Galen Rupp is the American distance GOAT and you are without excuse to not accept this

Rupp is such a goat. Even when he’s injured and not racing people start threads about him. I will agree Lagat is a mid distance Goat. Rupp is distance goat. End of subject.

Mary Decker

its frank shorter by a mile.

2 OG marathon golds.

plus cross country crowns, road wins, track titles.

his 210 marathons paced at berlin in the shoes, are worth what?

google him.

here's just track, he did even better on the roads and cross.

Shorter (left) running 10,000 m at the 1972 Olympics, stamp of Umm al-Quwain

World rankings

Marathon

1971 – 1st

1972 – 1st

1973 – 1st

1974 – 2nd

1976 – 2nd

10,000 m

1970 – 2nd

1972 – 5th

1974 – 5th

1975 – 2nd

5000 m

1975 – 10th

U.S. rankings

Marathon

1971 – 1st

1972 – 1st

1973 – 1st

1974 – 1st

1976 – 1st

10,000 m

1969 – 3rd

1970 – 1st

1971 – 1st

1972 – 1st

1973 – 5th

1974 – 1st

1975 – 1st

1976 – 2nd

1977 – 1st

1979 – 3rd

5000 m

1969 – 6th

1970 – 2nd

1971 – 4th

1972 – 10th

1973 – 7th

1974 – 4th

1975 – 3rd

1976 – 5th

1977 – 7th

Different time. Goat of the seventies. Those times would not get him far in today’s distance competition.

Besides Rupp is not done yet. Just resting on his batootie waiting....

Rupp is within ten seconds of the world record only in the 800m (about 8 or 9 seconds), 1500m (over 8 seconds), mile (almost 8 seconds), and 3000m (almost 10 seconds).

That 7:30i was not necessarily better than an outdoor 7:29.00, because the indoor track he ran it on is superfast, with tuned boards, and obviously pacers and no wind.

Lagat ran 3:27.40 as an American. If that were all he had ever done, he'd still be far higher in the all-time rankings than Rupp.

Plus the 4 world golds.

Rupp- distance

Lagat - mid distance

Time machine wrote:

Different time. Goat of the seventies. Those times would not get him far in today’s distance competition. ...

It's true and yet Shorter's times from the seventies would still make him a heavy favorite to make the US's 2020 Olympic marathon team. ... If this discussion were only about the marathon, I'd put Shorter ahead of Rupp and probably Meb, KK and Bill Rodgers as well. Rupp, however, has accomplished more at 10000m than Shorter did. Rupp has as an Olympic 2nd place at the distance vs 5th for Shorter and a world leading time that not one has bested for 6 years and counting.

Raysharp001 wrote:

Mary Decker

She didn't do much 5k and beyond, if this were a question of the US's best mid D runner tho I'd agree with you

Burgerman wrote:

Rupp- distance

Lagat - mid distance

800m/1500m is middle distance. 3k and above are all largely aerobic.

Rupp has Olympic silver and bronze. Shorter has gold and silver (or two golds if you disqualify the drug cheating Cierpinski).

Rupp won Chicago once. Shorter won Fukuoka four times.

Rupp is four and a half minutes behind the world record. Shorter was two minutes behind (or just one, if the Antwerp course was short).

It's obvious Shorter >>> Rupp.

Rupp isn't done yet, but we can't give him credit for the future in determining GOAT as of today.

Even only considering 10k/marathon Shorter has to be ranked over Rupp. Shorter has AR in marathon, both had AR in 10k, Shorter has an Oly Gold & Silver while Rupp has a Silver & Bronze, Shorter was ranked #1 in marathon several years; I don't recall his 10k ratings but I suspect at least comparable to Rupp's.

1955 wrote:

Even only considering 10k/marathon Shorter has to be ranked over Rupp. Shorter has AR in marathon, both had AR in 10k, Shorter has an Oly Gold & Silver while Rupp has a Silver & Bronze, Shorter was ranked #1 in marathon several years; I don't recall his 10k ratings but I suspect at least comparable to Rupp's.

This is a misleading way to look at it.

For comparison, lets simplify this whole thing and boil it down to two factors.

1.) Major wins (olympic medals or WMM)

2.) Time

And break it down by distance.

10k

1.) RUPP > Shorter because Olympic Medal

2.) RUPP > 26:44

Marathon

1.) Shorter > Rupp because Olympic Gold

2.) Rupp > Shorter because 2:06.

3 out of 4 factors, Rupp performed superior compared to Shorty, therefore Rupp is American GOAT.

And those other dudes, Hall, Meb, Lagat dont even stand a chance at that comparison.

This^^^^^

Sit and kick wrote:

Raysharp001 wrote:

Mary Decker

She didn't do much 5k and beyond, if this were a question of the US's best mid D runner tho I'd agree with you

No no no. It’s Mary Decker, and regardless of gender it’s not even close. Let’s check the statistics on her career real quick.

-1983 World Champs 1500m/3000m Gold Medalist

-36 national records in events ranging from 800m to 10000m (still holds the American records for the mile, 2000m, and 3000m.)

-17 (official and unofficial) WORLD records including the mile, 5000m, and 10000m.

-In 1982 alone she set an astonishing SIX world records from the mile to 10000m.

Decker absolutely qualifies as a distance runner and was dominant in every event from the mile to the 10000m, giving her a larger and more skillful range than any other athlete discussed thus far. Pair that with two world championships gold medals and she’s far and away the best American distance runner ever.

I’m a Rupp-fan so it is my general opinion that Rupp is the great ever in terms on range.

He’s not the greatest ever in terms of absolute best in any distance event.

If we’re including 800-5k, it’s Lagat.

If we’re evaluating the entire spectrum, 800-marathon, it’s still Lagat because he was much the World’s Best from 1500-5k.

If we’re doing 5k and up only, then I’ll give nod to Rupp but even then, that’s because Lagat trained for shorter distances.

When I think of GOAT, I pretty much evaluate this post 1980. Prior to then, the competition was so weak internationally that it’s hard to compare championship performances.

Winning an Olympic marathon in 1972 is NOT better than finishing 2nd to Kipchoge.

RUPP IS BACK BABY!!!

Yeah! He’s back and he looks good!