he had ZERO business opening 2008, an Olympic year at a road 8k. And he had ballooned up in weight and muscle and got food poison night before and it was just a awful start to what would follow him til his triathlon days.
What 8k are you referring to? He entered the Carlsbad 5000 in April of that year.
he had ZERO business opening 2008, an Olympic year at a road 8k. And he had ballooned up in weight and muscle and got food poison night before and it was just a awful start to what would follow him til his triathlon days.
What 8k are you referring to? He entered the Carlsbad 5000 in April of that year.
Found it, the USA Men’s 8KChampionship three weeks prior.
Sullivan had a better career/ longevity and consistency than webb no doubt. But NONE of his cross country seasons is put money on we’re better than webbs 2001.
case in point the fact sully could t even top webbs Michigan after years of attempting and Webb destroyed it in no time. Also, 2001 NCAA is still prob one of the deepest fields ever… Webb got 11th! Sully NEVER ran against the depth that was in that race.
I loved Kevin Sullivan but in no way would I trade his 'career' for Webb's.
Re. Sullivan's career (which doesn't deserve to be in quotes)... he was 5th at the 1995 WCs after his junior year at Michigan with a devastating kick (rolling up Fermin Cacho, among others). But then he missed the 1996 Olympics with injuries, had surgery, and never quite regained his snap. He was fifth at the 2000 Olympics and ran 3:31, but no longer had the big kick and didn't quite ascend the heights that looked possible in 1995. All in all, Sullivan had much greater longevity and consistency, but you're probably right that Webb's career was more illustrious (even if he never managed a single fifth at WC/OG, let alone two).
Re. Webb's 2001 XC season (where he topped out at 11th at NCAAs) being better than Sullivan's (all of which, as pointed out, were top ten at NCAAs, including fourth as a freshman, second as a sophomore, and second as a senior)... that's just crazy. In his senior year, he lost to Meb but beat Lagat, Goucher, and Abdi. Webb in 2001 finished one spot behind Travis Laird.
Alan figured it all out in 2007 and then tried to increase more of what he was doing in 2008 and it was the beginning of the end.
he had ZERO business opening 2008, an Olympic year at a road 8k. And he had ballooned up in weight and muscle and got food poison night before and it was just a awful start to what would follow him til his triathlon days.
He had a stellar 2007. Opening the 2008 Olympic year with the longer road races against 5000m specialists is interesting.
NYRR club prob paid a fortune to Webb to run that 8k.
he had ended 2007 w a victory at 5th ave so he was prob in the bank w them.
its hard to even find pictures of that race but Webb was the biggest he ever was as a runner at that 8k. He must have killed himself in his makeshift dinning room gym that offseason. There are couple videos of him post race.
NYRR club prob paid a fortune to Webb to run that 8k.
he had ended 2007 w a victory at 5th ave so he was prob in the bank w them.
its hard to even find pictures of that race but Webb was the biggest he ever was as a runner at that 8k. He must have killed himself in his makeshift dinning room gym that offseason. There are couple videos of him post race.
He evidently felt he would need to be stronger to get through the rounds of the 1500m, and then financial decisions probably factored into running the longer road races, but the end results maybe had a heavy psychological toll.
Steve Cram used to open up his seasons with about 6 weeks in Colorado and he would run the Cherry Creek 5 mile race (then pretty big with some other international athletes and top runners from Colorado. That was in late April. Anyway, don't see anything terrible with a miler doing some work on the roads early in the season.
Steve Scott had some top 10 finishes at USA cross country. Spivey was 15th at NCAA as a freshman. Do not recall if he ever placed higher than that. Both went on to win World Championship medals.
I loved Kevin Sullivan but in no way would I trade his 'career' for Webb's.
Re. Sullivan's career (which doesn't deserve to be in quotes)... he was 5th at the 1995 WCs after his junior year at Michigan with a devastating kick (rolling up Fermin Cacho, among others). But then he missed the 1996 Olympics with injuries, had surgery, and never quite regained his snap. He was fifth at the 2000 Olympics and ran 3:31, but no longer had the big kick and didn't quite ascend the heights that looked possible in 1995. All in all, Sullivan had much greater longevity and consistency, but you're probably right that Webb's career was more illustrious (even if he never managed a single fifth at WC/OG, let alone two).
Re. Webb's 2001 XC season (where he topped out at 11th at NCAAs) being better than Sullivan's (all of which, as pointed out, were top ten at NCAAs, including fourth as a freshman, second as a sophomore, and second as a senior)... that's just crazy. In his senior year, he lost to Meb but beat Lagat, Goucher, and Abdi. Webb in 2001 finished one spot behind Travis Laird.
Yeah, I'm kinda struggling why people are saying they'd prefer to have Webb's career of Sullivans. Webb had faster PRs and a bigger range, sure, but it's not like Sullivan's were super far off in their primary events. Sullivan had a more illustrious NCAA career, competed at more Olympics (3 vs. 1) and waaaay more World Champs, and had better finishes (5th twice in the Olympics vs. Webb's 7th in Osaka). Plus Sullivan competed at a highest level way longer than Webb. I will say concerning career $$$, Webb proably has him beat there.
Would you rather be a special teams guy in N.F.L. who can be a capable back up for all four defense lineman in a 4 - 3 defense or would you prefer to be an elite quarterback rushing defense end specialist?
Would you prefer to be a capable baseball utility guy who can fill in at most positions or would you prefer to be a star shortstop?
Would you prefer to be a person with so-called range, a T&F athlete capable of giving team a decent relay leg 400m, 800m and 1500m or would you want be a gold medalist 1500m runner?
Have you noticed? The greatest range male T&F runners: Said Aouita & Steve Ovett, no 1500m Olympic gold medal. Add Mohammed Farah and Rod Dixon. The greatest range female: Sifan Hassan, no 1500m Olympic gold.
Would you rather be a special teams guy in N.F.L. who can be a capable back up for all four defense lineman in a 4 - 3 defense or would you prefer to be an elite quarterback rushing defense end specialist?
Would you prefer to be a capable baseball utility guy who can fill in at most positions or would you prefer to be a star shortstop?
Would you prefer to be a person with so-called range, a T&F athlete capable of giving team a decent relay leg 400m, 800m and 1500m or would you want be a gold medalist 1500m runner?
Have you noticed? The greatest range male T&F runners: Said Aouita & Steve Ovett, no 1500m Olympic gold medal. Add Mohammed Farah and Rod Dixon. The greatest range female: Sifan Hassan, no 1500m Olympic gold.
Range is overrated.
Are you minimizing the greatness of Aouita and Farah?
Webb was the most exciting American runner of his generation but I can't help feeling disappointed about how his career went, and I expect he does too. In contrast Sullivan probably feels that he got the most out of his talent.
Webb had slightly better PRs, but Sullivan had better championship performances. Aside from signature moments like his Olympic Trials win, Webb had a what-if career. He never competed successfully in a global championship, he had the crazy mid-race sprint in the 2007 WC, and the years-long slide into irrelevance.