WHAT SHOCKED YOU MOST? 12:56 or 26:59

It does not matter which performance is better. I am just really happy that we have some of the world's best distance runners, and that our fastest guys are catching up with our African brothers.

I was most shocked by Jager dressed in man leggings with blown out hair and wigger-placed hat. Then trying to pelvis-bump everyone.

To debut at sub 27 is more shocking.

Nice to be shocked twice in less than a year, though.

Two solid American records and the record holders aren't even considered the best Americans in their respective events.

Pretty good depth for American distance running.

Well, for me, it's obviously Solinsky's run because I was calling for Ritz to do what he did in the 5,000 ever since he ran 13:27 as a freshman in college. I KNEW he would do it. I never had the same certainty about Solinsky, so his run was shocking. I wouldn't have been shocked had he run 13:10 to barely beat Rupp and get the American Record as that record was perhaps the softest of them, but to win the way he did in 26:59...yep, shocking.

If by "12:45" you meant "12:50", and by "26:30" you meant "26:40", and by "be considered on par with" you meant "beat", and by "rest of the world" you meant "Ethiopians and Kenyans" or "East Africans", then I could agree with you. Otherwise you have a long way to go.

12:45 & 26:30 wrote:

A few American need to run sub 12:45 and 26:30 before they can be considered on a par with the rest of world. It doesn't matter whether they are "classified" as White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or as an Immigrant. There's a long way to go.

12:45 & 26:30 wrote:

A few American need to run sub 12:45 and 26:30 before they can be considered on a par with the rest of world. It doesn't matter whether they are "classified" as White, Black, Asian, Hispanic or as an Immigrant. There's a long way to go.

Considering that no country in the world can claim to have "a few" people who've run under 12:45 and 26:30 (FYI - two people does not constitute "a few") I think you may be setting the bar a little high.

if this was "who was i more excited about breaking the AR? Solinsky or Ritz?" i would say Ritz bcs. im a bigger fan, but i didn't see the 10k record falling under Solinsky's hands. i was really happy that Solinsky got the record bcs. i feel like he's been living in the shadows of Teg and to finally one up Teg was freakin awesome (yes, i'm not a fan of Teg).

plus, w/ Solinsky now in the 10k (even though he proclaims to be a "5k" runner) and Ritz and Rupp, that's one nasty team that could contend at Worlds for track and the Olympics. 2012 should be very exciting.

Wow. If that list is correct, 12 of the top 31 performers of all time ran their PRs between 2005 and 2007. Not sure what that means.

Solinsky's 26:59.

My first reaction on the Ritz 12:56 was surprise, but then I thought to myself that he finally received his dues. He ran well at Worlds in some tough conditions and the 5K came toward the later part of the season, when it was well established that he was in really good form.

The 26:59 really seemed to come out of nowhere. Early season, a debut run, while everyone was focused on Rupp going into the race. The dude is built more like a soccer player than a 10K runner, yet he made breaking 27 look easy...

This is largely because the 10k is never run. There are what like 2 10ks (Brussels +1 or 2 other meets) a year in Europe when people are in shape. I know several times they were only on the meet because someone said they were going to make a record run. Compare that to the number of 5ks run.

unrealness wrote:

Les wrote:

Does anybody know from performance tables which is the better performance? 12:56 or 26:59?

Solinsky's is 29th all-time.

Ritz's puts him at 44th.

Solinsky is da man.

I think both performances were brilliant and surprising. However, I feel that Ritz's performance was at the end/edge of his ability at 5k ie., he doesn't have many more seconds below 12:56 in him. The scary thing about Solinsky is that I think he was within himself at 26:59 as scary as that sounds. The way he finished he looked like he could have had another 10? 15? seconds in him Saturday night.

I remember Billy Mills and Frank Shorter, so I am never really shocked anymore. I am just pleased and thrilled when guys put up a great performance.

So, here's what I am wondering:

Solinsky looked so smooth at the pace, can he now stay with Bekele, his teammates and the Kenyans in a global champ? Can Chris then kick with them and take a medal?

Wouldn't that be exciting?

26:59 is amazing, absolutely friggin amazing, and its up there with Billy Mills in terms of "left field" shock value. But lets not get ahead of ourselves here. Bekele is a 26:17 runner, there is still quite a gulf there to bridge before we can talk about beating these guys.

Solinsky is more shocking to me. Simply because I have to ask myself if I see him ever approaching sub 27min in the 10k again? I honestly don't. This very well could be a "one and done" distance for him, or if he ever runs it again I wouldn't be all that surprised if he's stuck at 27:20. Don't get me wrong, I hope he can run many sub 27 in his career (heck, I hope all our 10k specialists can run sub 27 one day!!!). But I see him going back to the 5k and rarely running a 10. As for Ritz, he'll run quite a few 5k's again and I feel will break 13 again.

So Solinsky's is more shocking.

Copression socks are the key ! Go ask Paula when she's 10' tall !

i don't think you can't say this video isn't shocking.

Poll on this topic on the homepage.

Dickie Dawkins wrote:

Bekele is a 26:17 runner, there is still quite a gulf there to bridge before we can talk about beating these guys.

I think many would agree the gulf is not as quite as hard to bridge as it used to be. Given how comfortable he looked during and after the race, and how much he had left over the last two laps with no one pushing him except the clock, you could probably give him another 10-15 seconds.

Also, I think you could make the argument that Bekele WAS a 26:17 10K runner. Here are his season bests from the 5K and 10K since he set the respective world records:

5K

2009 12:52.32 Zürich 28/08/2009

2008 12:50.18 Zürich 29/08/2008

2007 12:49.53 Zaragoza 28/07/2007

2006 12:48.09 Bruxelles 25/08/2006

2005 12:40.18 Paris 01/07/2005

2004 12:37.35 Hengelo 31/05/2004

10K

2009 26:46.31 Berlin 17/08/2009

2008 26:25.97 Eugene, OR 08/06/2008

2007 26:46.19 Bruxelles 14/09/2007

2005 26:17.53 Bruxelles 26/08/2005

Also, here are the ages of the runners in the all-time top 10 10K list when they ran those times:

Bekele - 23

Gebrselassie - 25

Tergat - 28

Kemboi - 20

Negera - 21

Kogo - 20

Koech - 27

Tadesse - 24

Hissou - 24

Hassan - 22

Sihine - 21

Bekele is 28 now, so it's a good bet he's not approaching that 26:17 again. He may have another sub-26:30 in him in a race set-up for him. But, in a race somewhere between 26:30-26:55, I think Solinksy has a reasonable chance.

Solinsky. Although unexpected, Ritz's performance was foreshadowed by his showing at World's. Nobody should have guessed Solinksy would set the AR in his season/10k debut, especially with the abysmal pacers. He earned it through sheer awesomeness and a brutal 1:55 final 800 with a :56 last 400. I'm still in shock, and I have no doubt there's some very nervous Africans....