BEST RUNNER NEVER TO BREAK A RECORD?

Sorry, there's supposed to be a colon after "ever".

there are way too many records for any good runner to have not broken one. school records, meet records, stadium records. most of the world hasnt heard of me but i have all of these records, i imagine that anyone we would have heard of has broken some of these aswell.

but yea you were talking about american records and world records.

I'd say Greg Meyer. Won Boston but never held a record that I am aware of.

Not sure of the rest of the world, or other track athletes.

Sammy Korir - the guy who finished second in Tergat's 2:04:55 mara WR by one second! He's an accomplished marathoner, obviously, but never set a record because Kenya is so tough.

Check out his marathon record here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Korir

it's pretty impressive.

So no WR, or even a NR. His half-mara time is around an hour.

Here's a performance that meets the guidelines in an intriguing way.

1982, Washington State Kenyan Peter Koech runs 13:09.50 in Stockholm (I think). At the time, that makes him #2 all-time. But despite being #2, he lost the race to Rono, who of course held WR and Kenyan records ... AND the school record at WSU of 13;08.4.

So, college guy is #2 all-time, but no national, collegiate, or even school record.

Currently ... what about Sileshi Sihine of ETH?

He never held any WR's or NR's but he does hold the Ethiopian 10000m championship record (for their nationals, which a lot of good guys sometimes bypass since they already made the team).

I figure for this discussion, championship records are probably ok in omitting...

Has Abdi set any records in America?

Carl Lewis would have been the best ever to not get an idividual world record if Ben Johnson didn't admit to taking steroids before his 9.83 in Rome.

So I am going to have to say Allen Johnson.

He twice missed the WR by .01 s, he won an Olympic Gold plus 3 or 4 World Championships.

but he has the american record right?

OK, Allen Johnson used to have the American Record.

So he may be the best to never hold a world record. This subject was more specific.

no the topic was the best to never break a record of any sort

Alan Webb

Alan Webb broke the 2 mile American record.

Richard Kimball. He did set a diving record, but no running records, despite never losing a footrace.

MarathonMind wrote:

I'd say Greg Meyer. Won Boston but never held a record that I am aware of.

Not sure of the rest of the world, or other track athletes.

Meyer has many AR's to his credit.

Alain Mimoun - 1 Olympic gold (1956 marathon) and 3 Olympic silvers (1948 10000m, 1952 5000m and 10000m), but he had the misfortune of competing at the same time as Zatopek who set 18 world records. Mimoun also won the world XC champs 4 times. He never set a world record but did however set world age bests at 51 for 10000m (32:14) and the marathon (2:34:36.2).

I have to assume that Mimoun set many national records.

This topic is virtually impossible to discuss if we really mean "no records" of any sort--no world, national, championship, or even meet records. Surely any world-class runner has at least a meet or course record somewhere.

A couple of years ago there was an article posted on here about a boy found in rural Iran, I believe, running with a herd of Gazelles - presumably raised by them. I believe they called him "Gazelle Boy." He was clocked running 30 miles per hour. I vote for him.

who was the guy who finished second to El G when he set his WR?