As of right now who has had a better career: Ritz, Hall, or Webb?

Hall because he can compete and beat some of the very best in his event. You saw this at London, Boston last year and Boston this year.

I'd give it to Hall for his consistency at this point. Ritz has been injured too much, and Webb has run incredibly hot and cold. At their hottest/healthiest, Webb/Ritz probably are better, but just haven't shown me enough of it long enough.

I'd go with Hall for the reasons above. If either Webb or Ritz put together a couple solid years straight and ran to their potential in London and beyond they would edge out Hall, but I don't have faith that either will get back for more than a race or two before washing out again.

Hall may not be a world beater yet but he goes after it and battles and contends, pushes the pace. He makes getting 4th an exciting race to watch which is more than you can say about the others recently.

All have held an American record (Webb - mile, Ritz - 5k, Hall - 1/2 marathon and sort of marathon), so I'd put them even on that.

However, Webb has accomplished virtually nothing as far as places or championships that I can think of.... choked in the 04 Olympics, missed the US team in the 08 Olympics, and never did much at worlds as far as I know, so I'll go ahead and say it's not Webb yet.

Ritz has a junior WXC bronze, and world half bronze, and some sub-par marathons with an okay but not great one at the Olympics for his "world-stage" accomplishments. If we're counting college, he had the best career of the three there. Both his bronzes were very impressive but it's hard to get that excited nowadays about things he ran as a 19-year-old, and I'm not sure how competitive the world half is.

Hall has several very good marathons in VERY competitive fields and has had amazing consistency in the ones he's had run that not many Kenyans have even had. Being a pure marathoner, he doesn't get to compete against everybody very often, but the thing he has on Webb and Ritz is that he has found a way to stay healthy and perform consistently well, so he definitely has the highest QUANTITY of accomplishments of pretty high quality.

So I'll give it to Hall, slightly above Ritz, and both well ahead of Webb at this point. And if Ritz's event truly is the marathon, he has a ways to catch up... him beating Hall by one place in the Olympics is not very relevant anymore.

Hall is doing old man running. Just give Webby a little time to give up on his track dreams like Hall did so early. Then when A Webb hits that cool 2:02:02 marathon, you'll know whats up. Ritz, really isnt in the same discussion, the 5K record was soft, according to me at least. Hall has beaten up on Ritzy too too often in the marathon, but like wise, Webbby put Ritzy in the hurt locker back in 06. Webb is my horse, he'll be running at UVA ttaking names and stealing RObby's ability. it'll be a beautiful thing to watch.

So to answer the question right now, Webb has it by a land slide, ain't no one gonna be touchin 3:46 NOR his 3:53 for a long long long time

Unless i suppose by the grace of God there is a down hill mile with a tailwide, then watch out

Steve Scott ran 3:29 for a downhill mile. Don;t know if there was a tailwind.

First of all, no old Man runs within 30 minutes of what these guys ran today.

All three of these runners have put up great performances.

I have to go with Hall for his consistency in major races.

Ritz is very fragile and may be better suited for the track.

I don't know what Webb's problem is, he has tremendous range, but is up and down like a yo-yo.

Might want to tell Andres Espinosa.

He is noot old, early 40's is not old Son.

I graduated HS same year as those guys and like them all, but there's only guy who could make every other American feel they were racing for second at USATF's, run a world class time as a high schooler, or have a legitimate argument to being considered the best in the world at his event at the time.

Pretty sure I don't need to mention any names.

kartelite wrote:

I graduated HS same year as those guys and like them all, but there's only guy who could make every other American feel they were racing for second at USATF's, run a world class time as a high schooler, or have a legitimate argument to being considered the best in the world at his event at the time.

Pretty sure I don't need to mention any names.

Of course you don't: Jim Ryun, silver medal, WR (x2). Shame that Webb kid never did anything.

All-time lists per event:

Mile:

1 3:43.13 Hicham El Guerrouj

2 3:43.40 Noah Ngeny

3 3:44.39 Noureddine Morceli

4 3:46.32 Steve Cram

5 3:46.38 Daniel Komen

6 3:46.70 Vénuste Niyongabo

7 3:46.76 Saïd Aouita

8 3:46.91 Alan Webb

5000:

52 12:56.27 Dathan Ritzenhein

Marathon:

1 2:03:02a Geoffrey Mutai

2 2:03:06a Moses Mosop

3 2:03:59 Haile Gebrselassie

4 2:04:27 Duncan Kipkemboi Kibet

4 2:04:27 James Kipsang Kwambai

6 2:04:40 Emmanuel Mutai

7 2:04:48 Patrick Makau

8 2:04:53a Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam

9 2:04:55 Paul Tergat

10 2:04:56 Sammy Korir

11 2:04:57 Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich

12 2:04:58a Ryan Hall

you forgot the asterisk on every marathon that was run today. you are just being a troll, shame on you. might as well put that down hill mile the other poster was talking about at #1. 3:29 new world record!!!! that is literally the equivalent of what you have done, you silly silly man

Lagat and Meb have had better careers than all the above.

cssto wrote:

Lagat and Meb have had better careers than all the above.

I don't believe they were in the thread title, so you're an idiot.

Hall wins

Ritz second

Webb third

They've all ran great times (Hall-59:43, 2:06:17, Webb 1:43, 3:46.9, 27:34(range), Ritz 12:56, 60:00).

But a career isn't measured by times that you ran once or twice, it's measured by how you placed in big races. None of them medaled in the Olympics or WC's, so it comes down to comparing noteworthy international placings.

