What could Lionel Messi run in an 800?

1:36 is 6:26 minutes per mile afaik. I'm guessing something like 3:30. He is an out of shape midget with no endurance.

Soccer players have big aerobic engines often running 10k during matches. With some dedicated training I would say 1:55

Sub 2:30, without a doubt.

2:09

under 26:21

He’s kind of old now and doesn’t train specifically for it, so I would guess in the 2:10-2:20 range right now. But I do think if he had tried to become a middle distance runner instead he might have gone under 1:50. There are a lot of quick midfielders and defenders in football that could’ve been very elite track and field athletes.

Long distance too. The two fastest US 10k runners all time (Fisher and Rupp) were club soccer players.

Messi is old and slow for a pro Football player. No way he runs 1:55 even with specific training. I would say around 2:10 now.

Among footballers, I'd take Hakimi for a 800m. I wouldn't be suprised if he could run 1:55 tomorrow. Amazing athlete with the body of a middle distance runner, able to repeat 50m sprints during a game with ease

Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay ran a 16:01 5K during COVID lockdowns

manutd.com

You'll be shocked by McTominay's 5K time!

Scott has recorded the fastest time of our players, which may not surprise you, but the context of his run definitely will...

Open link

so I imagine Messi would have come close to that back in his prime.

This website says that a 16:01 5K is equivalent to a 2:06 800m https://wismuth.com/running/calculator.html#dist=5+km+%28road%29&h=0&m=16&s=01. I actually think Messi would do better than this (and Scott too) since football is much more sprint-heavy than aerobic, so could probably dip sub 2:05 or even challenge the 2 minute barrier.

Messi is on another planet vs the typical 800 runner.

Some training and he's doing 1;38

Messi is a lazy Argentinian with unmatched vision and ball-handling skills. He'd struggle to run 800m without stopping for a walk, but doesn't have to either.

3:30 is a good guess.

Messi in his youth could have run under 2:00, maybe even under 1:55. Beyond that, hard to say. A popular fitness test for soccer players is the beep test.

Any high level professional soccer player who does well in the beep test could easily transition to a decent time in the middle distance events. Some might be better in the 800, others in the 1500/mile, and still others in the 3K-5K. They couldn't just walk into legitimate times without extended specific track training, but I've seen some soccer players who I think had the potential for sub 1:50 800 or sub 4:00 in the mile.

Some years ago the USMNT had a player named Frankie Hejduk. He wasn't a world class soccer player but was good enough to have a nice professional career. Frankie was a beep test phenomenon. Even late in his career he would attend a U.S. camp and his teammates would grumble about Frankie acing the beep test. I always wondered what Frankie could have done had he transitioned to track.

but Messi is a lot less fit than Mc Tominay who is probably one of the best runners among footballers. Kante is likely sub 16 but most are rather 17-20 minutes guys.

Midfielders and full back are most of the time the fittest in terms of middle distance and distance running. Strikers are either Sprinters or Decathlete type. Wingers are sprinters or playmakers (those are usually the weakest in term of physical abilities). Centerbacks a bit like Basketball guys.

Messi is a washed out playmaker. He is nowhere as fit as in his prime. Not close. Moreover, as a superstar, all his teamates run for him so that he can focus on playmaking and scoring. He is the pro footballer who runs the less (7-8km per game while average is 10) . In his prime he was fast but still he doesn't have a great body shape for running straight, rather excelling at changing directions and moving very fast with the ball rather than outrunning others.

2:12 on a good day

these guys don’t sprint for more than 6 seconds at a time

Amazingly talented soccer players are incredible. That doesn't mean their soccer skill translates to being able to run a good 800m or sprint the 100m in record time. Running anything faster than 2:25 would be good.

Yay for a rational post.

There were a couple soccer kids coming out and running like 17:00 and 2:10 in highschool, we had one get to 1:59.

Id reckon most high level pro soccer players would fall somewhere in the 1:58-2:15 range. Not much faster because it takes specific training to go faster than that for most that do, and not much slower because if you can’t beat a JV 15/16 year old and you’re in your absolute physical prime you are either severely lacking in endurance or speed to the extent that you aren’t fit enough to play soccer at a world class level. This is excluding keepers obv.

Abdihamid Nur also started out in soccer (2x US 5k champ, road and track)

What did Grant Fisher run during soccer?

Idk now that he’s a bit older but in his prime I’d say 2:10 on a good day?