One-race wonders?

insightfull wrote:

a local kid near me had PRs of 9:44 and 4:30 going into his xc season,, trained like a monster of summer and pr'd in the first race of the year in like 15:40, then he goes to a HUGE invite and runs sub 15 and solitifies himself as one of the top in the region of the US. his season best for the rest of the year was 15:40, came in 3rd at state.

Daniel Moore

Sloop John B wrote:

Trent Briney - 2004 Olympic Trials marathon

Briney was the first guy that came to mind for me too. Him and Rod DeHaven.

You are right 13:18 is equal to 27:56. The 27:55 is slightly better.

Jenny Spangler at the 1996 Olympic Marathon Trials.

Paul Ryan

"Mayans and Aztecs" -- awesome.

An 800/1500 guy I used to train with would run xc and do terrible every race. We would DESTROY him on any run longer than 5 miles or workouts with long reps. He was a good 8 and 15 guy but absolutely woeful at the longer stuff.

Then one day he just went out, beat us all and came 2nd in a high quality xc race. This was 8 years ago and we still laugh about it today. Nobody knows how it happened. 2 weeks later he finished 3+ minutes behind the guys he beat that day and everything was back to normal.

?????????? wrote:

Can't recall names but the guy from Brazil that set WR in marathon or Kenyan who beat Tergat at 2001 Chicago when he was a pacer.

I agree, assuming you mean Sammy Korrir, Berlin, and he finished one step behind Tergat during his world record, after running in front and pacing him.

He had WR ability that day, and yet he never even ran like 2:07 again.

Nashville wrote:

Leo Manzano

consistently great runner on the US scene, but lets be honest. He never was a legit medal threat right up until he started kicking down the homestretch at London. Not knocking him at all, but it's not like he's gonna be a top 5 miler in the world now.

You gotta wait before calling him a one-race wonder thoguh. It was a massive race he previously had no business running but he could do something good again.

Nashville wrote:

Leo Manzano

consistently great runner on the US scene, but lets be honest. He never was a legit medal threat right up until he started kicking down the homestretch at London. Not knocking him at all, but it's not like he's gonna be a top 5 miler in the world now.

Well Manzano was ranked #6 in the world in 2010 which was the culmination of several good races throughout the pro season.

And making the 2009 WC final was a surprise.

Then this 2012 medal.

But no, he won't be a top 5 miler. Just top 6.

Jenny Spangler was not a one-hit wonder. She once had the American "junior" and masters records for the marathon.

Brian Sell in the 08 Olympic Trials.

Sophomore year conference meet. Some seniors final race. Comes in with a PR of ~18:30, finished in ~16:50.

Some of these people haven't even nearly finished their career (manzano, merber), so it's a bit early to say one hit wonder.

Trent MF Briney

Alan Webb. He blew his wad really early in his career.

Not gonna lie wrote:

Sloop John B wrote:

Trent Briney - 2004 Olympic Trials marathon

Briney was the first guy that came to mind for me too. Him and Rod DeHaven.

I think DeHaven was first for the US at the World Champs the year before and was top-20 despite getting sick due to stupidity on the part of the support team; they put the drinks in coolers for use on the course -- and then did not put any ice in the coolers on a very hot day with the drinks in long enough to get spoiled.

Sub240 wrote:

Duncan Kibet and James Kwambai. Haven't done anything spectecular sind their low 2:04.

Dingler wrote:

I'll give you Kibet, but Kwambai had a lot of decent races before that and a few decent ones since.

Kwambai 2:05:50 in Seoul today (He'd also ran 2:06:03 earlier this year).

Robby Andrews