Nordås "Track Is for people with talent, the talentless run marathons and half marathons.

That's generally the case. Marathoners are objectively less talented. What happens in marathoning is either you get too old and slow in track and you move on to the marathon or you realize fairly quickly you're a plodder and not going sub 13 any time soon and go to the marathon straight away

I don't agree. I look at being talented as having the ability or potential to do something that the majority of people cannot do. This talent can apply to something very specific. The ability to develop great speed endurance is a talent. The ability to train hard and not get injured is a talent. Most 1500m runners could not run a top world class marathon no matter how much they prepared. I would say Mohammed Farah is very talented and so is Eliud Kipchoge. One has more marathon talent than the other. A 2:04 marathoner whose track times don't compare to Farah's is more talented as a marathoner than Farah. It's pretty simple really.

I think its true, but when he exactly say that quote in podcast?

Read all the answers he gives. He says that at One point. There are many questions in the interview.

I've never got why speed Is always took as a parameter to measure talent while endurance Is always put on a lower level. If you're fast you're considered talented while if you're a pure endurance runner you're considered talentless.

Well said. Nordas’s quote is bogus.

Track is for people who lack the discipline and heart to train for distance.

It is a horrible take. To run 2:01 you have to have extreme talent.

Also, amazingly Nordas suddenly found some world class talent this year for track running.

Does that mean criminality is a talent as most people don't make good criminals? For example the average person couldn't be a Nigerian scammer or a serial killer or a Mafia Don or a pimp or a street hustler.

Generally, It seems like so many runners and even run lovers put speed endurance one level above pure endurance. Don't know where this common feeling comes from but It seems deep-rooted in runners mind.

He uses the word "talent" seven times in the interview. This is the most related to this thread:

"...it’s also correct that I started as a half marathon runner when I joined the group back in 2014, that was the main goal, just running half marathons locally. Maybe I would be going abroad just to run longer distances because I said to my coach that I’m not fast enough, I’m not talented enough, I have to run long distances because that’s the only thing talentless people can really do."

How he defines "talent" is important to consider.

To me, it sounds like he is talking about raw speed, and if you don't have it you have to keep going longer and longer until the speed that you do have is sufficient when combined with a lot of hard work, to yield results.

Later in the interview he equates talent in the 1500 as the ability to run 3:29 or faster.

Agree or disagree, but we should try to understand his point so we know what we are agreeing or disagreeing with.

It does mean that. Selling things or selling yourself is a talent as well. That's why so many apparent nincompoops make it as politicians. Not all talents are good. As Wolverine said, "I'm the best there is at what I do. But what I do isn't very nice..."

This Is what we are talking about: for many runners and run lovers speed=talent. For example running 5km in sub 13' is considered way more prestigious and talent-oriented rather than running a sub 2h05' marathon. Generally running fast is considered talented while running for long time and distances is considered talentless if compared.

Let’s also note in 2014 he was 15 years old. Not like he was probably fully developed when he determined he was talentless and had no speed. I can’t imagine many 15-year-olds in the US running well in distance races but thinking they better run the half marathon because they can’t break 55 in a 400 (or whatever his limitation was). Unique mindset to say the least.

Correct. Nordas "found" his talent because he never gave himself any credit and no real attempt for 1500 proper training and commitment until this year. Goes to show you what damage can be done when not believing in yourself.

I read a book by Pat Butcher about Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett which I enjoyed except for one point. He describes Ovett as this great natural talent and Coe as the result of lifelong scientific training. I find this is insulting to both of them. Ovett obviously matured much earlier, so he had more success from an early age, but he trained very hard to make the most of his potential and the idea that someone could run and dominate the way Coe did without immense talent is laughable. Their coaches used different methods to unlock their talents and I think Ovett made an astute observation that what worked for him quite probably would not have worked for Coe and vice versa. It reminds me of Cam Levins and how his potential was unlocked by logging huge quantities of mileage. The same approach would leave most runners a broken mess. Gjert Ingebrigtsen has obviously figured out how to unlock Nordås' potential.

2:04:59 is 1253 WA points (I think this doesn't take into account the shoe tech though) and 12:59 is 1213.

The 2:05 is more impressive but they're both not medal caliber.

because broadly speaking, endurance is trained and raw speed is much more reliant on genetics. work in HR zones 2-3 for 3 hours every day, and you will become an aerobic monster in a few years regardless of talent. do sprint training every day for a few years and you'll still probably not break 13-14 seconds for 100m.