jakob is one of the most blatant examples of EPO use ive seen in a long time.Runs 3.49 ,doesnt break up a sweat,and doesnt look tired,and this is after he supposedly got covid.
jakob is one of the most blatant examples of EPO use ive seen in a long time.Runs 3.49 ,doesnt break up a sweat,and doesnt look tired,and this is after he supposedly got covid.
He had Covid like 3 months ago. And running around 4 seconds off your converted 1500 PB should not be that difficult for him.
Yeah I enjoyed the discussion too. I have seldom seen this exact topic discussed which makes it all the more enjoyable. There are dozens of threads talking about the inadequacies of 1500 to mile conversions, yet I don't think I've ever come seen a discussion of a 1500/5000 guy having an edge over a 1500/800 guy in a mile vs. 1500. And yes, it's an obvious concept even if the edge is slight.
I think I remember a thread here several years ago discussing if there was ever a runner who was best in the world at 1500m but second best at the mile. In the epic 'Coe vs Aouita' thread, it gets mentioned that Aouita might have the edge over a mile, but Coe would likely win over 1500m.
Although I agree that it's obvious that the more endurance guy would have a better chance to win over an 800/1500 guy at a mile than 1500m, Cram and Aouita in 1985 gives me some pause for thought. Cram's best distance was arguably the mile, and his pbs suggest that too. He ran his mile 3:46, which likely could at least have been a second faster, in the same period he ran his 1:42 800m. He pipped Aouita over 1500m in Nice earlier in the season, then ran a near effortless 3:46 mile slowing down at the end, and it being a real race rather than an even paced WR attempt. Aouita then had a crack at Crammy's mile WR, went all out and looked set to smash it with a lap to go but then ran out of gas and mised it by nearly half-a-second. A couple of days later, he took down Cram's 1500m WR by nearly 3/10ths.
Partly it was obviously due to Cram being in even better shape at the time he ran his mile WR and 800m pb than in Nice when he faced Aouita, but it seems to me that the mile was Cram's perfect distance, enabling him to utilize all his strength and endurance while retaining some of his 800m speed. I can't see any version of Aouita living with Cram that night in Oslo, even if he would be able to chase him to the wire over 1500m. Given that Aouita was on a different level to Cram over 3000m and 5000m, that doesn't make sense.
Cram's best distance was 1500. He just was in slightly better form in Oslo than in Nice.