List your top five US marathoners of all time

Geebus Alan, you just made me realize that KK ran in probably the 2nd greatest marathon ever later that year- Chicago 2002. Do you recall that finish?

1 2:05:56 Khalid Khannouchi

2 2:06:16 Daniel Njenga

3 2:06:16 Toshinari Takaoka

4 2:06:18 Paul Tergat

5 2:06:46 Abdelkader El Mouaziz

6 2:09:41 Alan Culpepper

7 2:10:02 John Kagwe

Again, KK was in a huge pack- 5 guys at the end, and he just pulled away from them all, leaving Njenga in 2nd, and Takaoka, and Tergat to collect the fastest 3rd and 4th place finishes up to that time. Tergat held onto his claim of the fastest 2nd place ever thanks to KK's dusting of him in London, and his 2:06:18 is still the fastest 4th! Man what a year of marathoning 2002 was- KK's triumphs and Radcliffe's debut and her first WR.

1) Joan Benoit Samuelson

2) Bill Rodgers

3) Deena Kastor

4) Ryan Hall

5) Frank Shorter

The course in New York was measured to a new stricter standard several years after Salazar's 2:08:13. When he ran that time the course was legit according to the standards of the time. Besides, there's a lot of road construction that happens over several years in NYC. You wouldn't have to move too many curbs to straighten out a course and shorten it.

1.Shorter

2.Rodgers

3.Meb

4.Buddy Edelen

5.Eaomon O'Reilly

1.Rodgers

2.Bikila

3.Shorter

4.KK

5.DeMar

Blowing Rock Master, the guy with the bad foot in the '76 Olympics was Shorter, not Rodgers

women

1. joan Beniot-Samualson

2. Deena Kastor

3. Kim Jones

4. Patti Catalano

5. Kathy O'Brien

Men (not including kk, i struggle with guys who didn't come up through the american system, ie kk,s.m.,b.l., I don't need you to be born in the US,i'm cool with meb, alberto, abdi but if you had international success prior to gaining citizenship I feel like you are a bit of a ringer.)

1. Bill Rodgers

2. Frank Shorter,

3. Alberto Salazer

4. Meb- never one the big one but oly silver, nyc 2nd and 3rd, boston 3rd in a much more competitive era. then the glory days guys

5. Bob Kempainen-2nd nyc, fastest time by an american at Boston, 10th? at 92 olympics, great run to win 96 trials

Honorable mention- Benji Durden, Kenny Moore (14th and 4th at olympics, won? fukuoka), Greg Meyer(one big win couple other solid runs), Pete Pfitzinger(two good runs at the olympics, won the toughest of the trials races, extremely consistent), Dick Beardsly- if not B.K. then this would be my #5 his Boston run is legend but his record at Grandma's may never be broken at his best he was as good as anyone. I have screwed the pre 1968 people in this I honestly don't know how to compare them the sport was so different, certainly John Kelly the younger, Buddy E. and Demar belong in there somewhere

jsquire... UMass/Bills kid?

My Favorite US Marathoners:

1. Bill Rodgers: He won the most famous marathon in the world 4 times

2. Dick Beardsley: Guts, blue collar

3. Greg Meyer: I'm partial to Boston winners

4. Buddy Edelen: Held the world record

5. Kenny Moore

All Time top 5:

1. Frank Shorter

2. Bill Rodgers

3. Meb K.

4. Alberto Salazar

5. Buddy Edelen

1) Salazar

2) Rodgers

3) Shorter

4) Edelen

5) DeMar

Honorable mention:

Sandoval

Beardsley

Yes, but I believe they changed the way they measured courses (tangents and all that) and he lost the record. I remember feeling that he got cheated. The course was NYC and it was off by very little.

Ted

Billy

Grete

Benwhaaaaaaa

Frank

I'm not saying he's top 5 or anything, but if you are going to give honorable mentions, I gotta believe a 4th place Olympic finish would deserve Kardong some mention.

.. wrote:

KK does not belong on that list

Sorry, but if you think Khannouchi doesn't belong on a list of top 5 American marathoners, you are an idiot. He has two world records, won Chicago four times, won what some call "the greatest marathon of all time" in London in 2002, has run under 2:09 nine times, under 2:06 three times, and has eight times faster than the next American. Of the ten fastest all time performances, he ties a guy named Gebrselassie with three.

Even if you remove his results before he became a citizen, he still has a world record, two wins in Chicago and the one in London, five sub 2:09s, two sub 2:06s, four times faster than the next American. His PR is almost 3 minutes faster than the next fastest American.

Again, what has KK done AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN that deems him as one of the greatest American marathoners of all-time? Honestly, Brian Sell has done more for US running than Khalid has done while wearing the American colors; let's just keep it real.

tigranya wrote:

Again, what has KK done AS AN AMERICAN CITIZEN that deems him as one of the greatest American marathoners of all-time? Honestly, Brian Sell has done more for US running than Khalid has done while wearing the American colors; let's just keep it real.

Khalid set a world record in the marathon representing the USA. How does that compare to Brian Sell please tell me.

1. Shorter -

2. Rodgers -

3. Khalid - winning against a stacked field puts him here..

4. Salazar - short body of work, never won in a stacked field

5. Johnny Kelly - take your pick on which one..

CrossFan wrote:

I'm not saying he's top 5 or anything, but if you are going to give honorable mentions, I gotta believe a 4th place Olympic finish would deserve Kardong some mention.

If Shorter is right about Cierpinski, and I'm certain he is, then Shorter is a two-time Oly gold medalist, which makes him the top all-time US marathoner in my book, and Kardong is a bronze medalist. The amazing thing about Kardong is that he was like 6'4" and not slight of structure. You don't see too many big guys that tall running that well over the marathon distance. I actually met Don Kardong. He was one heck of a nice guy.

Okay. According to you guys, KK deserves mention as one of the greatest American marathoners of all time?? Based on one performance that occurred out of coincidence (he could have clearly broken that record as a Moroccan citizen and not as an American)? Are you kidding me!