Webb breaks Drake Mile Record

qucassidy wrote:

I saw him for the first time at the Pre as a high schooler.

I saw him again at the Pre two years later; he ran an 8:11;

great and exciting race to watch. He has run a 27 plus 10 k

in the last year. He went to Europe two years ago, early in the season I think, and cleaned up.

Let me preface this by saying that I think Webb will run well and that he's on the up and up.

But...

He ran his 8:11 AR in 2005 (I was trackside, too) -- four years after his high school run. And he's never "cleaned up" in Europe. Andre Bücher cleaned up in 2001: winning 9 out of 10 races. Webb has won one European grand prix level meet (Ostrava, 2004) and beat a number of good names there. Personally, I think his greatest success will be at 5000m, but he'll run well this year in Europe and he should be able to make the final in Osaka and improve on his finish from last time around. 3:30 is a reasonable expectation given his lack of marks from last year. Sub 1:46 in a good 800 and if he decides to jump in the Berlin 5000m again (assuming he's not too spent) he can get within a few ticks of 13 minutes.

qucassidy wrote:

The idea that Webb is inconsistent is an old wives tale.

There are very few great athletes, that go their entire career winning every single race. Bekele, a few others.

Bekele? He's had trouble winning the last few years, even XC this year. Certainly, without the invincible aura anymore.

just a spectacular race. i'm still walking on air just after witnessing it. the crowd gave him a standing ovation for his entire victory lap, and then again when the announcer asked in the interview if webb would come back (though webb was non-commital). joseph was the rabbit through 1k and the splits were a bit inconsistent. 55-high or 56-low first lap. 1:56 800. 2:54 or 5 third lap. still just amazing to watch.

i'm waiting for someone else to comment on the full head of hair he was sportin...

HE often runs fast times .. only to loose a step later on in the season.

He has a great opportunity to reverse this trend. I am a big believer in this guy.. He can win the 1500 meter gold medal... Rachid Ramzee is up and down. Bernie Lagat is getting older.. Its time for Webb to take it them.

Webb was crawling around on a rug when the AR for the mile was set. In short it was a third of a average human life span ago.

he's had two GP wins. and several of bucher's wins were small meets.

here's the video of the race....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iODU1SgNno4

His confidence is going to go through the roof with that new head of hair.... look for a new WR this summer.

bbbbbb wrote:

i wonder why so many iowa kids run really fast on drakes track then there times drop 2-3 seconds per mile on other tracks?

Funny I thought the same thing about the times at Penn and Stanford, not really at Drake.

Osaka? Doha? Carson? Hengelo? NYC? Eugene? Somewhere else?

And (3) Johan Fourie is South African, not Russian, no matter what the Des Moines Register says. That mistake is typical of this guy's life: Since South Africa was banned from international competition because of apartheid during Fourie's entire career, he never raced any of his contemporaries or ran in any major meets. He ran virtually alone (he won more than 100 consecutive 1500s) but broke 4:00 for the mile more than 50 times (PR 3:50.82) and set 1M, 2000m, and 3000m national records that still stand. As well as having held the prestigious April mile record for 21 years, he's also the only person ever to break 4:00 in two 1M races in one day, although Daniel Komen might argue. To top it off, his death was widely reported after someone with the same name was killed in an accident; crying friends kept calling his house to comfort his wife, who'd hand him the phone. Alistair Cragg called him the greatest South African runner who no one's ever heard of.

wow thats all very intersting info, thanks. i have been to south africa so its nice to know a little of the running history.