When Was the Last Time An American Born Distance Runner Ended the Season Ranked #1?

There is a difference between winning a single race or succession of single races and passing through the gantlet of heats, semis, and finals in a world championship.

Boxing: Each time a world champion is challenged his title is up for grabs. Jenny Simpson winning the gold medal is analogous to Buster Douglas defeating Mike Tyson. And to be honest the analogy is probably complimentary to Simpson.

Exactly. As I posted earlier, who is the more impressive 1500m runner, Uceny or Simpson?

clearing the bs up wrote:

Despite his disappointing performance at worlds, Webb had a better season at 1500/mile than just about anyone in 2007. I don't think he was ranked 1 though. The T&F News rankings are inconsistent at times. If I recall, in 1984, Aouita was ranked 1 at 1500m over Coe (wtf?),

T&FN bases their rankings ONLY on head-to-head competitive results. Marks do not count for anything. Webb had good times, but did very poorly against competition in the biggest meet of the year -- he even lost to Lagat (his countryman) whom he had beaten at nationals.

In 1984 Coe was third man on the Olympic team, bumping Peter Elliott who had beaten him at the trials. He had had a couple of poor seasons and was thought to be a has-been. His Olympic win was considered an upset.

Who cares ? Only medals count.

unholy cumulus wrote:

Not to be that guy wrote:

Lets retool this to another sport -

Being ranked the number 1 collegiate basketball team that loses the national title (Uceny), or winning the national title being unranked (Simpson). Which is more impressive?

Who the F is PattySue Plumer??

Ask Antonio McKay.

Coe is a doper. His medal is disregarded.

You can't make analogies to boxing, a sport in which only two individuals appear at once

Vertigo wrote:

This sport is about head-to-head competition and being the best on that one day.

If this were true, Simpson would be #1 ranked at the end of the year, but since I believe she lost every race against Uceny except for the World Championship final, she won't rank very high. In other words one win of great significance does not outweigh an otherwise mediocre season. I'm sure there's no track & field expert who believes Simpson to be the best 1500m runner in the world. What she is, indisputably, is World Champion.

I was going to say Bruce Bickford, but Malmo beat me to it. He was always faster than me.

Tom

Was it Mary Decker-- Slaney or whatever she was calling herself then? 1983.. She won world champs..

wejo wrote:

Morgan Uceny almost certainly will be ranked #1 in the world this year at 1500.

She'd definitely trade it for the World title but being ranked #1 in the world for a full year may be a more impressive accomplishment.

My question is when was the last time an American born distance runner ended a season ran #1 in the World by Track and Field News?

I'm assuming Lagat ended a season #1.

Mary Slaney 1983..

Lets equate Uceny's fall to a NBA guy being injured during the playoffs(WC final) but still winning the league MVP.

The same guy would like to have the NBA title and the playoff MVP but gladly settles for league MVP.

As far as who the better player is? Who cares a question with no answer.

pre841 wrote:

You need to turn in your Man Card if you don't know PSP.

http://oi55.tinypic.com/1z1h9p1.jpg

That may be PSP with her back turned to the camera, but the girl facing the camera is Ceci Hopp.

Indeed, long time fans should know PSP. She ran dozens of races on the circuit and made several National teams. She won the 1984 NCAA Outdoor 5k and was the first person to break one of the "complete set" of distance records that Mary Slaney had set (1:56.9/3:57.12/4:16.71y/8:25/15:06/31:35 -- I think Slaney also held the 1000m AR and 2000m WR). PSP was the first American to break 15 with an AR of 14:59.99.

She has won multiple national titles at 3000 meters (1989, 1992 Olympic Trials) and 5000 meters (1990, 1991), and was a three-time runner-up in the 1500 meters.

Her younger sister Polly Plumer, set the still standing national high school record in the mile at 4:35.24 in 1982 while running for University High School (Irvine, California).

Also, her name is PattiSue Plumer.

jody wrote:

Mary Slaney 1983..

I get a laugh out of people posting something like this twice, when it has already been pointed out that in 1985 Bickford ranked #1 in the 10,000, Slaney ranked #1 the 3000, and Marsh ranked #1 in the Steeple.

Shouldn't that have been enough to realize that it had been achieved more recently than 1983?

Also, it has been pointed out that Kastor was #1 ranked in the marathon recently in 2006. Weldon should have known that.

What is the deal with saying "American born distance runner" and not considering marathoners distance runners?

Wejo is ranked #1 in my world.

Simpson is more of a one time explosion runner than Uceny, who is a consistently strong runner.

Jenny likes to pick 1 or 2 meets in a year to set herself apart from everyone by blasting to the front of the field and establishing herself.

She did this in the steeplechase against Anna Willard and also did something similar by throwing down a sub 4 1500 a few years ago.

You wont see Jenny Simpson(Barringer) throwing down a sub 4 for every 1500 in the Diamond League, but you'd probably often see her show up to Pre winning the race right before/after placing 5-10th 6 times in a row.