Renato Canova, Jason in, Wejo, Malmo etc...input on Ryan Hall's 2007 10000m/marathoning potential?

Steve:

That would be a good question. Like I said to you the other day, Coach Squires is absolutely sure that, had he been healthy, Rodgers would have won Montreal Olympic marathon. But I would still give it to Shorter because, as Lydiard once said to me, Shorter beat the bests in the world at the time for several years. Rodgers, while a very good runner in the US, didn't really run against the bests in the world at the time (outside the US). Sure, he won Fukuoka in 77 and also won rather soft Rotterdam and Sydney and all but he more or less stayed in the US and ran (and won all of) Boston and NY. But then again, had he done that, he might have beaten them all too... We would never know. But, wait, I once heard that there was another guy in the frigid northwest in the mid-70s who was really really good. Perhaps he could have been even better than Shorter or Rodgers or Seko but he had frost-bitten his mustache while out running 30 miles in the winter and retired before we saw his true potential... Pitty ;o)

Nobby, interesting about Squires picking Billy to win Montreal '76! Too bad he had the foot injury prior to the Games. Weather looked like it might favor him; you know, chilly, damp. Definitely not "Shorter weather". (I wasn't there, looked unpleasant on TV) Of course, could Bill have beaten a Cierpinski who was "getting by with a little help from his friends"!!?? Without that "assistance", Shorter and Kardong: Gold and Bronze, for sure. A healthy BR would have made it very interesting. BTW, I ran against Cierpinski in Kosice, Czechoslovakia in '74 (along with East German Truppel and others.) It was an awful day, very cold and windy, and no one would lead!! (Ron Hill went out SOLO at 2:05,wind-aided, and finished against the wind, in 2:28!! Not very pretty splits!) All the times were SLOW; Brit Keith Angus winning in 2:20:09, Truppel, 2nd,2:20:14, and Cierpinski 3rd in 2:20:28. Others: Farrington (NZ) DNF, Jack Foster, 2:22:24, yours truly, 2:22:08. If the guys from the NDR/DDR were getting "help" in 1974, it wasn't very apparent in this particular race, or why didn't one of them WIN??!! It probably was the case two years later in Montreal; my guess is that Cierpinski wouldn't have beaten Shorter, or even Kardong, without "help". Maybe that's my American bias, but believe it to be true!

Why are people comparing Ryan Hall to Dathan. Dathan 1/2 marathon pb is over a 1 minute slower than Ryan's and when Ritzenhein debut in the marathon it was on a tougher course than Ryan will debut in London.

If Ryan tows the line healthy and not have any major problems he should run 2:08 high and with a great run 2:07 mid wouldn't surprise me.