Is Haile Gebrselassie even Human?

Geb, Bekele, Kipchoge: none of them are human even though some of them like to say no human is limited.

kipchoge not in the same league as those two.

Geb and Bekele 1a and 1b.

This has been hashed out too many times and is like comparing apples and oranges, track/XC vs road. Nobody even comes remotely close to Kipchoge’s marathon dominance, at least as dominant if not more compared to Bekele in XC or 5K/10K.

those guys all competed in the same events. kipchoge not in the same universe. he has his own thing. it's not the same as what they have.

we are talking about guys with world record ability from 3k to marathon vs a guy with world record ability in ONE event.

i really admire kipchoge for his consistency over many years and zen like focus on proper training and general lifestyle for what he does.

many bekele fans wonder what the second half of his career might have looked like if he that same focus.

Best I ever saw, along with D.Koman. Koman for 1-2 seasons was invincible. El G relied on rabbits more than anyone in history- even in championship races- so no.

Talking about track only.

AND Bekele is only 2 seconds slower in the marathon...

that's like 0.027% off being the same time.

here's their 3k prs:
7:25.09
7:25.79
7:27.66

i think they are in the same universe.

The man is immortal.

The marathon marked the end of Bekele's career. I know he sniffed the WR, but he clearly struggled with the distance on the whole and we saw much more spare tire, out of shape Bekele than we did track dominant, unbeatable Bekele.

Khalid Skah beat Haile Gebrselassie, the same month were he established the first ever Ethiopian WR. Indeed, very human.

That is why Skah is so popular, and there are so many threads about him on letsrun.

You mean he once came within 2 seconds of Kipchoge’s WR on the same course, the man who also holds 3 of the four fastest marathon times and 4 of the 6 marathon major titles, some several times over? Is your point that that makes Bekele comparable to Kipchoge on road as well? It doesn’t. Kipchoge beat Bekele on track a few times, but the opposite has never happened on road, not once and not even close even though they raced each other on road at least 4 times.

Their rivalry spanning almost two decades is legendary and to be celebrated, but picking a winner between the two is silly. Kipchoge is frighteningly dominant in marathons. When he runs, he controls the pace from the front, and when he takes off after mile 18, 20, or 24 or whatever, it’s a clear challenge thrown to the others in the lead pack and they consistently defer to him and let him go with hardly a chase. It’s the same kind of devastating dominance Bekele demonstrated in many XC and 5K/10K track races, but doing it over the marathon distance with as much consistency as Kipchoge for like a decade is also unprecedented.