Coe ran 1:41.73. Cram in comparison ran 1:42.88 and Ovett’s PB was only 1:44.09 (he could have run faster, but not 1:41 fast).
Coe was so speed based that from ‘76 to ‘79 he raced 23 800s and 2 400s without contesting any longer races. When he finally did race a mile again, he set the WR in his first try.
He ran a 46.87 open 400 three days before that mile WR.
I’m sure Coe could have run faster at 3k and 5k but I’m also quite confident those were not his events and he was never capable of a truly competitive 5k. I believe Cram and Ovett especially were better suited to those events, but who cares when Coe ran 1:41.73 and has a better Olympic resume than those two combined.
The suggestion that his 3k/5k PRs might be due to “poor training” is laughably absurd given his times and achievements at 800/1500. His father and coach Peter Coe was obsessive and left no stone unturned, and some details of Coe’s training are included in his book(s?). One workout I remember was: 100-110-120-130…up to 200 in 10m increments, adding 1.0 seconds to the target for each rep. So for Seb, you’re starting with a 13 second 100 and running faster and faster until you’re running a 23 second 200. That’s not Ingebrigtsen training, but obviously it worked brilliantly in its own way.