Hall has a 3rd at Boston, 2 4th's at Boston, a 5th at London, a 4th at NYC, 10th in the olympics. Ritz has 3rd at Half marathon WC's, 6th at WC's (10k), 9th in olympic marathon, 9th at WC's (10k), a couple decent non-championship cross country placings, and 3rd in the diamond league 5k when he ran 12:56. Notable international placings for Webb are 1st at the Euro meet where he ran 1:43, 1st at Euro meet where he ran 3:30, first at Prefontaine Mile (if you count that), 9th at WC's.

So, as far as notable international placings- which are what a career is measured on- it is clear that it goes Hall>Ritz>Webb. It should be noted, however, that Webb has established impressive (and internationally relevant) PR range of 1:43-27:34. Webb and Hall both look to have their careers in great places to move forward, and let's hope Ritz can get his back on track too.

It is CLEARLY Webb. The only issue is that much more is expected from Webb than is from Ritz/Hall.

Webb has had 2 ARs - 3:46 / 8:11.

Webb has run 1:43-3:30-3:46-13:10-27:34

Webb has finished 7th & 9th in the WCs.

Webb is a 3x US 1500m Champion.

Sorry, as much as guys like to tout finishing 3rd-6th at a major marathon as a big accomplishment, there are at least 5 major marathons (Boston, Chicago, NYC, London, insert other here). The competition is very diluted in each of these. On the track, you get the top ~12/15 runners in the World in the final. In the marathon, you get maybe 4-5/20 in each.

Then we move to Ritz. Ritz has a 12:56 5k AR, 60:00 1/2 Worlds (more impressive than Hall's 59:43), 6th at World's 10,000m, 3rd at Jr. World XC Bronze. 10th at Olympics BEATING Hall.

And yes, a 2:04:57 is great, but so is a 9.45 100m wind-aided. At the end of the day, it isn't even a legal time.

In Hall's one time to shine, he was outside of the top 10 (Olympics)

I'm most impressed by Ritz's credentials. His finishes in world championships destroy the other guys.

this is a tough question right now.

Race Accomplishments:

Hall

with a few 3rd-5th placings in major marathons. although as the poster said above most of the time you've only got 4-5 or maybe at most 6-7 of the top guys at a given marathon. and generally at least one of them will blow up or drop out at each race. so Hall's 3rd to 5th place showings, and considering he's usually a couple minutes behind the winner, puts him at the back end of top marathoners. Until he wins a major or at least is battling for the win in the last couple miles he's not near the top of the sport. If he can take the confidence from this race and bust out a 2:05.xx at a fast fall marathon and actually put himself in the running for winning major marathons then this will all change.

Ritz

Ritz beat Hall by one place at the Olympics, 6th at the WC's in the 10k (highest WC/OG placing by any of them), some good XC accopmlishments, some other good results in big races. Is injured a lot so doesn't have the quantity of good showings that you'd expect of a runner of his capabilities.

Webb

8th and 9th place finishes in the 1500m at worlds. Both disappointments for what was expected, but i'd point them still on the level of Hall's best performances in major marathons. Some big time European Track wins in the 1500 and 800. As well as I think a couple good Pre wins. Again, he's has struggled with injuries/overtraining(?) for large portions of his career where he is out or just not good for 2-3 years at a time, which is a little different from Ritz since Ritz usually gets in shape, might get in a few races and then gets hurt, Ritz's injuries are constant but sporadic, when Webb is out he is straight up gone for a long time. This has given him a dearth of top performances, but, like with Ritz, that is part of his career so you can't make special excuses for him.

Time Accomplishments:

Hall

Amazing 59:43 Half AR. Great 2:06:17 London Marathon time, Great 2:04:58 Boston Marathon time, of course we'll have to see his future performances to see just how great that wind-aided Boston time is. I'd say its maybe slightly worse than is 2:06 London race. Anyway I think it means Hall is getting back in the game. And some decent Marathon times besides those two. But he hasn't come anywhere near his debut Half AR. Still he's got probably 3 great times in the half and the marathon.

Ritz

8:11 2-mile, 12:56 5k previous AR, 27:22 10k, 60:00 Half, and then shit for the marathon. This is unsettling since it seems Ritz wants to be a marathoner. If he stuck to 5k/10k with the occasional half he could be a force! anyway he's got an American record just like Hall and has a great range from 2-Mile up to Half-Marathon.

Webb

Clearly has the most impressive times of the three as well as the most impressive range. 1:43 800, 3:30 1500, 3:46 Mile AR, 8:11 2-Mile previous AR, 13:10 5k, 27:34 10k. that is just sick.

Big race/championship performance based analysis I'd say none of them have shown that they can compete for the win on the highest international stage, but I'd put Hall and Webb and Ritz all on pretty much equal footing. Hall certainly has more consistency since Ritz and Webb are always hurt.

Time based performance analysis I'd say Webb by a landslide, his 800 puts him as being competitive with just about anyone except rudisha, competitive with anyone in the 1500/mile, and decent in the 2-mile, 5k, 10k all of which he's barely ever run. then perhaps Ritz by a little over Hall because at this point Ritz's time can mix it up with the best in the World in the 5k, maybe not win, but be right there based off his time. Now if he switches entirely to the Marathon that would put him far behind the other two in his main event.

Answer- They are pretty much equal right now. What will give them a lead in the future: If Hall can use this Boston race to jump down to being a consistent 2:05/2:06 guy on fast courses and can maybe bust out a Major win at some point then he'll have the edge up. However, for Webb all he needs to do is basically stay healthy and he will probably be on top. Ritz needs to stay healthy and focus on the 5k/10k and not the marathon to compete with the other two.