Running on Empathy wrote:
Deanouk can correct me, but I believe Steve Ovett closed the penultimate 100 in 11.9 or 12.1 at the '77 World Cup 1500, then slowed in the straightway.
Jim Ryun supposedly ran 37.xx for the last 300 of a slow 1500 in West Germany back in the late '60's.
Of course, Coe ran 12.1 or someting like that for the last 100 of the '84 Oly 1500.
You were just either side of the right time. Lol.
At the time Ovett's penultimate 100m in the 77 World Cup was reported as 11.8, as hand timed by his coach, Harry Wilson. On video inspection it was more like 12.0, with a last 100m of 13.1. So his last 200m was 25.1. I think it is an exaggeration when some suggest he was "clowning around" in the last 70m. He made his effort 200m out and there was no way he was going to sustain that burst all along the last 100m. He eased a bit, but body language can be misleading. He possibly could have run 24.7/24.8 flat out. A great burst, but what a lot of people never mention is that the prior 200m to that burst at 1300m was a very slow (considering it was the last lap of the World Cup) 29.1 for Ovett. The rest of the field really played into his hands and were almost like startled rabbits just waiting for Ovett to go in for the kill!
Coe's fastest last 100m in a 1500m race was 12.1, but in the Moscow final in 80, not the 84 LA race. In Moscow his last 200m was 25.0, and was preceeded by a 27.2.
His last 100m in LA was still a v. fast 12.7 (25.7 last 200m) considering it was a 3:32.5 race. Which is favourable when compared to Ramzi's 13.3/26.2 finish in his 3:32,94 victory (yes, I know he was stripped of gold) in the 2008 Olympics and Ngeny's 12.8/26.5 finish in Sydney's 3:32.1 final.
Coe also ran a 25.6/12.5 a couple of weeks later in Zurich, winning in 3:32.3.
I haven't come across a faster last 100m than that in any 1500 race faster than 3:33.
Jim Ryun has had many crazy splits attributed to him over the years. Conveniently, very few of the races in which he supposedly ran them are in the public domain. Many survive through word of mouth. I am pretty sceptical of the validity of many. E.g, his last 440 in his 3:51.1 Mile has often been quoted as 52.5, even in official IAAF publications. Then when the video to the race appeared on Youtube a few years ago, he is clearly seen going through the bell in 2:57.3, meaning his last quarter was 53.8 NOT 52.5. Quite a difference.
I know of only one person who has actually viewed the video for that Dusseldorf race where he is supposed to have run a last 300m of 36.4. Now this guy is the biggest Ryun fan I know, but this is what he wrote to me about it: -
"Yes, I saw the race back in September 2011 when I was in Lawrence, Kansas for a XC meet. The day before the meet I and a few others went through Kansas University with a phys ed teacher and he took us to an archive section. There were several tapes with footage of past baseball, football(American), games and some track tapes with the majority of the footage being Ryun's races since he is probably KU's greatest ever athlete. On one of the tapes was the Dusseldorf race, and I to was skeptical about the 36.4 300m finish. After timing it I came out with a 37.1 and looking back on it now I think that is probably a bit to fast as well. "
He came up with the following splits for that race:- 50.8, 37.1, 24.8
So his first 100m on that last lap was 13.7, followed by 12.3 down the back straight. Still an incredible turn of speed, but not quite the 11.6 of legend.
Ryun isn't the only one to have had his speed inflated over the years.
In 1978 Ovett's last 200m in the European Championships was quoted as being 24.8 in UK publication, Athletics Weekly. On video inspection, they took it from the wrong line and his last 200m was actually 25.7, almost a second slower. Moreover, his last 100m was 13.4, the 100m line clearly visible on the track. Surely anyone with that knowledge must realise that his last 200m couldn't possibly be 24.8, as that would have meant him running the curve 100m in 11.4!!
Despite the clear error in the time given for his last 200m, he still ran the penultimate 100m in 12.3, which is pretty fantastic considering the final time was 3:35.6