Daniel Komen… had two great seasons and never heard of again.
Gabe Jennings… was unbeatable in the US in the mile in 2000 from Jan- June and his career never resurfaced after that after many attempts.
Alan Webb… hate to say it but at his peak that 3:46 was the beginning of the end of his career. And after that there were glimmers of hope here and there but mostly BAAAAAD performances.
Jordan Hasay
Lukas Verzbikas
Regina Jacobs
Ryan Halls last year was BAD as well but that dude milked every ounce of talent he had from 2007-2012 trials
Edward Cheserek. Went from NCAA King to ordinary pro. I’m not sure if he’d technically be considered a fall off a cliff or a failure to launch, but either way it’s weird that someone who was one of the greatest college runners ever has had such little success as a pro.
Ches was/is an interesting case. When you watch videos or hear about his training, it becomes painfully obvious that he routinely went way too hard and ran him cyclically into injuries. He also ran 3:49 for the mile indoors right before super-spikes started taking off, but unsurprisingly was hurt not long after.
Bekele - the best distance runner in the world by far for years. He could not duplicate that success in the marathon. He has had some good marathons here and there and after years of sub par results clawed himself back for one more attempt at the olympics. The deprioritization of world xc really hurt him. When world xc was big, he was the most dominant xc runner in the world.
this may be the stupidest post I've seen on this site in a while
Lukas Verzbicas - at the time, he was possibly one of the fastest american high school runners of all time. he went to university of oregon and not only did he do poorly during his first season, but he dropped out of school during the middle of the semester. speculation about this lead to some people believing that he was an idiot in academia. well it later turned out that he is. if you read his twitter posts, he's a conspiracy nut
german fernandez / alan webb - these guys just burned out way too early in their careers
asbel kiprop - just read his wikipedia page. he got busted for cheating and then turned to his friend for help. he ended up posting adultery with his friend's wife on social media. he is a special kind of falling from grace
Lukas Verzbicas - at the time, he was possibly one of the fastest american high school runners of all time. he went to university of oregon and not only did he do poorly during his first season, but he dropped out of school during the middle of the semester. speculation about this lead to some people believing that he was an idiot in academia. well it later turned out that he is. if you read his twitter posts, he's a conspiracy nut
german fernandez / alan webb - these guys just burned out way too early in their careers
asbel kiprop - just read his wikipedia page. he got busted for cheating and then turned to his friend for help. he ended up posting adultery with his friend's wife on social media. he is a special kind of falling from grace
I don't get naming Verzbicas. He excelled at running and triathlons and then had a terrible accident. Unless you're making a sick pun with "fall", criticizing him for wanting to follow his dreams as a triathlete and almost being paralyzed in an accident seems pretty cruel.
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