Which of today's U.S. runners could do 27:51 and 2:12:20 within a few days of each other in Olympic competition? Any?
Which of today's U.S. runners could do 27:51 and 2:12:20 within a few days of each other in Olympic competition? Any?
ritz
abdi
Hall...easily
Katy Lied wrote:
Which of today's U.S. runners could do 27:51 and 2:12:20 within a few days of each other in Olympic competition? Any?
Hall, Meb, Abdi seem very likely. Halls 10k is a bit slow but he has the 5k speed and marathon endurance. Rupp would also have a shot.
Yeah, but could they WIN the Marathon like Frank did?
Blah wrote:
Katy Lied wrote:Which of today's U.S. runners could do 27:51 and 2:12:20 within a few days of each other in Olympic competition? Any?
Hall, Meb, Abdi seem very likely. Halls 10k is a bit slow but he has the 5k speed and marathon endurance. Rupp would also have a shot.
The real question is, who can repeat Zatopek's triple?
or even make the 10,000 final, let alone finish 5th? Never mind that Viren set a WR- AFTER falling down, and that Bedford set an insane pace (60 sec opeing lap) and Viren closed with a 1:56 800.
Impossible now. I think Zatopek had 3 races- no heats, etc.
But, still, I can't imagine anyone being able to do that today. There are so many good runners and each event has become more specialized.
are they doing heats of the 10K this time? They always did and it seems like recently it's been a final.
Rarely remembered is that Shorter set the American record in the 10000 meter final!
Montesquieu wrote:
Rarely remembered is that Shorter set the American record in the 10000 meter final!
Didn't he also set it in his heat, IIRC--first American under 28:00?
Which of today's U.S. runners could do a 14:28.2 5k and a 4:10.4 mile like Paavo Nurmi, the "Flying Finn"??? Any? Oh wait, me, and about 10,000 other people...
Zatopek had heats like we do in the current olympic games. I know he had them for the 5,000 not too sure about the 10,000 though.
Zatopek had heats in the 5000, but not the 10,000. Lots of good info here (it is bambam's database for general use).
What did Dan Browne run in Athens?
Yes--you're right: Shorter set the AR first in the heats, becoming the first American ever under 28:00. Buddy Edelen, another marathoner, was the first American under 30:00.
present wrote:
Montesquieu wrote:Rarely remembered is that Shorter set the American record in the 10000 meter final!
Didn't he also set it in his heat, IIRC--first American under 28:00?
Katy Lied wrote:
Which of today's U.S. runners could do 27:51 and 2:12:20 within a few days of each other in Olympic competition? Any?
It was a week, not a "few days." I'm sure all of them (except Sell) could.
27:58, 3 days, 27:51, 7days, 2:12:20
Mr Robott Mann wrote:
Which of today's U.S. runners could do a 14:28.2 5k and a 4:10.4 mile like Paavo Nurmi, the "Flying Finn"??? Any? Oh wait, me, and about 10,000 other people...
Even after years of debate and analysis, I still don't really know why old-timers were so slow.
Thank you. I made a cursory effort to look up the time betweeen races, but quit after a few clicks and settled on a "few days."
I'm a bit surprised at the consensus. I had the feeling that, even though those marks are not extremely difficult for our good marathoners, the time frame, exacerbated by the pressure of the Olympics, would crater most of them.
But I suppose for a 2:06 man, a 2:12 is just a stroll.
Don't forget, Frank Shorter DID it. Yes, Ryan Hall probably COULD do it, but hasn't. Yet.
Also, Shorter was 2 minutes and 10 seconds ahead of second place. He was just trying to stay relaxed and win a gold medal. Even when he came into the stadium he saw he could get the Olympic record if he picked the pace up a bit, but he declined to do it. "That would be Bush League," he lated said in interviews.
Frank Shorter was a legend in his own time. He ran clean, and really became the model for what was possible for an American (Viren was a well compensated professional in Finland, Waldemar Cierpinski was not clean, etc). While Viren was living in his comfortable, spacious house in the Finnish forest, Shorter was living in a trailer with no heat, coaching himself, and grading a professor's papers for subsistence money. For about 7 or 8 years, Frank Shorter was right at the top of the American running scene, a world class 5,000 and 10,000 meter runner, and it would be hard to argue that he was not the greatest marathoner in the world from 1970 - 76 (Olympics, Fukuoka, Pan Am Games).
I could make the barroom argument that he would have beaten Bill Rodgers at Boston (beat him at 76 trials and Olypics), but Frank never competed in Boston in his prime because there was no money in it. I don't think Boston would even pay his travel expenses just to get there.
Frank Shorter has always been good for our sport. If you traced it back to 1972, you'd realize that Frank Shorter is responsible (with help from Jim McKay and Roone Arledge) for the running boom in this country (1972-onward) and the prevalence of 10K road races that are ubiquitous today.
SeeShorterSeeLonger wrote:
Even when he came into the stadium he saw he could get the Olympic record if he picked the pace up a bit, but he declined to do it. "That would be Bush League," he lated said in interviews.
Trying to break records is bush league?