Centro is one of the greatest 1500m runners of the 2010s

The one reoccurring debate amongst runners: Would you rather have a WR or Oly Gold?

WR-Pros: that means you are the fastest person in the entire world, in the entire UNIVERSE! Nobody in recorded history has ever done what you just did. A WR is a singular achievement by you alone never ever duplicated. Your name goes down in history, and perhaps as the greatest ever in the history of the world.

Con: WR are just times, and eventually will be broken and your name just disappears into a list of other former record holders. Your record may be broken by someone using some new tech (super shoes) or by new drugs, and there's no way to defend your record against those factors.

Oly Gold- Pros: You will be remembered as a gold medal winner for the rest of your life. You will be on TV, you will receive a huge professional bump from winning such a prestigious event. You can win Oslo 5x and only track nerds care, but win the Oly final and you could become a household name. The gold medal is seen as not only a W for you, but for your country (even if this is wrong) so it is even MORE marketable and revered by the general public.

Cons: They have an Olympic Games every 4 years, so you are just another person walking around with a gold medal. They give gold medals for people doing ball room dancing, skateboarding, and synchronized swimming, so is a gold really that big of a deal?

(sorry for the long post I was bored. )

Winning is the point of racing.

The beauty of racing is that everyone in the race has the same external conditionals. It will always be more impressive to win than to simply run fast. AND — this is evident in races with no rabbit.

That’s why overwhelmingly, in championship racing, it becomes tactical. Everyone is willing to sacrifice running fast for a chance at winning. If they cared about running fast, any of the people in the field could set off on PR pace but they no when the chips are on the table, a PR and a bad placing is unsatisfying.

A time trial / world record attempt is generally some manufactured affair. And it’s era dependent & conditions dependent.

He's one of those guys that was a huge gamer but will never be known for running crazy times. Lotta respect for him tho and 3:30 is good but enough people have broken that barrier

I agree 100%. I'd rather win Olympic gold than set a WR. I'd rather win Boston than be the fastest marathoner... it's all about racing and winning. Times are nice, times are very impressive, but winning when it counts is the true test of competition.

This is an intriguing claim, though I'd edit it to say "one of the greatest championship 1500m runners of the 2010s" Would be interesting to see compiled WC and Oly finishes of him vs. other contenders for that label

I think if you asked any WR holder that didn't win an Olympic gold that question, the overwhelming answer is the latter - the Olympic gold. The only case that might differ is the breaking of a mythical barrier (4min mile) but honestly if you asked Steve Cram would have rather have the '84 gold vs the first sub 3.30 in history - I think he'd take the gold without even thinking (might have even heard him say this/read this somewhere before).

To the question of Centro? Well for the decade of the 10's he's either 1A or 1B as the greatest of that 10 year stretch.

This is synonymous with OPs claim. Racing is about winning not running fast times and losing. Being great is about winning not stats. No one in any other sport is considered great or the best unless they are winners why does track seem to the exception here

Another caveat to his career is people are already attributing his Rio Gold race to changing the whole mile/1500 event for the last few years. Since that race, milers have increasingly begun to race fast and much less tactically. They'll never let Rio happen again.

Few athletes can claim to have completely changed their event. Not quite at a Fosbury level, but noteworthy and darn impressive.

The seven men in the conversation (assuming you DQ Kiprop and Manangoi) are, in order of 2010-2019 PB:

Silas Kiplagat 3:27.64

- 2nd Daegu 2011, 5th Beijing 2015, 6th Moscow 2013, 7th London 2012

- 15 Diamond League 1500/mile wins (2 DL Finals)

- 2010 Commonwealth Games gold

- 4 sub-3:30s

Timothy Cheruiyot 3:28.41

- 1st Doha 2019, 2nd London 2017, 7th Beijing 2015

- 20 Diamond League 1500/mile wins (4 DL Finals)

- 6 sub-3:30s

Taoufik Makhloufi 3:28.75

- 1st London 2012, 2nd Rio 2016, 2nd Doha 2019, 4th Beijing 2015

- 1 Diamond League 1500/mile win (1 DL Final)

- 1 sub-3:30

Abdelaati Iguider 3:28.79

- 3rd London 2012, 3rd Beijing 2015, 5th Daegu 2011, 5th Rio 2016

- World Indoor gold 2012, World Indoor silver 2010, World Indoor bronze 2014 & 2018

