BEST RUNNER NEVER TO BREAK A RECORD?

When El Guerrouj ran his mile WR (I assume this is the one you meant), Noah Ngeny was second. Ngeny is the Olympic Record holder for 1500m.

When El Guerrouj ran his 1500m WR, Laban Rotich was in second (almost 5 seconds back, in 3:30.94). According to wikipedia, "He holds the world's best indoor performance over one mile for men over 35 years with 3:53.18 minutes." I guess if we are counting "any records," then indoor age group records count. He may hold, or have held, other records, but I don't know.

When El G ran his 2000m WR, Paul Bitok was second (10 seconds back). I don't know what, if any, records he has held.

Miruts Yifter

1980 Olympic Champ 5k and 10k

1972 Bronze 10k

The first of the big Ethiopin finishers.

yes, i was refering to his mile WR. thanks on the other stuff though

Noah Ngeny- ran the 2nd fastest all time mile 3:43.40, so he kind of knows what Sammy Korir feels like.

And malmo's right- Greg Meyer held the 10 mile and other American road records, although I was thinking track.

Ryan Hall actually bettered Greg's 10 mile time considerably enroute to 13.1, although I don't think it will be recorded.

Mackenzie wrote:

Miruts Yifter

1980 Olympic Champ 5k and 10k

1972 Bronze 10k

The first of the big Ethiopin finishers.

And thus set the Ethiopin record. This thread is terrible because people are counting American records, but mentioning athletes who clearly have/had their own countries record. The question askes record of any sort, which frankly is pretty damn hard.

Ethiopian*

Peter Rono

MarathonMind wrote:

Noah Ngeny- ran the 2nd fastest all time mile 3:43.40, so he kind of knows what Sammy Korir feels like.

Ngeny also knows how Seb Coe feels - Ngeny is the world record holder in the 1000m.

Ol' Grumpus wrote:

When El G ran his 2000m WR, Paul Bitok was second (10 seconds back). I don't know what, if any, records he has held.

Bitok held the Kenyan indoor record for 2 miles in 2001. A very, very impressive career.

