LOLLL1 wrote:
Why wouldn't rudisha be able to blow past coe? He ran 45 seconds in the 400m, and in 2012 no doubt he could have ran 44x. He has more footspeed than coe and is better at the 800m.
Maybe. Maybe not. Your speed at the end of an 800 does not necessarily correlate to your speed at shorter distances. Unless you completely jogged or walked the first 700. Even a 54 followed by a ratcheting down the pace takes sting out of your kick if you are more of a sprinter type.
In addition, the ability to switch gears and create immediate separation is not related to your sprint speed. Just look at sprinters. Some get out of the box fast, other slowly get up to speed (granted a whole heck of a lot faster than you are I could at our best).
This was an impressive kick. Coe's acceleration was impressive. Maybe some other greats could have matched it it in an identical race, but not just because they are faster than Coe at 400. It certainly would not have been an identical race if Rudisha was in it. It would have gone out faster. But as long as were are speculating, my guess is that if Rudisha were on Coe shoulder in that race, in his peak, he would not have beat Coe on that day. Maybe some other day. Or maybe if he started his kick earlier and was already gaining, but if he was on his shoulder and tried to start his kick at the same time, then no. At best he would have been making some ground back up near the line, but would still be 5 yards behind.