oldoldrunner wrote:
1) How many times have you seen a miler with comparable times but an inferior kick hammer the whole way and win? He would have just served as their rabbit.
1) At last years NCAA final. A runner that was 2 to 4 years younger than the field.
Really - you are saying german was "comparable" to the rest of the field? I am not saying German was head and shoulders better than everybody, but that wasn't exactly the best 1500m field ever put together and he has just set the indoor NCAA mile record running 3:55 and was capable of the American Junior 5,000m record. Really? Comparable?
The original comment is asking if there has been somebody who is comparable talent over that distance but slower speed ever hammered a race and won. Because if they are comparable talents then they can both hammer at that pace and the speedier guy will still win in a kick. The only way you run the kick out of someone is by running faster than they can - I believe Gedyon also had the best PR in the field (maybe not, but I am pretty sure he did) so how are you going to outrun a guy who is faster than you over both that distance and the shorter distance? Look, stuff can happen, but those guys would have had to have the races of their lives to outrun Gedyon - if you leave it to a kick you leave it to chance. Maybe Gedyon doesn't get into good position, maybe he isn't close enough come the finish, maybe you can get those feet moving miraculously faster. I think the better question comes down to how many times has the best kicker in a race not won a kickers race?