1500 m

Outdoor Alltime

1992 3:37.8hA 5 MilitaryC Nairobi 23 May

1996 3:39.34 1 Brisbane 14 Mar

1997 3:36.87 1 PNG Turku 12 Jun

1998 3:35.82 1rA Rehlingen 1 Jun

2000 3:36.17 2 CGU Gateshead 28 Aug

2001 3:31.96 3 DNG Stockholm 17 Jul

Indoor Alltime

2000 3:41.15+i 3 Gaz Liévin 13 Feb

One Mile

Outdoor Alltime

1996 3:59.6h 8 Herc Monaco 10 Aug

Indoor Alltime

2000 3:56.39i 3 Gaz Liévin 13 Feb

2000 m

Outdoor Alltime

1996 4:58.8h 7 Herc Monaco 10 Aug

1997 4:55.17+ 2 GP II Rieti 3 Sep

1999 4:54.36 2 ISTAF Berlin 7 Sep

Indoor Alltime

1999 5:03.16+i 2 Gaz Liévin 21 Feb

3000 m

Outdoor Alltime

1992 7:33.28 2 Weltk Köln 16 Aug

1993 7:34.98 1 Weltk Köln 1 Aug

1994 7:34.36 1 Nikaïa Nice 18 Jul

1995 7:34.50 2 Bislett Oslo 21 Jul

1996 7:28.41 3 Herc Monaco 10 Aug

1997 7:30.23 1 Herc Monaco 16 Aug

1998 7:42.27 1 GP II Doha 7 May

1999 7:34.70 3 Golden Paris 21 Jul

2000 7:35.20 7 Herc Monaco 18 Aug

2001 7:31.00 3 VD Bruxelles 24 Aug

2002 7:35.94 5 Herc Monaco 19 Jul

2003 7:40.49 1 GP Sevilla 7 Jun

2004 7:39.96 1 Aragón Zaragoza 8 Jun

2005 7:39.66 2 Metropole Villeneuve d'Ascq 12 Jun

Indoor Alltime

1997 7:38.84i 2 WC Paris 9 Mar

1999 7:42.37i 2 Gaz Liévin 21 Feb

2000 7:43.30+i 1 Boston MA 6 Feb

2001 7:48.87+i 2 Flanders Gent 23 Feb

2002 7:48.09i 3 Athína Pireás 20 Feb

2004 7:43.23i 3 Sparkassen Stuttgart 31 Jan

2005 7:48.02i 3 Sparkassen Stuttgart 29 Jan

2006 7:39.76i 3 Sparkassen Stuttgart 4 Feb

Two Miles

Outdoor Alltime

1996 8:19.55 3 EAA Lappeenranta 14 Jul

1999 8:16.44 2 GP London 7 Aug

Indoor Alltime

2000 8:16.15i 1 New Balance Boston MA 6 Feb

2001 8:13.28i NR 4 Norw Union Birmingham 18 Feb

2002 8:22.49i 4 Norw Union Birmingham 17 Feb

2004 8:34.18i 4 Norw Union Birmingham 20 Feb

2005 8:24.22i 3 Norw Union Birmingham 18 Feb

2006 8:27.60i 5 Norw Union Birmingham 18 Feb

5000 m

Outdoor Alltime

1989 13:41.3h 2 Kisumu 25 Nov

1992 13:08.89 1 Oslo 4 Jul

1993 13:08.68 1 Bislett Oslo 10 Jul

1994 13:07.30 2 London 15 Jul

1995 13:16.39 2 WK Zürich 16 Aug

1996 13:04.48 2 GP II Saint-Denis 3 Jun

1997 13:04.74 5 DNG Stockholm 7 Jul

1998 13:14.26 3 L'Humanité Saint-Denis 4 Jun

1999 13:31.01 16 WK Zürich 11 Aug

2000 13:04.15 10 Bislett Oslo 28 Jul

2001 13:00.10 1 Bislett Oslo 13 Jul

2002 12:58.94 4 Bislett Oslo 28 Jun

2003 13:14.03 1 Nord Villeneuve d'Ascq 15 Jun

2004 13:12.78 1 San Sebastián 3 Jul

Indoor Alltime

1999 13:15.22i 2 BUPA Birmingham 14 Feb

10000 m

Outdoor Alltime

1995 28:51.6hA Nairobi 16 May

Indoor Alltime

2002 28:20.31i 5 Flanders Gent 10 Feb

In major events:

Outdoor

3000 m

WCp 2002: 4 7:56.31

5000 m

OG 1992: 2 13:12.71

WC 1993: 8 13:23.41

OG 1996: 2 13:08.16

WC 1997: 13 13:30.25

AfrC 2002: 1 13:31.95

Indoor

3000 m

WC 1997: 2 7:38.84

WC 1999: 2 7:53.79

WC 2001: 4h1 8:06.13 10 7:54.16

Frankie Fredricks outdoors. (Has the indoor 200 record...very hard to break 20 indoors)

Very long career. 19.66 in the greatest sprint race ever. Mr. Consistency in the sprints.

Merlene Ottey and Gail Devers for women's sprints.

kenyaaaan wrote:

Currently ... what about Sileshi Sihine of ETH?

I don't think anyone can do better than this. If it weren't for Bekele, he'd have all kinds of records.

The suggestions of Sammy Korir and Sileshi Sihine are on the right track, for what the original poster seemed to want to get at. Let's try and rephrase, because although there's no right answer these historical threads can be kind of interesting.

1) Who is the best runner on a world stage never to have held a world record?

A more stringent version of this would be "Who is the best runner on a world stage never to have held an open age group national record at standard distances?" (Clearly if you've never held a national record, you've never held a world record)

Sammy Korir is a great example because he finished 2nd by 1 second to a world record set by someone from his own country.

Mimoun is a good example, but presumably held many French records, so by the more stringent criteria.

2) Who is the best American runner never to have held an open age group American record?

(By open age I mean the standard 20-39 year age group)

Clearly there will be people who don't fall into category 2, but do fall into category 1.

Best runner never to set an American or world record? Miruts Yifter, as someone has already said.

Mike Boit was a great runner who never set a record. Yeah, he's not an American, but ...

In person, he was a helluva nice guy. Would go out of his way to speak with a fan or give them an autograph. Someone told me had moved to the US permanently. Is this true?

As far a Americans go, Dathan Ritzenhein?

asdADA wrote:

As far a Americans go, Dathan Ritzenhein?

Dathan is high on the list. What about Tegenkamp?

Mark Croghan came within a gnats eyelash of the steeple AR, but never got it. Multiple national teams, Oly 6th or so, no AR, no WR.

He ran an awesome race at The Olympics in Atlanta. I saw him run a fast early season SC at the Jessie Owens meet in the horseshoe a few months before they dug up the track to add more seats for football. I believe Michigan has an Owens memorial at their track but Ohio state chose to destroy the track he raced on.

How about Rod Dixon (successful from 1500 to marathon)?

Toshihiko Seko (unless you count the 25k and 30k records, which you might not because they are non-standard distances)?

Mamo Wolde?

Was going to suggest Kip Keino, but he briefly held the 5k record (and held the 3k record for a longer time). Could suggest Rob de Castella, but many people credit him with the marathon WR (it was a hair slower than Salazar's record, but Salazar's record proved to be on a slightly short course).

Almost all the great Americans (Rodgers, Pre, Shorter, Scott) held ARs but never WRs.