Runners with the most beautiful stride?

streak wrote:

McMurphy wrote:

Andrew Hunter

I think Drew’s form actually looks a little awkward, but he gets it done. I feel like his form strangely looked better in high school, but that could be because he would look better than the other high schoolers.

It was sarcasm. Hunter looks like he has some kind of injury when he runs.

For non sarcasm I would probably go with Rudisha.

rearObserver wrote:

sdhfjshd wrote:

Jessica Hull needs to work on her start. She has the wrong arm forward.

If you slow down the video you can see that this causes her to take her first step (a half step) backwards.

I actually PM'd her about this and she replied. She said she's always done it that way.

Creep.

paul72 wrote:

Joaquin Cruz

Yes. So smooth.

Emma Coburn and that spider from Botswana

sky wrote:

Sebcoe7 wrote:

Lasse Viren or Daniel Komen

I am surprised Viren's name has not come up more often in this thread.

Yes. Kenny Moore wrote in his Sports Illustrated article "An Enigma Wrapped In Glory" (1977) as follows:

... Seeming at pains to minimize his own role in Viren's accomplishments, Haikkola raises a hand and says, “Now I am going to tell you how Lasse Viren won." and begins to tick off the man's gifts. “His style is the most economical in the world. Using a computer, we found he wastes far less energy than anyone else." Indeed, Puttemans, the world-record holder at 5.000 meters and a smoothie himself, says running next to Viren is infuriating. "You’re running hard and he's floating away as if he's doing nothing."

I know people don’t agree but I think Bekele’s stride is so jerky. He has a lot of movement with his upper body and he kind moves side to side a lot. It’s not smooth.

He’s clearly one the best but I don’t like his stride at all.

RuningManJumpSuit wrote:

I know people don’t agree but I think Bekele’s stride is so jerky. He has a lot of movement with his upper body and he kind moves side to side a lot. It’s not smooth.

He’s clearly one the best but I don’t like his stride at all.

Bekele is certainly not the "most beautiful stride" of all time. You aren't wrong.

The smoothest speed I've seen at Hayward in 30 years of watching meets was a healthy Andrew Wheating. I believe it was a Twilight meet where he ran the easiest sub-4 I've ever seen. He looked like he was at 80% effort while all of the other athletes were pressing hard. It was pretty remarkable to see in person.

John Macardle wrote:

RuningManJumpSuit wrote:

I know people don’t agree but I think Bekele’s stride is so jerky. He has a lot of movement with his upper body and he kind moves side to side a lot. It’s not smooth.

He’s clearly one the best but I don’t like his stride at all.

Bekele is certainly not the "most beautiful stride" of all time. You aren't wrong.

Have to agree here, I watch Bekele's 2019 Berlin run a lot for treadmill workouts, and it isn't rhythmic like Kipchoge's. It's a bit more of a lurching type motion, greater arm action, a bit like how I run to be honest (minus the incredible back kick and speed of course).

RuningManJumpSuit wrote:

I know people don’t agree but I think Bekele’s stride is so jerky. He has a lot of movement with his upper body and he kind moves side to side a lot. It’s not smooth.

He’s clearly one the best but I don’t like his stride at all.

It's both smooth and powerful.

Most people have stride that can look effortless, or who are technically good or look good.

Not only Bekele stride looks good, but he is also one of the few who looks powerful and strong when he run. You can see that his stride is better and will allow him to doo great things.

That light, powerful, quick stride is what allowed him to dominate everywhere, from XC to track and road.

Amen, dude. That video is one of my favorites of all time. He's absolutely metronomic. Smooth. Efficient. I've modeled my stride off of that video since I was 13 :)

And the last lap of this...Just incredible.

I think the mistake people make is looking at his road stride vs what he used to be on the track/XC course. He has talked about how he had to alter his stride to avoid injury on the roads/longer distances. It's certainly a lot clunkier and less smooth nowadays, and I feel like that's what most people are looking at. But back in the day? Unmatched.

Grassrunner wrote:

Women: Jessica Hull!!!

The last few laps, that bobble head movement she had going on was distracting and took away from her form for me.

The Predictor wrote:

ah yess

i forgot to put van niekerk. soo smooth

Wade Van Nielsen, Rio, 2018 . his 43.03 second 400 m win at the Olympics was other worldly. The stride ,the time ,the gold medal. I distinctly remember Usain Bolt coming out of the tunnel for his next race and seeing his eyes get very big as he saw the 43.03 flash up on the board . If I remember correctly reading his lips saying ‘ Holy Sh-t ‘ was rather easy.

It added extra chills to an already stunning moment.

Paulie Walnuts wrote:

The Predictor wrote:

ah yess

i forgot to put van niekerk. soo smooth

Wade Van Nielsen, Rio, 2018 . his 43.03 second 400 m win at the Olympics was other worldly. The stride ,the time ,the gold medal. I distinctly remember Usain Bolt coming out of the tunnel for his next race and seeing his eyes get very big as he saw the 43.03 flash up on the board . If I remember correctly reading his lips saying ‘ Holy Sh-t ‘ was rather easy.

It added extra chills to an already stunning moment.

Typo meant Wade Van Niekerk.

What we need are categories! Clearly, long-legged runners have the advantage of having a longer stride and looking more graceful.

Long legs:

Coe

Rudisha

Verzbicas

Decker Slaney

Carl Lewis

Allison Felix

Jim Walmsley

Kiprop

They all seem to be eating up the ground without working very hard and you know that you look like a hamster running next to them.

Short fast legs:

Bekele

Dibaba

El G

Geb

Dibaba

People can find hitches and head movements and arm motions they don't like, but any runner would love to have those strides. They look better and faster than the runners next to them. To me it's the eye test: you can't take your eyes off of them.

Freakishly relaxed:

Centrowitz

Lagat

(probably) Verzbicas

Killian Jornet (because he does it flying down a mountain side)

It doesn't make sense that someone could look that relaxed in a high-stress situation. It's like a Phil Michelson swing or a Ken Griffey, Jr. swing, You can't learn smooth and relaxed.

Most painful to watch:

King Chez

Paula

Nigel Amos

I respect them all, but wouldn't want to run like them.

For the men, it's hard to beat Lagat.

On the women's side - why has no-one mentioned Alyson Felix? Beautiful form.

Hull looks good on the video.

There are a lot of African women and men who look incredibly smooth too - born to run.

Priscah Jeptoo

Emil Zatopek

Paula Radclife

Seb Coe ooked sublime.

Rupp in his indoor 3:50 mile was elegant power.

Cram in full flight very impressive.

Warriner, smooth power. Saw him race in person and he’s really built like a sprinter, not a middle distance guy like he looks on tv.

Kipketer, wow!

Rudisha, so powerful and smooth. Must feel awesome to run like that.

Cruz was a beast but his running style was not pretty. He had a pretty big leg length discrepancy and it showed when he ran.

Mary Slaney looked great.

Ovett, like a trimmed down sprinter, bursting with power. Love watching him run.

geargrinder wrote:

paul72 wrote:

Joaquin Cruz

Yes. So smooth.

Cruz had a sort of staggering overstriding lurch. Not the greatest looking runner.