What was the last performance by a US born distance runner better than Ritz's 5k?

definitely either ryan hall's half marathon AR or ryan hall's london 2:06 marathon.

not too long ago.

Jenny Barringer....

Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan, Deena Kastor winning medals...

"Look at Mills! Look at Mills!"

There have certainly been "equal" or better performances on the women's side. Hall's sub-60 half and 2:06 marathon certainly, but if we confine ourselves to TRACK, we've got Webb's 3:46, and that's about it for a long time. Brian Diemer comes to mind (Bronze in the steeple in '84).

12345 wrote:

There have certainly been "equal" or better performances on the women's side. Hall's sub-60 half and 2:06 marathon certainly, but if we confine ourselves to TRACK, we've got Webb's 3:46, and that's about it for a long time. Brian Diemer comes to mind (Bronze in the steeple in '84).

I can't get past what Jim Ryun did as a high schooler. Still impresses me 40 years later.

3.46

webb

wel..... wrote:

Jenny Barringer....

Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan, Deena Kastor winning medals...

No way, female medals mean crap compared to a dude running sub-13.

Shalane Flanagan's medal winning 30:22 is pretty high up the list, but only 4 women have run faster than Deena's 2:19:36.

Anyway, the answer is probably one of those two.

If it is a question of a runner putting in an unexpected performance, I would say the Bill Rodgers win in the 1975 Boston marathon.

webbs 346 and every single other race he has ever ran is better than any race ritz will ever run.

ps webb will smash this new record that ritz just set.

just wait until saladbar gets a new shipment of epo from the columbians.

hopefully webb will be smart enugg not to take the dope saladbar gives him. he dont need it. hes already the best white runner in the history of the world.

aaaah webster

12345 wrote:

There have certainly been "equal" or better performances on the women's side. Hall's sub-60 half and 2:06 marathon certainly, but if we confine ourselves to TRACK, we've got Webb's 3:46, and that's about it for a long time. Brian Diemer comes to mind (Bronze in the steeple in '84).

Everyone seems to forfet Kenah's bronze behind Kipketer and Téllez in 1997, and then his 1:43.38 in Zurich.

Men's Track:

Based on excitement, announcing, and performance I'd say the list goes chronologically like this:

Dathan Ritzenhein Zurich 2009 12:56 (stellar race tactics and closing)

Alan Webb Gaz de France 2007 3:30.55

Alan Webb Pre Classic 2001 HS AR 3:53.43

Bob Kennedy Olympic 5000 1996 (takes the lead with 2 laps to go)

Dave Wottle Olympic 800 1972 (greatest race ever?)

Billy Mills Olympic 1000 1964 (greatest race ever?)

Webb's AR in the mile was boring to watch. No one around etc.. compared to his gaz de france win.

Webb's 3:53 in high school. He sat in the back the whole race, then passed most of the others and was even closing in on Lagat and El G AS A HIGH SCHOOLER

What about Suzy Favor Hamilton's 3:57 in 2000?

AJ Acosta winning 2005 Footlocker turning back Coe in an epic duel. One for the ages!!

This post diverged in to the best performance ever by a US born distance runner. The answer could be Flanagan if you value medal winning because she got a bronze just last year. However since Dathan's performance was a fast time not connected with any championships it seems like a better comparison if you go with times and where they rank. And since the question was the LAST then here is list in chronological order.

2:06:17 Ryan Hall 36th all time performance/ Apr 2008

3:46.91 Alan Webb 16th all time performance/ Jul 2007

2:19:36 Deena Kastor 9th all time performance/ Apr 2006

12:56.27 Dathan Ritzenhein 114th all time performance/ Aug 2009

Interestingly the last time I was this excited for track and field was when BK smashed the record in '96.

So..why can wikipedia get their damn shit updated instantly but USATF can't? I understand wikipedia is user created but come on.

So, I'll go with BK's 5k AR. I apologize to the ladies, but there's still a huge gender bias in track because women weren't allowed to race anything over 800m until '76 and nothing over 1500m until '84. There's a greater history on the men's side.

Hall is right up there...but for some reason I can't really "get up" for marathon performances...strange because I was once a marathoner.

Maybe Marty Liquori was right... "Road Racing is Rock 'N Roll and Track is Carnegie Hall"

Alan

Dan's 8:08 comes to mind.