Jim Ryun ran a 47 second anchor leg in theMile relay at the KU relays
followed that a few weeks later with an American record in the 2 mile
a few weeks later another american record in the mile
then a couple weeks later a World record in the half mile.
5 week period in 1966 3 AR 1 WR
oh yeah, he was only 19...
WRs were easier to get when there were only a few africans on the world scene. what were the times on those races? i would venture that webb could have matched the feat (better on the mile/2mi, worse on the 800, equal on the 400)
Webb was splitting 47s in high school.
The 60's are over. Your side lost.
Well, Webb, until a few weeks ago had the American record in the 2 mile in a respectably faster time than Ryun, he has split 47s, and ran faster than Mr. Ryun by a considerable margin in high school. I would say that aside from his 800, Webb could more than match Jim Ryun for range when both were in their top form. I don't think he could beat him at every distance, but he would be close in the 400, 800, and mile, and would take Ryun apart in 2 mile, 5k, and up.
Did Ryun rub a 10k debut in 27:34?
Oh yeah, Webb was running 47.x relay legs when he was 17/18 years old.
oldhalfmileguy wrote:
Jim Ryun ran a 47 second anchor leg in theMile relay at the KU relays
followed that a few weeks later with an American record in the 2 mile
a few weeks later another american record in the mile
then a couple weeks later a World record in the half mile.
5 week period in 1966 3 AR 1 WR
oh yeah, he was only 19...
I wouldn't really consider the 400 to the 2 mile to be much of a "range" for a miler. Really, Ryun's range was 800 to the 2 mile. 47 is not much of anything for a 1:44 guy. Webb's in the same boat in terms of the 400. I'd say that Webb's 800 to 10k range is far more impressive.
age for age, Webb is better, right?
oldhalfmileguy = jim ryun or his son.
How about Rod Dixon's range???
72 bronze medalist in the olympics, beat pre several times in the 5,000 and got 4th in the 5,000 in the 76 olympics and won the NYC Marathon. I doubt Webb will ever have Dixon's range.
Ryun ran 47 when he was 18 in the same meet where he ran a 3:55 mile, how many world records did webb have at 19?
I think you're missing the point.
still 3 AR records in 5 weeks has nothing to do with African runners
47 440
1:44.9 880
3:53 mile
8:25 2mile oh yeah he beat Kip Keino in this one
What did Webb run for these distances at 19?
No i don't think i am missing the point, all these threads about how great Webb is blah blah what a great range
Ryun set the 2 mile AR the 6th time he ran the distance beating Kip Keino and others, then set a WR for the half and an AR for the mile in a 5 week span, when he was 19
could Webb have done that? i doubt it
You are absolutely correct Dixon had to be the best runner based on range, all the way to the marathon. Amazing.
I only started this thread because i got sick of everyone gushing over a guy who is great, but there are some other amazing runners who deserve to be remembered and who are arguably better.
Dixon=the best
Ryun didn't run on today's mondo rubber tracks either. Let's see Webb run his times on cinder tracks in leather shoes.
Alan
yeah, you are missing the point. or you are making a different point. a 2 mile WR and an 800m WR isn't range for a miler. no, webb couldn't have done that. but the sport has changed just a touch since then, as i'm sure you're aware old-timer.
oldhalfmileguy wrote:
You are absolutely correct Dixon had to be the best runner based on range, all the way to the marathon. Amazing.
I only started this thread because i got sick of everyone gushing over a guy who is great, but there are some other amazing runners who deserve to be remembered and who are arguably better.
Dixon=the best
Ryun was great, no doubt about it. Until Webb gets a couple of championship medals or breaks the WR, I don't think you could really argue that he's even in the same league as Ryun, relatively speaking.
HOWEVER, you started this thread talking about range. I'm sorry, but 400 to 2 mile is not a particularly noteworthy range. Webb's range is, in fact, inarguably more impressive. In his debut 10k he ran, what, the 5th fastest 10k time by an American ever? If you're arguing range, then Webb > Ryun. If its greatness, then Ryun > Webb.
Also, your age argument is pretty much irrelevant. There's no doubt Ryun was in a different stratosphere at age 19. But the argument for overall greatness shouldn't end there: compare the two at age 24. [Obviously, it should be noted that life was exponentially tougher for guys training back then as they could not earn a living from racing.]
I guess i should have stated"QUALITY" instead of "RANGE"
my bad
even if the sport has changed how many people in RYUN's day had records in the half, the mile & the 2? and at the age of 19, what i was trying to do was show some persepective in relation to what other american runners have accomplished. Webb is good, but people are posting just ridiculous predictions that have no basis in fact.
So for QUALITY Ryun is superior, range Dixon is superior
Webb is good but lets have some perspective...
oldhalfmileguy wrote:
I guess i should have stated"QUALITY" instead of "RANGE"
my bad
even if the sport has changed how many people in RYUN's day had records in the half, the mile & the 2? and at the age of 19, what i was trying to do was show some persepective in relation to what other american runners have accomplished. Webb is good, but people are posting just ridiculous predictions that have no basis in fact.
So for QUALITY Ryun is superior, range Dixon is superior
Webb is good but lets have some perspective...
You wanna talk about perspective, well for perspective I think you should start by acknowledging that setting WR's in the 1960's is not the same as setting WR's today. There have probably been 30 times the number of competitive mile/800/2 mile races run since Ryun's day as the number run up to that point.
Ryun was great, no doubt about it, but I can't believe you come on here bitching about all the Webb threads and lack of Ryun threads? Hello? Webb is running today, back in the 1960's Ryun was a bigger star to the general public than Webb will ever be, no matter if he sets the WR and wins Olympic Gold. And there was no internet to diffuse news of accomplishments, etc.
That would be like "Why are all these people starting threads about how much Bush sucked? How come no one talks about how bad Hoover was?" Um, it's not today's news. Or why all the Jeremy Wariner/Tyson Gay talk and nothing about Carl Lewis???