How fast are US Women national soccer team players?

Everyone mentions those examples of soccer players that were good 800m runners and speculate how fast they could be over the mile or 5k. Totally different.

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4runner wrote:

I used to be lucky enough to watch the Hamm/Foudy/Overbeck national team scrimmage against some local teenage boy club teams.

The women definitely had the leg up on tactics and ball control-- it wasn't even close. However, your typical teenage boy soccer player is a step or two faster than even the women national team players.

Since most of those teenage boys could walk off the soccer field and run 57-60'ish for a quarter and 2:06-2:10 for a half, I'd expect the women to be in the 60-62 and 2:10-2:16 range...

My daughter - a high school freshman - plays soccer. She runs sub-60 for 400. Several of the players run the 400-800m for track and are in the range of 60 for the 400m and 2:20-2:30 for the 800m. These are high school girls. I'm guessing there's a selection effect for speed in elite women's soccer and most of them could run over high school boys.

Sub240 wrote:

If there is that much running talent in the USA that gets wasted in other sports, what are these other sports?

There is a ton of US running talent that gets wasted-- whether on other sports or just plain laziness.

Think about high school cross country. In every state, there are "dynasty" programs that consistently win the state championship and produce a D1 collegiate runner each year or so.

The genetics of the students at these dynasty schools aren't any different from the genetics of the kids at the schools across town. These dynasty schools simply have decent coaching. If all the other schools had decent coaching, there would be more parity and the state championships would move each year.

In other words-- every high school has as much talent as a Saratoga High School. All of that talent is simply being wasted.

Speaking of my own experience - as a former national level junior soccer player in Europe (quite different level than in the US)dubling in track and field, I had turner to track full time, because I wanted an university level education, which was impossible while playing soccer semi professionally at that age. Within a year, I was able to get a scholarship at D I University, and never regretted leaving soccer.

That being said, I was the best mid-long distance runner on any soccer team I had played (in clubs, at all age groups, also in national junior teams), with few guys ahead of me in sprints (usually the kids of black immigrants with inate sprint speed of sub 10.8 100m ability). I definitely wasn't cut - body-wise - as a typical soccer player - short and skinny, whereas guys my height were usually 20-30lbs heavier than me, even at that age. I had participated in nation-wide testing of young soccer talents, and every year I was at least 10-15s faster in the 1500m TT than the next fastest soccer player. Those guys can run fast, there is some talent among them, but none of them, I repeat none of them, could run under 4:10 in 1500m without specialized track training (sub 4:30 mile)for at least 3-5 months, which is almost impossible to get without a special permission from a national coach. I was given a green light for doubling in sports and even obtained exempt from several conditioning practices a week in order to be able to do some running.

Still, the best lads in T&F were showing me backs at nationals, until I was able to run at least 5000kms (over 3000 miles) a year.

I have seen few exceptional women soccer players that were definitely very talented and could have been great runners, but I have yet to see ONE that could break 2:18 in 800m. Typically, the best adult women in the national soccer team would run between 2:30 and 2:25, with the exception of one 2:20ish performance every 5-10 years.

So, no, sub 5 minute mile is not in the cards for any of them. However, I would bet that few of them could break 64s in the 1/4, and several could be under 27s for 200m.

I think if they trained for it, many of the USA women's soccer players could run a sub 5 min. mile. I know no because I played with them, and an athlete is an athlete. If they had to do it, they would make it work!!!

she has done it you moron, didn't you read the article about her?

Pezz wrote:

I think if they trained for it, many of the USA women's soccer players could run a sub 5 min. mile. I know no because I played with them, and an athlete is an athlete. If they had to do it, they would make it work!!!

Pezz-got any firsthand accounts of impressive fitness test performances from college teammates or USWNT members?

Hey there

At Penn State we had some pretty tough fitness tests most of them being on the field involving long sprints, suicides, agility etc.

But for endurance, we were required to run a mile under 6:10 with few exceptions.

There were 4 or 5 women on the team who could break 5:45. I ran about 5:30 every year for soccer tests, until I did one season of track my senior year after soccer. I got my time down to 4:21 -1500m, within about 3 months of training.

I hate it how people say, "this person is an elite, professional athlete--of course they can run a sub 5 minute mile." Just because you play a professional sport doesn't mean you can run fast; look at baseball, tennis, football, etc. Furthermore, and other posters have said this, soccer is DEFINITELY not distance-running. Its kind of like basketball on steroids. Sprinting with a lot of down time.

are you all kidding? Given that many of our best young runners were former soccer players(look at Footlocker girl's champs) why is it surprising to think that a few would break 5:00 in the mile? These are elite adult athletes.

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Does anyone have any numbers on the US National team and what they might have done on the track?

I heard somewhere along the line that Alex Morgan was a mid-12 100m runner I believe. Any other ideas? Christen Press appears to have a sprinting background.

Not a national team member, but Molly Beckwith-Ludlow ran HS track, went to Indiana on a soccer scholarship, injured her knee ending her soccer career, returned to track as a walk-on, and became one of the USA's top 800 meter runners. Please accept my apology if I have some part of the sequence a little off. This is an example that there could be a lot of potential t&f talent absorbed by other sports. http://www.usatf.org/Athlete-Bios/molly-beckwith.aspx

I was a below average 800m runner at a below average D1 school. I ran track though because it was my best sport.

I would have 100% played college soccer over track, though, if I had been good enough. I had always wished I focused more exclusively on soccer at some point, to see if I could have developed the additional skills I needed to compete on D1 level.

My point is just because you are good at something, if not great, doesn't mean you love the sport more than another you are not as good at. I did love racing (and the intensity of training), but for me the thrill from playing well as a team to achieve a goal was always much bigger than the thrill from winning a race or getting a personal best (though I will say winning a track meet by winning the 4x400 in a close race was a pretty terrific team feeling). That exception aside, though, running always felt like much more of an individual sport, like tennis or golf.

Hi - Lots of mis-information here. Back in the day (mid90s), you had to run 2 miles in 12 to be considered for the US women's national team. That was the low bar. I imagine at least that standard reigns if it hasn't been tightened.

Is Carly Lloyd update?

Old thread I know but I honestly cannot believe there are people out there who believe professional ATHLETES cannot break 6-7 minutes in a mile. I play soccer and this is an insult to my sport.

Most pro women would be between 4:45 and 5:30 WITHOUT training. With training, even faster - possibly sub elite. Even the goalie would be under 6 without a sweat.

Between 4:30 and 6:00 would be appropriate for professional female athletes and the only time they would ever boast times closer to 6 is when they are off season.

BUMP

Can anybody answer what top end speeds high level soccer women hit? (In mph or kmph). I am in training right now. I asked this question on letsrun a few weeks ago and didn’t get a real answer.

13.5 sec 100m (give or take a second)

5:30 mile (give or take 30 seconds)

Equivalent to a 14 year old boy