney 10,000. Although an awesome finish, I'd say their duel in Atlanta was even better. Their final 5000 was right around 13:10. Sallah Hissou wasn't far behind either.

Komen beat Geb in 96 in Zurich with a kick but this was shortly after the Atlanta olympics and Geb was still beat up from the 10,000 on Atlanta's hard track. Komen somehow did not make his country's olympic team so he was very motivated. When Geb saw he wasn't going to win, he jogged it in rather than help Komen better his own WR.

The more impressive race between the two was Zurich 97 when Geb set the WR and unleashed the best kick ever off a fast pace. He crushed Komen with about 250 yards to go and after that race I don't think Komen ever believed he could beat Geb. In terms of explosive speed no one comes close to Geb, including Bekele.

Gabba Gabba Hey wrote:

Another good Komen article:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/3/3_11/komen-says-hes-not-yet-re.shtml

Komen broke the 1,500 metres world record by clocking three minutes, 29.46 seconds in Monaco.

He was not done yet. Six days later, he broke the 5,000 metres world record in Brussells and four days later, Komen shattered the one mile record in Berlin, clocking 3:46.38.

I know you're just quoting the article, but Komen never held the world record in the 1500 or the mile. Morceli ran 3:27.37 in 1995 and and the mile in 3:44.39 in 1993 (the above Komen times were from 1997). 3:46.38 would have been slower than the mile world record Cram set in 1985.

5er wrote:

So if Allie Mclaughlin

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nova/sports/c-xc/auto_action/3951742.jpeg

is running the same speed as Tergat, they would have the same stride length? Certainly that is counter-intuitive.

Not necessarily. Stride frequency preferences vary, but the differences are not that much (most non-joggers in races are 180 to 200 strides per minute - occasionally you'll see someone going 220, but not necessarily because they're shorter) and don't necessarily correlate with height. Kind of like in cycling - cadence varies, but everyone is over 90 rpm (not counting in hills) though occassionally you'll have some freak pedaling 125 rpm in a time trial.

Radcliffe and the much shorter Wami stride for stride at least before Radcliffe pulls away (using a higher frequency):

zzzz wrote:

Not necessarily. Stride frequency preferences vary, but the differences are not that much (most non-joggers in races are 180 to 200 strides per minute - occasionally you'll see someone going 220, but not necessarily because they're shorter) and don't necessarily correlate with height. Kind of like in cycling - cadence varies, but everyone is over 90 rpm (not counting in hills) though occassionally you'll have some freak pedaling 125 rpm in a time trial.

Radcliffe and the much shorter Wami stride for stride at least before Radcliffe pulls away (using a higher frequency):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPJYc-_3aXk&feature=fvw

Thanks for the video of Radcliffe pulling away from Wami, with bonus footage of Lel pulling away to win on the mens side of things.

Here is another fantastic clip of the famous 10,000 final between Tergat and Haile, taken from a sports film and showing some new angles of the fateful final lap.

Watch starting at 2:35 mark:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-F_SmJfKuU