Britton Wilson 49.48!!!! -training as an 800 m runner

Old PB but a whole second slower than Diggs at 200m and probably still slower at 200m. Probably a more 400m version of Athing and 400-600 probably best distances. Not a 800m runner

Wilson's 49.48 is the #1 performance of the meet so far.

Godwin 400 and Tuohy 5k/3k a close 2nd and 3rd.

There was less science to this than you may imagine. After years being spoiled by Maloney, Coach Harter realized he now had no 800m runner, but he had about 10 sub 52 400s. 5-6 of them ran the 800 at Arkansas qualifier. Wilson ran 2:04, everyone else ran 2:10+, so his World Team member became the 800 project.

She dropped to 2:02, but they seemed to think even if she pr'd again her best 800 result at nats might be 4th. In 400 & 4x400, she could finish at worst 4th and could do even better. Which she did.

Now they know she is always an 800m option, but I would think her training remains 400/400h. Really an amazing athlete.

Competition for McLaughlin this year with Bol and Wilson in the 400 Hurdles? After that 50.69 It looked like McLaughlin would have no Competition for years, but Bol and Wilson have improved their flat 400 immensely, so maybe she will hav e competition

She would of won The NCAA 800 Today and if she dropped the 400 Hurdles and wanted to be a 800 Runner, Athing Mu would have major competition from Wilson

US women 4x400 untouchable

She’s just so much better technically than them. Wilson was in 49-high shape last year and Bol in 49-mid shape and they both weren’t close with the hurdles. I think Bol gets under 51 and Wilson under 52 but if McLaughlin runs 50-mid again it might not matter.

HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY THAT THE 400 IS THE SHORTEST MIDDLE DISTANCE?!

Amazing times today, it has been huge

I think Wilson is an awesome athlete but that’s a real stretch. Would not have beaten Willis, Whittaker, or Rose today. And why write off Mu so easily? She’s the defending Olympic and WC gold medalist and has run about 1:55 flat. Big difference from 2:02.

I'm on the Wilson bandwagon and particularly note she has tremendous heart. I also agree that long term she is Mu/Syd and a very good 800m runner. But...

I don't think she wins 800 today in ABQK. Novice 800m runner in 5th and 6th 800 races ever, at altitude, with rounds. She would make final, finish at best 4th behind W, W, R and would be spent for the 4 x400.

Wejo I am not sure what you know about Edwin Moses, but he was well known to do a fair amount of distance running, including regular 10 mile runs, if I recall. At any rate it would be easy to unearth this, so there is surely nothing new about using endurance training for the 400m or 400h. Unless you want to say what is old is new again.

Moses had a 400 PR of 45.40, which is only a half second faster than Warholm runs with hurdles. He was a hurdles specialist, whereas Bol, Syd and Wilson all can be medalists in at least two events.

We should not overlook that Wilson also ran 49.4 in the relay, solo, an hour later. That is some extraordinary bounce back, and might be the biggest benefit of her new stamina.

As someone who is currently training for all three events, I can add that I am having the most fun ever in a 51-year running career. I envy those talented women.

I thought Edwin’s best was 400m was 45.60, but be that as it may, Edwin was 21 years old then and he had no reason to really deviate from the 400h, where he was king. Plus you can be pretty certain that when Edwin ran 47.02 6 years later that he could run faster than 45.60 for an open 400m. Anyway the point is that endurance training is not a new phenomenon for sprinters and hurdlers.

Wilson doesn't do 14 steps and Bol is going to try for the first time this season, while conceding she doesn't know how it will work out or even if she'll carry 14 through hurdle 3, 5 or 7 before reverting to 15 steps.

McLaughlin is so far advanced with the step pattern. She already goes 14 through 7 and looks more refined every season. Plus she's also the fastest coming home from 8 to 10. Bol seldom covers 8 to home in less than 16 seconds while McLaughlin's best split is 15.28 and her norm is 15.5 territory.

The flat speed among the 3 is a heck of a lot more competitive than when translated to hurdles. That's why it would be silly for McLaughlin to switch to 400 flat and surrender her greatest advantages.

Tokyo was much more competitive than it should have been, because McLaughlin screwed up on hurdle 9, chopping to 16 steps. Somehow that never became a topic in the aftermath of the race. She actually downshifted from 16 on 9 to 15 on 10. That never happens in 400 hurdles. Once you go up you either stay at that number or go up even further.

If McLaughlin not not messed up hurdle 9 in Tokyo she would have run something like 51.15. There would already have been a pronounced gap over Muhammad and Bol. Instead an entire offseason was devoted to the competitive nature of that event. It was nonsense.

McLaughlin took it out so fast in Eugene she reached hurdle 8 in 35.0, compared to 36.0 in Tokyo. That blows the doors off the field. None of the others are capable of sub 36 right now. McLaughlin admittedly struggled coming home, after such a torrid early pace. Her 15.68 -- though tremendous for anyone else -- was the slowest she's been in years. This season the emphasis will undoubtedly to maintain or slightly improve on the 35.0 level while not faltering quite as much coming home.

But those gains at best case will logically be a tenth or two, not the huge block that was still available to her last year simply via not screwing up the step pattern on 9.

You are correct: 45.60. A lot of numbers bouncing around in my head last night! Also agree on the rest for the most part. He had such domination of the event that dabbling in the 400 might have been counterproductive, and I think that Kersee is following that example a bit with McLaughlin. I do wonder what Moses' 400 split in the 3:02 U.S. 4x4 was.

In a word, no. See Whitfield, Mal: OG bronze at 400, 1948.

Or, somewhat more recently, Juantorena, Alberto: gold at 400 and 800, 1976.

Different things work for different people.