The Beijing Olympics reminds us (in case we forgot) that ST runners cannot win track medals at 1500m, 5k and 10k. Male or female.
We only need to look at the properties of ST runners to realize why this is so. Indeed looking at only one property should be enough; for an ST runner to win a race, he/she must break away from the opposition. The reason for this being (obviously) that ST runners (by definition) do not have a final kick.
So, for an ST runner to win a race, he/she must “get away” from the opposition. Looking back, I cannot remember the last time this happened in a global male championship.
Clarke (Aus) couldn’t do it. And he was roundly criticized in his time by folks who did not realize that a final kick just was not possible for him. Wasn’t in his arsenal. And that his only winning tactic could have been the break-away ... and that is not possible against the best aerobically-trained FTs of the world.
Bedford (UK) at his best couldn’t do it. For the exact same reason.
In such a situation, all an FT has to do is “haunt” the leader like a bad rash, 100% secure that if he is still in striking distance at the bell, he is sure to win, because the ST-leader has no kick. See Billy Mills (Tokyo) as a prime example.
Okay, STs might have a “push”, something of a “drive” from 1k-2k out ... but experience reveals that this is not enough to lose a determined FT.
So, to win, an ST has to “get away”.
How is that possible when you are racing the guy who has the world record? Clarke and Bedford both held the WR and they could not get away from their opposition in the Olympic Games! How possible is it going to be when your opposition holds the WR? (Bedford did not hold the WR in the lead up to the Games, but afterwards ... but you get my point)
Therefore, to win a global championship, a runner has to have a final kick. Recent events show that this must be ~53 secs for the final 400m off an already fast pace.
So, let’s take the requirement for a phenomenal aerobic capacity as a given (you have to last till the bell at 5k or 10k with the world’s top runner).
We should now see that if you want to go out and build the next world elite 5k-10k winner, than that athlete must have sub-50 secs 400m speed on day one!
It is wayyy easier to build endurance than speed, which is one reason we keep sending tons of ST runners from the West to run the major track championships; they are easy to train!
But all the endurance in the world without speed is not gonna get you on the top rung of the podium. So, here’s an axiom; if you do not have sub-50s 400m speed, you will never win a global 5-10k track title. No matter how much mileage you run or how much endurance you build.
You wanna build the next world’s best 10k runner? Don’t even start training him if he cannot demonstrate sub-50 pace on day one.
The women used to be able to do this: Kristiansen and McColgan were probably the last of the STs who could run away from the opposition ... and someone like Radcliffe has done it at European level and Commonwealth Games level, but even she could never achieve it at World Champs of Olympics. In Sydney, Tulu, Wami and Ribeiro shadowed her for 24 laps till the bell and then it was all over...
Now don’t go and quote someone's 1500m times to me, either. Don’t tell me so-and-so (male) runner has sub-3:40 1500m “speed”. That tells you nothing. ST’s can train to run that time at the same pace from gun till tape ... but they still ain’t got no kick! Their 1500m time does not demonstrate “speed” unless you also know how they ran that time. If it was gun-to-tape, Filbert Bayi stuff, it tells you nothing. Find out their final 200m time, instead.
What we’re talking about here is the ability to change down a coupla gears and floor the pedal.
Which, of course, presupposes that the only (type of) guy who can win a global track 5-10k is an FT type who trains for 5-10k. Much like Mamede in Cabral’s example ...
Of course, El G could do it. He knew that no way Bekele was gonna run away from the world’s greatest 1500m runner, so all he had to do was survive till the last 200m in Athens.
Rui Silva could do it ... if he trained for 10k. But then again, why should he?
Alan Webb could do it ...
Having said all that, STs can pick up one of the so-called “minor” medals. They run their steady pace and hope others blow up going for the win ... but gold? Uh-Uh.
Taken from the what kind of runner are you thread? All aspiring 5k/10k guys should read this. Im sure Al Sal knows this well, seeing how he got Mo and Rupp to develop lethal kicks in their arsenal.