Could Jeremy Wariner excel at 800 m?

No

Why not? He has a strong finish, is built more like an 800m runner and is white.

What does being white have to do with anything?

Whites are better at MD than SD, duh!

Just to clarify:

MD = middle-distance

SD = short-distance

stop.

He had a good run. Unfortunately he ran into Lashawn, an alpha black male. End of story.

trounce wrote:

He had a good run. Unfortunately he ran into Lashawn, an alpha black male. End of story.

Merritt has never been as good as Wariner was in 2004-2007.

What's this about "alpha black males" anyway?

I don't see why not. Obviously, he would need some base training- just ramp up the mileage.

It seems that a 51-52 opening 400 would be a jog, then run for home. Juantorena did it. Wariner has the build for the 800. A lot of the other 400 guys have more of a 100-200 build.

runn wrote:

I don't see why not. Obviously, he would need some base training- just ramp up the mileage.

It seems that a 51-52 opening 400 would be a jog, then run for home. Juantorena did it. Wariner has the build for the 800. A lot of the other 400 guys have more of a 100-200 build.

So because Juantorena did it all 400m runners can? You 51/52 jog is a joke - if was that easy every 44.5 - 46 400m runner would step up and be a champion

There is more to it than build, like muscle type and aerobic capacity and years of training for the event. Juanterena had more of a sprinters build anyway at 84kg! Plus Wariner has trained for the sprints for 10 years

He might be able to do a good 800m but the op said to excel. Which for Wariner would mean matching his past achievments and becoming world champion or OG at 800m or at least a medalist

Still it would be interesting to see him have a go - you never know until he tries it

Probably not.

Alberto Juantorena is the only world class 400 meter guy I can think of that also was world class in the 800m.

Mark Everett was a world class 800m guy who had a 400m PR of @ 44.5.

And I don't think either of those guys could match Wariner's 20.19 200m speed.

Wariner is a world class sprinter. World class sprinters do not make top notch 800 m runners

It would be fun to run the experiment! I suspect that Wariner would be very good at 800M! If he got down to 1:45, that would be very good. It's hard to see why in principle he would be unable to do 1:43? He does have the build of a middle distance runner.

So because Juantorena did it all 400m runners can?

Read closely uncleB- Nowhere does it sat ALL 400 runners can do it. In fact it says most don't have the body type.

Wariner certainly has the poteential.

I totally think he could own the 800 WR and even go under 1:40.

Think about it. Wariner will never get the world record in the 400; he can't even break the American record! But he's run a very respectable 43.45, so imagine if he just slowed it down and raced over 2 laps instead of 1? He could be our first sub-1:40 half-miler -- he just needs to go out in 48 (which, for him, is probably a warm-up for a work-out), then come back with a 51 (which, for him, would be like jogging). That would bring him home at 1:39.

I think this is realistic compared to other runners. That 49.5 pace is about 88% of his maximum 400 speed. Compare that to Wilson Kipketer, who ran a 1:41.11 with a 46.85 best 400 time. Let's assume that if he ran the 400 more frequently and trained specifically for it, he'd run around a 45.5. His 800 pace would be 90% of his best 400 time -- understandable given that Kipketer was more a middle distance runner than a sprinter. You get a similar number for Seb Coe.

As another hypothetical exercise, imagine if Wariner moved up to the 1500. If he slowed things down to a 53 (practically a walk for him, and only 82% of his max 400 speed), he could run a 3:18! I wish he'd give it a try!

This is an extremely original topic here on letsrun.com

Yeah, it's an old topic asked about every 400 runner.

But, for Wariner I think it is a legitimate discussion because of his lack of 200 speed.

His 200m PR is 20.2 I believe, and his 400 is 43.45

Merritt has a 19.98 PR and 43.75

Johnson has 19.32 and 43.18

I can't find Butch Reynolds 200m pr anywhere but based on those results it is pretty evident that Wariner has a lot more speed endurance than the other two runners, so I think he would be best suited to moving up in distance. Whether or not he should, well if you were the third fastest person ever at 400m, and a few years ago there was talk of you challenging for one of the hardest WR's in the sport, would you? Probably not.

Wariner doesn't dope (or he's not good at if he does). He won't excel at any distance.

He would do okay, 1:45 at best. Dudes like Rudisha would CRUSH his ass.