- 0 Diamond League 1500/mile wins

- 2 sub-3:30s

Ayanleh Souleiman 3:29.58

- 4th Rio 2016

- World Indoor gold 2014

- 7 Diamond League 1500/mile wins

- 1 sub-3:30

Nick Willis 3:29.66

- 3rd Rio 2016, 6th Beijing 2015, 7th London 2017

- World Indoor bronze 2016

- 0 Diamond League 1500/mile wins

- 2 sub-3:30s

Matt Centrowitz 3:30.40

- 1st Rio 2016, 2nd Moscow 2013, 3rd Daegu 2011, 4th London 2012, 8th Beijing 2015, 8th Doha 2019

- World Indoor gold 2016

- 1 Diamond League 1500/mile win

- 0 sub-3:30s

…

There are probably some people who would rank Centro outside the top 5 based on their personal criteria, but I think it’s fair to say he’s one of only 3-4 men with a legitimate argument for being the greatest of the decade.

I hadn’t thought about this initially, but even though he came in halfway through the decade Cheruiyot has a strong case for being #1. Look at all the DL/DL Final wins, the 6 sub-3:30s, the PB 2 seconds faster than Centro’s, the World Championship gold and silver - plus, I think his 2019 gold medal run is probably the single finest 1500 performance of the decade.

I think it’s faulty to assume that it’s a permanent change or that it’s a direct result of Centro’s Rio 1500. I mean, Cheruiyot and Ingebrigtsen would have been racing the same way regardless of who won in Rio (or whether Centro was even in the race) because of the types of runners they are. Just like how El Guerrouj time trialed the 1999 World Championship in 3:27.65. It’s likely that before long a future generation will shift back to more tactical 1500 racing.

One of the greatest of 2010s? What does that mean? Matt C did race to win one time and he won, 2016 1500m Olympic final. You can never include career sandbaggers on a great list. There are runners listed on this thread who were never any higher than 5th place with 300m to go. Any runner who races 4th through last place, with 300m to go, 800m to 10000m cannot be included with greats.

Maybe I'm old fashioned but I would argue anyone with an Olympic gold can safely be included in best of all time conversations let alone 2010s.

Willis doesnt really belong, consistency aside…I think Tim wins if youre considering the doping factors. Makhloufi I honestly would be more surprised if he was clean than Manangoi. Centrowitz’ greatness is undeniable, though. And to the poster saying he ran for 3rd, id somewhat disagree as Willis was the king of that…and literally crossed the line 3 times with no potential to win in any of the 3 races. Centrowitz was sometimes outclassed but in the mix in global finals

100% agreed. He has one global title out of 7 global championships. The people stating he is the greatest runner of the 2010s are out of their mind.

I will say, he does benefit in that there was no one dominant miler that decade. The 2000s were El G, the 2020s (so far) are Jakob. But 2010s is a bit more up in the air, but to say it's Centro is an insult to the 1,500m/mile.

He ranks outside the top 10 best milers of the 2010s. His one fluke Oly gold in 2016 is the only thing that puts him close to top 10, but even that doesn't do enough to put him inside. Take the 12 best runners from the 2010s at their peak, put them in a race together, and he finishes 11 or 12 80% of the time or more.

I think that poster was talking about Willis.

en.m.wikipedia.org

1500 metres

The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Cham...

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en.m.wikipedia.org

2010s

The 2010s (pronounced ''"twenty-tens" or "two thousand (and) tens"; shortened to "the '10s" also known as "The Tens" or more rarely "The Teens") was a decade that began on January 1, 2010, and ended on December 31, 2019. The...

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Here to help.

Think he was talking about both. If you really put everyone in their 2010s top form with no pacing, how would it go…probably

Makhloufi (likely doped to the gills)

Tim

Kiplagat

Iguider

Centrowitz

Souleiman (likely doped, yet still never medaled with all the tools and fitness)

Lewandowski

Willis

But again you have to factor that Centro was so good tactically, you run it 10 times he pops Iguider, and Kiplagat some times.

Didn't he also win like, a bajillion US titles?

The Willis disrespect is insane lol no way he finishes last. He has to be above Souleiman and Lewandowski at the very least.