I wouldn't even count high school girls in this category because falling off is almost the norm. There are just too many to consider (Baxter, Lane, Trotter, etc., etc.)
Need to retitle this thread, as the poster is NOT interested in falls from grace, but rather performance declines.
The replies are too mixed between these different subjects.
Clearly there should be two threads, one for falls from grace, and one for performance falling off a cliff, or whatever the poster here is really look for--it isn't clear, and he apparently does not understand the phrase.
Sarah Baxter. Undefeated during her high school career until she was beaten at NXN her senior year (out-kicked by two all-time greats in Alexa Efrainson and Elise Cranny).
Most of the top candidates fit into one of three categories: dopers, died young, or had a tragic accident/injury. Given there are so many athletes in these three categories, I will put forth an athlete outside: Henry Rono. Set four world records in 81 days, one of the greatest stretches in the history of the sport, but fell deep into alcoholism after that and spent the next years of his life in and out of rehab centers and homelessness.
Very sad story. He volunteered coaching at several schools including my middle school when I was there.
Talked to someone who watched him run and said he is the best there ever was.
His 8:05 college steeple record may never be broken and he could have broken it at Hayward but Chaplin shut him down because he didn’t want it to happen at Oregon.
This post was edited 8 minutes after it was posted.
What about Emma Coburn? She was never the same runner after her meltdown in Tokyo. Sure, she won a few U S titles but she was never competitive on the world stage again and her career since has mostly been a series of disappointments.
Webb. Top of the world to suddenly barely able to break 4. Even in that era, that wasn't enough to continue as a pro. Webb attempted to come back to track for several years without real success.
He then tried the triathlon for a couple years but couldn't make it to the upper echelons of that sport.
His comeback attempt was like 6 years long.
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Steve Magness - 401 high school miler. Never pr'd again after that in the mile or if he did he didn't even take another second off. He ran in college and post collegiately for a couple years. His pr's were few and far between after hs. He brought his 800 about in line with the mile and dropped a little time in the 5000. I don't think there has ever been a runner so good who didn't get a big pr in college.
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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.
LOL
At one point Bekele (2:01:41) ran within 2 seconds of Kipchoge (2:01:39), who had run the fastest of all time at that point.. Kenny had run significantly less marathons to get to that time.
2 seconds!
7299 seconds compared to 7301 seconds.
Not a math guy, but that's like within 1/1000th of a percent or something.
Most of the top candidates fit into one of three categories: dopers, died young, or had a tragic accident/injury. Given there are so many athletes in these three categories, I will put forth an athlete outside: Henry Rono. Set four world records in 81 days, one of the greatest stretches in the history of the sport, but fell deep into alcoholism after that and spent the next years of his life in and out of rehab centers and homelessness.
Very sad story. He volunteered coaching at several schools including my middle school when I was there.
Talked to someone who watched him run and said he is the best there ever was.
His 8:05 college steeple record may never be broken and he could have broken it at Hayward but Chaplin shut him down because he didn’t want it to happen at Oregon.
Need to retitle this thread, as the poster is NOT interested in falls from grace, but rather performance declines.
The replies are too mixed between these different subjects.
Clearly there should be two threads, one for falls from grace, and one for performance falling off a cliff, or whatever the poster here is really look for--it isn't clear, and he apparently does not understand the phrase.
No need to retitle it. Initially I was more looking for runners who were very good and then due to some circumstances they became very average or even bad in a very short period of time, I even gave an example of two so you'd get the idea. Doping or injuries werent therefore what I was really looking for, but it sparked an interesting thread anyways, so it's all good.
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