Do you think there us a single man that could run faster than the women's world record in every track event 100-10,000?

Overtt had some wheels given his range. I wouldn’t bet against him

Nils Schumann has an interesting profile too

another one is abdi bile

STEVE CRAM

check out this guy

worldathletics.org

Nixon KIPROTICH | Profile | World Athletics

Nixon KIPROTICH, Kenya

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nixon cud go sub 46 for 400 m and sub 3.40. now we talking...

Sub 10.5 is significantly better than 21.7. That 200m time coming from a middle distance runner like Ovett makes me think he would never come close to breaking 10.5. The only people mentioned besides Johnson that appear to have a realistic chance at breaking 10.5 are Korir (44.21 for 400m) and Beach (10.52 for 100m).

I think people overestimating the difficulty of the 10.49. That is only the 10th fastest time in D3 this year.

I think any of the world-beater 20-25 year old 800m runners in their prime would have the force production and turnover to make it happen.

Haha its a great question but the answer is quite simple - ZERO chance.

If you scroll down to 1975 in this article, you’ll find a reference to Ovett’s 21.7. It seems there is a dispute as to the accuracy:

athleticsweekly.com

Steve Ovett's race history - part one - AW

Steve Smythe charts the middle-distance runner's early years through the 1970s in the first part of an Ovett race history special

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You found a sub-10.49 100m and 29-flat 10000m man!

Interesting! I mean a 21.7 wouldn’t be that surprising for 47 second 400 guy. I’m sure he never did 100/200 specific training. I think he could get a 21.34 200. Not sure if he could get 10.49… I guess probably not

This is correct. Letsrun is made up of distance runners that have a skewed perspective on speed. You’ll see people here suggest that a guy who opens an 800 in 49 can’t run 47, for example.

You take a guy like Webb, who ran 143, and 27:30, while training as a miler, focus his training to be a 4/8 guy, and he has it. He can refocus his training to such an extent that he can slow in the 10k by about 90 seconds and still get the job done.

I feel confident that, had this been their objective, Webb, Mahkloufi, Brazier, Cram, Coe, Symmonds and others could have done this.

exactly. A couple thousand sprinters and a mere 10 can beat it. And you expect some distance dude to run it? Not very realistic. Same way going the other way. We have HSers run 29:00 type performances. None of them are dropping 10.5s to win their league meet.

Just switch focus and you're at sub 10.5 just like that? I don't think it works that way... Now take a middle distance runner like Webb. His 1500m/mile times indicate that is his best event. So wouldn't it stand to reason his 200m time would be better comparatively to his 100m time? So if he can run 10.48 by switching focus, as you suggested what should he be able to run for 200m? 20.8? 20.7? After all, the best 200m runners typically run faster than double their 100m time. And as an overdistance runner this certainly should be the case with Webb. And then what would his 400m best be at? 45 low or better? That's David Rudisha territory or faster. Then he should be able to smash the 800m WR since can match that speed and is stronger over longer distances. I would suggest their no way Webb is running that for for 200m and he isn't running 10.48 for 100m.

My senior of HS our coach had a teammate and myself training more for the 1600m. We were already the top in our division at the 3200m and he want to improve our performance in the 1600m and 4x800m relay. Did we get better at the 809m and 1600m? Yes. Did it turn us into middle distance runners? No. Especially in my case I was still significantly better in the 3200m in relation to my competitors than I was in the 1600m. And when I went college my coach observed my training and quickly moved me to the 10k group. Runners are not all built the same. People like Alan Webb have way more talent and versatility but they are not sprinters. Switching focus isn't going to change that.

You guys seem to be missing the most important part of this discussion (10.49).

You need to recruit someone that can run that time and have them move up. I bet that Johnnie Blockburger, Chris Morales-Williams, or Rai Benjamin (many more similar athletes) could all spend 3-4 years and run close to 14/29.

Yep. This is the guy!

There is zero evidence that basically any of them will come close to running 14:00. Or even 3:50ish. Some of the fast sprinters have done 800s and pretty much all of them suck differential wise enough that make 3:50 seem like a stretch much less something like running 14:00.

nobody doubts there is some 11/22/46/1:43/3:30/13:10/27:00 type guy out there. That last .5s though in the 100 is rough. There are guys in thr 800 that have run low 45s who you expect would be close but a lot of them are like 3:40 1500m guys which suggests they are going to die by the 3k…

Jeremy Wariner?

LOL

It sounds like 100-1500 and 400-10,000 are pretty possible.

How many can do these?