Could Maradona Have Run a 4:30 Mile?

The dude was fat and short. No way he runs sub 4:45

Well he wasn’t always fat. That I assure you.

You could beat him over the mile, but the guy could do the same time while doing keepy-up. Without a ball he was an embarrassment, introduce a ball and he was like a god.

Is there a race similar to a beer mile where you snort a line of coke before every lap? He would break 4:30 for sure!

Maradona runs 5:20.

His 400 would have been 55s.

With a year of 80mpw and a slight change of the PEDs he was taking (less amphetamine more EPO), then yes he could

Sham 69 wrote:

Maradona runs 5:20.

His 400 would have been 55s.

Probably when young and fit he could run closer to 50 seconds for 400m and under 5 minutes in the mile.

Same height as I am and at age 19 I ran average sub 5 over 27 relay miles in 24 hrs, only a couple of months after starting running more, purely based on 'park football' fitness.

But hobby joggers question whether a pro athlete like him could have run 4:30

Site never surprises me

I am Sam wrote:

Same height as I am and at age 19 I ran average sub 5 over 27 relay miles in 24 hrs, only a couple of months after starting running more, purely based on 'park football' fitness.

But hobby joggers question whether a pro athlete like him could have run 4:30

Site never surprises me

Well IF your story is true you had the ability to be an elite runner. Also, why are you surprised when someone asks if Maradona could run 4:30 in his peak soccer fitness? It is a fair question after all. How fast do you think he could run then? He was a world class soccer player but that does not mean he was a world class middle distance runner.

Jamaica blue wrote:

You could beat him over the mile, but the guy could do the same time while doing keepy-up. Without a ball he was an embarrassment, introduce a ball and he was like a god.

And thus I repeat the question from a few years ago, how fast can you kick a soccer ball around a track? What would be the soccer-ball mile record?

I am Sam wrote:

Same height as I am and at age 19 I ran average sub 5 over 27 relay miles in 24 hrs, only a couple of months after starting running more, purely based on 'park football' fitness.

But hobby joggers question whether a pro athlete like him could have run 4:30

Site never surprises me

But you're not him...

I personally know a few pro soccer players. One is on the US national team and can beat me in distance, but I can outsprint him.

The others (the others are just mid level mls players and one plays in the Mexican league) I can beat in distance events, and only one can beat me in sprint events (he ran 10.8 in high school).

Soccer requires some running ability, but the skill side is the major factor. As a result, some are only good runners, not great. None are bad runners at the pro level (well, maybe a goalie or two?). There are plenty of pro players who are only capable of a 5 flat to 5:20 mile if run well paced. The one pro player i know personally who can put run me in distance events ran sub 420 and mid 15s in xc 5k in high school. He never competed in track after high school, but he's still darned fit.

I am Sam wrote:

Same height as I am and at age 19 I ran average sub 5 over 27 relay miles in 24 hrs, only a couple of months after starting running more, purely based on 'park football' fitness.

But hobby joggers question whether a pro athlete like him could have run 4:30

Site never surprises me

Big difference between 5 and 4:30 its not happening without specific training and even then he would struggle.

Not sure, because mile time ability is kind of irrelevant for a soccer player.

Is like asking how fast kipkoge could bike a century.

A Soccer field is ~100m long and a player normally needs to cover half of it or less, so sprinting speed is much more important. There was a video some time ago comparing Cristiano Ronaldo to a world-class 60m sprint specialist. Ronaldo was slower, but not by much, and he was much faster when obstacles were added that forced the runners to zig-zag through the course. Maradona in its prime would probably be in the same boat: being short, he had an incredible acceleration and blazingly fast changes of direction, all of this while keeping the ball glued to his foot. He only needed to cover 50m or so, before dropping the ball in the net.

mid D guy wrote:

Not sure, because mile time ability is kind of irrelevant for a soccer player.

Is like asking how fast kipkoge could bike a century.

.... There was a video some time ago comparing Cristiano Ronaldo to a world-class 60m sprint specialist. Ronaldo was slower, but not by much, and he was much faster when obstacles were added that forced the runners to zig-zag through the course. Maradona in its prime would probably be in the same boat: being short, he had an incredible acceleration and blazingly fast changes of direction, all of this while keeping the ball glued to his foot. He only needed to cover 50m or so, before dropping the ball in the net.

I watched the video after your post. The race was 25 meters, and Ronaldo's time was not close to the 100m sprinter. Ronaldo would likely be almost a second behind the Spanish sprinter if both raced 100m, and that is not good. Moreover, there are much faster sprinters in USA or Jamacia than the Spaniard who ran the 25 meters.

The only valuable insight from that video was for the runners who can't accept the importance of stride length when wanting to run fast.

The Spaniard ran around the obstacle course awkwardly. There are plenty of USA sprinters who could run that course faster that Ronaldo because of their tackle football experience.

Most everywhere but USA and Canada, top athletes gravitate toward football because that is the big money sport, and in USA the tackle football leagues attract many top runners (a few go to baseball).

There are many excellent runners who play football (or tackle football), but tend to lose their pure track speed or distance stamina when playing those professional sports.

As to Ronaldo, I would be shocked if he could have run sub-50 for 400m when that 25 meter race video was made. Nor could Ronaldo break 4:30 in a mile.

I doubt Maradona could break 50 seconds, and no way could he have broken 4:30 in a mile.

not wrote:

The dude was fat and short. No way he runs sub 4:45

I don't know what Maradona could have run but for sure, he wasn't fat (in his hey days).

If you're old enough to remember the "Wide World of Sports" Superstars competitions from the 1970,s and 1980's, I recall that there was an "international edition" and a top rugby player and premier level soccer player both ran a 1:57 800. I was actually fairly impressed at the time. So I would think that a 4:30 mile would be a possibility.

Antonio Pinto looked like the twin brother of Maradona.

I don’t think she could have, but I am absolutely certain that Cyndi Lauper could have.

His aeorobic-anerobic performance in the altitude of Mexico City in 86 exceeded that of Keino against Ryun in 68.

In the match against England, it was the equivalent of running a sub 3:50 mile containing a sub 10 second 100m...while breaking the high jump world record.