Hassan is the GOAT female distance runner

You do know Centrowitz is a man and Hassan is a woman, right?

why don’t threads ever get joined/deleted so people don’t look like complete boneheads for not understanding how message boards (should) work

Life is hard when you have two eyes that see, wise old man.

I don’t believe it for a second

This is a good post, but in terms of comparing them, Hassan is just on a different level. She's more than half a minute faster in the 10k, even though that was perhaps Dibaba's best event (and not necessarily Hassan's). In addition, her championship performances, like the 3:59 close in the 2019 10k or the triple in 2021, are well, well beyond what Dibaba could have done at her peak.

Say you're comparing two NCAA cross country runners. Runner A is a historic D3 stud, winning the NCAA title in all four years and never losing a race. Runner B is a D1 stud, winning two NCAA titles, but being injured, inconsistent, or just bad the other two years. I think nearly everyone would say the Runner B was greater, just because it's a totally different level of competition. There's no real question that if the two raced at their respective peaks, Runner B would win. It's plausible that B could have done what A did, training less to be more consistent and winning over lesser (but still excellent) competition; but inconceivable that A could have done what B did.

This comparison feels facile, but the chasm between Hassan's level and Dibaba's is immense (or Hassan's and almost anyone's), close to half as big as the Runner B -> Runner A gap. How can we compare the two, given that in every one of Dibaba's best performances we can be pretty confident that the Hassan of the past few years could have beaten her?

I thought her performances before the marathon indicated she was dirty. And the marathon only reinforces that belief. There may have been an amazing women's race at London, but it wasn't the winner.

So you think Hassan is dirty and all other female (and male) top runners are clean!?

It’s the usual unsubstantiated garbage accusations typical of a group of LRC losers. Picking and choosing who’s clean and dirty based on nothing more than jealousy and self loathing. Sure, Hassan might be doping, but that goes for every single other elite in the field. Spare us the sanctimonious bs people and do us all a favor and watch another sport that doesn’t bother you as much.

Such silly nonsense. Who in the top 5 of either race is not doing in your opinion? Just the winners are doping because they are the winners? If you can make out a credible case against Hassan specifically as opposed to the others, I’m listening. If you think they are all doping, then just quit watching and spare yourself the pain.

Hilarious. That describes the Tokyo 5000 when Obiri furiously started pumping her arms early during the final lap. I was in hysterics because the result was inevitable. Hassan was smack behind her. Hassan's biggest problem was not to laugh. It was even more amusing when Obiri felt Hassan draw alongside and frantically pushed even more. Bye Bye.

There are different levels of kick. Obiri is trumped in raw ability by Hassan just like Hassan has dropped the 1500 because she is always out finished by Kipyegon.

You don't win a major marathon anymore without doping. Honesty is not cynicism. This is one of the most obvious dopers in sports. But when in Rome.

How many of those women are world class from 800 to marathon? Only one - Hassan.

Don't put words in my mouth. I think most everyone at that level is dirty. Someone out there had a big day for themselves, but that won't be covered because they were so far behind.

Wow, your comment re: level of competition is a rather audacious level of disrespect for Meseret Defar, Vivian Cheruiyot, Lornah Kiplagat, and many others. Are you not old enough to remember those great runners?

Dibaba is still second fastest all-time at 5K, faster than Hassan. There’s no doubt Dibaba would have run much faster at 10K if she’d been able to train and race with super shoes, and go for the world record with the assistance of pacing lights.

I suggest you watch YouTube videos of the Baby-Faced Destroyer.

Gidey will definitely be running track her coach Haile Eyasu put a post on FB about her running the 1500m at either Doha or Rabat the first two events of the Diamond league this year. Obviously she is working on speed and Eyasu posed the question whether we think she can run under 3.58. (Obviously she must have already done this in training )If she continues to develop finishing speed she will surely be favourite for the 10000m.
I believe Obiri is finished with track, this was confirmed by her coach after the NY marathon. Hassan is the wildcard. I believe she will be front and centre at the track but this unexpected result may cause her to alter course.

I think Debab have a better resume than Hassan.
Debaba also have a win in london and Chicago in the marathon and a better personal best and she used to hold the world record for the 10k and 5k. While Hassan don’t have any word record. She did has some amazing races and wins and defiantly great range but on achievements level Debab is far better than Hassan. T. Debaba owned the 10k from 2003-2012. I don’t have remember Hassan owning any specific distance for couple more years.

I question your intelligence. You assume that our enjoyment is less because we think they are likely doping. Why do you assume this? You say the sport “bothers” us because we think they are likely doping. This seems like projection of some sort. So it bothers you that they might be doping so you bury your head in the sand to preserve your enjoyment? I enjoy the sport knowing they are likely doping. Got it?

oh my friggin god just stop watching the sport if you're this incapable of actually enjoying it. you're not doing anything constructive by behaving as though human performance can't possibly have progressed from the levels achieved by glory-days boomers in crappy shoes on slow tracks. you must be such a joy to sit down and watch a race with...and for the record, every cynic ever born claims they're "just being honest."

Hellen had already stepped up to the roads by then, but you saw what she did in Boston to drop the third fastest marathoner in history.

Thing is, Hassan isn't the best at any distance: Faith is better at the 1,500, Gidey is faster at both thee 5,000m and 10,000m and several ladies would beat her in a non-tactical marathon. She was also run out of the medals in Rio 2016 and Eugene 2022.