Monday night trivia: Put the following 3 athletes in order from oldest to youngest - Katelyn Tuohy, Athing Mu, Keely Hodgkinson

Don't follow the women's 800 much?

Zola?

did she run in college (in US)? I specified college. But yes, the prior note of Jakob and now Zola are exceptions to the non E Africans. The 5 +2 US college + hs 800 runners count would also grow including, for example Hodgkinson.

Yet there is a huge thread about Tuohy running 4:24.

We don’t care as much about runners when they become pros, unless they can reach the pinnacle.

There would be zero threads about Drew Bosley (22 y.o. running 7:36 if he was not in College). Same for Dylan Jacobs (also 22 y.o)

Stay in school kids…

There were zero threads about Bosley anyway. Crazy how far that flew under the radar with all of the records that night

Nobody gave a damn when Charles Hicks won cx nationals.

Nico Young would have a 10 page thread talking about him being the next Rupp if he had won.

I can only speak for me but I noted in in post 35 of this thread (n when it happened). I did not start a thread on this - perhaps I should have.

No hate on tuohy but this is the truth. No comparison to keely or athing. you can even argue that keely can’t be in the same sentence as athing either since she has yet to beat her

They haven't had a well-paced 5000. I believe females tend to have higher endurance than males (i.e. if they're running the same 1500m time, it's very likely for the male to have a faster 800m and slower 5000m), so they should easily break 15:00. I broke it when I was in 32 minute 10k and low 4:10s shape

Nike would go full Kaepernick and give him a $1million per year contract - but he wouldn't be allowed to race outside western countries

It is partially age. Assuming her prime event in the 5k, collegiate age 5k runners typically aren’t world class yet, but may develop into that a few years after college. It’s not uncommon to see even a college freshman be world class in the 800m. You’re anaerobic potential is just higher at younger ages which becomes negligible the more aerobic the event becomes.

It's generally true that women can run comparably better longer distances with less speed in the shorter ones (and I also think the supershoes help more the longer the distance). But nevertheless many runners have a "best distance" and never manage to run similarly good times at their second best event. E.g. Simpson was simply by far the best in the 1500m/mile, and I don't think it was only because of the focus within a very long (ungoing) running career. She never broke 2:00 in the 800m and 14:56 is not impressive for 3:57.2. Even her 8:29 3000m is considerably weaker than her 1500m.

WIthout data from her workouts, I doubt it's possible to tell how good Tuohy might get in the 5000m. I do suspect she will get relatively better at the long distances than in the 1500m (because of the strength in XC and other hints) but it's a guess.

Ma's army were teenagers when they rampaged through the sport. PEDs will accelerate the timeline, which is the grain of salt you are sadly referring to. That aside, the typical female distance runner peaks later than sprinters, around 24. Meanwhile sprinters reach elite status by high school/early college age. The 800m is a great example of that, with high school runners going under 2:00.

Anyway, amusing to see people so defensive.

The people being defensive include you.

I don't need to be. I'm not the one whining about another athlete's popularity.

Neither am I. You did, however, defensively interject “sprinting vs distance running” in a thread about athletes ages.

Because it is an easily demonstrable fact. Sorry.

That you felt you needed to interject because you were defensive. It's okay guy, glass houses and stones.

I did, in response to a needless negative comment.