Is Sara Hall a better marathon runner than Ryan was?

Did he ever finished 2nd place in a Major Marathon?

Did she ever run in the olympics?

Did she ever do a ultra trail race?

Did she ever take up body building?

Did he ever hug anyone named Molly after a race?

Ryan Hall ranked #1 in the US four times (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011) and ranked #2 twice (2009, 2012).

Sara Hall has never ranked higher than third in the U.S.

It's not even close.

Ryan has had the career, but that race from Sara was absolutely brilliant.

colorunner123 wrote:

Sara Hall has never ranked higher than third in the U.S. .

Will she not be ranked #1 now?

OG Coconino Cowboy wrote:

Ryan has had the career, but that race from Sara was absolutely brilliant.

This is the one time I agree with a Walmsley fanboy.

Canada Rnr wrote:

colorunner123 wrote:

Sara Hall has never ranked higher than third in the U.S. .

Will she not be ranked #1 now?

I don't know (she flopped at the U.S. trials), but if so Ryan still has had the better career record.

2:22 vs 2:04. I'm going to go with no.

What’s her pay day look like?

just a regular guy in the neighborhood wrote:

2:22 vs 2:04. I'm going to go with no.

2:22 vs 2:06.

I’ll still go with 2:06 for the better time. But Ryan Hall was mostly dominant in the US and an also ran otherwise. Sara can have the better career by placing high in a couple more races or running a bit faster.

OP. First of all, I just want to say this is a GREAT question. When I first saw it, before I had time to think about it and do some research, I was like, "Could that possibly be true? I know Ryan was never 2nd in a major."

But then I did some research and it's not even close. Ryans marathon career is WAY, WAY better. Yes, Ryan Hall never was 2nd in a WMM. But comparing men's and women's marathoning isn't really fair at all as the depth is TOTALLY diifferent.

I guess you could say that Sara almost won today as she was second but she was 3:03 behind the winner. Guess how many times Ryan finished closer than that to the win at a major. 7. Yes, 7 times in Ryan's career he was closer than 3:03 to the win of a major. And then there were two other marathons where he made an Olympic team. So one could argue that Hall had 9 career marathons better than Sara's today.

Now I don't think it's quite that high but look at some of Ryan's best marathons below.

2007. Ryan runs 2:08;24 in London for 7th (had lead in at 30k). 43 seconds behind win

2007 - Hall DOMINATES US Trials.

2008 - Hall runs 2:06:17 in London for 5th but only 62 seconds off win.

2008 - 10th in Olympics (6:01 off win)

2009 - 3rd in Boston in 2:09:40 (58 seconds off win).

2009 - 4th in NY in 2:10:36. 81 seconds off win.

2010- 4th in Boston in 2:08:41. 2:49 off win.

2011 - 4th in Boston in 2:04:58 - 1:56 off win.

2011 - 5th in Chicago in 2:08:04 - 2:27 off win)

2012 - 2nd in Olympic Trials - 2:09:30

You are only a better runner than someone if you can beat them in a race. Could present day Sara Hall step to the line next to prime Ryan Hall and beat him in a marathon? No? Ok, then she isn't a better runner than he was.

Rojo, this may be a difficult concept to grasp but 3 minutes when the winner is running almost 2:19 is very different than 3 minutes when they are running 2:05ish.

Yes I was also going to mention to Rojo that while his analysis has meaning, it needs to be done as a percentage differential, not time.

So get back at it Rojo and recalculate your stats and let us know. I’m not going to do your work for you.

could she have beaten him? wrote:

You are only a better runner than someone if you can beat them in a race. Could present day Sara Hall step to the line next to prime Ryan Hall and beat him in a marathon? No? Ok, then she isn't a better runner than he was.

I think you are confusing faster with better.

VaporBoi wrote:

Rojo, this may be a difficult concept to grasp but 3 minutes when the winner is running almost 2:19 is very different than 3 minutes when they are running 2:05ish.

If you mean that Ryan was more impressive, I agree. The reality is Hall was MUCH closer to the Wr than Sara was today.

In 2007, Ryan ran 2:08:24 when the WR was 2:04:55. In 2008, he ran 2:06:27 when the WR was 2:04:26. In 2011, he ran 2:04:58 when the Wr was 2:03:59.

The Wr is 2:14 low. I can do the percentages later.

One thing Jonathan pointed out to me today was RYan would have never run the race Sara did today. In his 1st marathon ever, Ryan had the lead at 30k in London.

I guess you can say if one more woman had dropped out, Sara would have been the winner.

After all, Des and Yuki did win Boston that one year. But Ryan didn't need a metereological miracle to be competitive.