What is the toughest REALISTIC double at the elite level?

I'm thinking 800m/1500m double. Remember all the qualifying rounds. I'd imagine the steeple/5000m double would be awful as well.

I'm going to have to also say the 50k Racewalk but, paired with the 3000m steeple.

It all depends exactly where you draw the "realistic" line. In fact it's easier to list the ones that are realistic, from easiest to hardest:

1. 100/200

2. 5,000/10,000

3. 800/1500

4. 1500/5,000

5. 200/400

6. 10,000 / Marathon (only been won once but I think it's possible now that the 10k has no prelim)

6. 400/800

7. 100/LJ

8. 400/400H (Angelo Taylor could do it if the schedule were different)

9. Steeple/5k, 10k, or 1500

So if you make the 'realist' cutoff there, I'd say 400/400H or Steeple/flat event.

13andproud wrote:

110HH/400IH

Interesting. Has anyone done that in major competition?

10k/marathon is totally doable from a competition standpoint. The question is, can you train well enough to have any hope of winning both at an Oly/WC level.

crazy raisin wrote:

It all depends exactly where you draw the "realistic" line. In fact it's easier to list the ones that are realistic, from easiest to hardest:

1. 100/200

2. 5,000/10,000

3. 800/1500

4. 1500/5,000

5. 200/400

6. 10,000 / Marathon (only been won once but I think it's possible now that the 10k has no prelim)

6. 400/800

7. 100/LJ

8. 400/400H (Angelo Taylor could do it if the schedule were different)

9. Steeple/5k, 10k, or 1500

So if you make the 'realist' cutoff there, I'd say 400/400H or Steeple/flat event.

I'm a Steepler. Amen to #9!

I think it will often come down to luck in some circumstances. The 1500/ 5000 sounds very difficult in theory, but it will depend on a couple of variables:

1. What the standard of opposition is like that year;

2. What times the heats are run in.

Lagat won the 1500 & 5k a few years back, but can't remember what times he had to produce in the heats. Certainly if the 5000m drifts out to 13:30 +, most elite 1500 guys would fancy their chances of outsprinting the elite 5000 boys. When EL G did the same double in 04, Bekele really might as well have handed him the 5k on a silver plate!

I think the 800/1500 is the most difficult to win, mainly because it requires the most number of rounds ( 7 on some occasions) and the 800 has the most tactical variables that can stop you winning. Make a mistake half way through an 800 and its likely you can go out. In a 5000, you have time to recover.

I would say the 110HH and the 100M. Andrew Riley did it at the NCAA last year, but at Olympic level it would be very tough.

The ULTRAMARATHON/100 meter dash

Skunkbuster MAXX wrote:

Here are my guesses:

1) 400 Meters/800 Meters

2) 10,000 Meters/Marathon

3) Long Jump/400 Meters (Perhaps Bolt in 2020?)

Mens 100m / Womens 100m. Involves a sex change between the events. Hard but possible.

Back to the 400/800

Mark Everett in the 90's was world ranked in both the 400 and the 800.

And of course Jaunrorena did the double for Gold.

It is a realistic double.

And it's the toughest realistic double.

Schedule makes it tough, yes.

But more so it is a change in runner type.

It's the line between sprint and distance.

tae kwon do/ marathon

400m hurdles / 800 m

Tran fan wrote:

Mens 100m / Womens 100m. Involves a sex change between the events. Hard but possible.

I think to do that you'd also have to qualify in both genders. I'm no scientist but I think it would be difficult to go from M to F back to M to F again in a single summer.

i think most of the doubles here are realistic; it's winning them that's the challenge (duh). Kiprop tried the 800/1500 in Berlin, Yusuf Saad Kamel did the same and actually medaled at both (what happened to that guy? first thought post-Lance: drugs, and they asked him to step away quietly). I think the 400/800 is also quite doable; only Kirani James went under 44 this year, If Rudisha could have thrown in a 44.3 he would have a silver. Maybe he's not that fast, but we don't know because athletes are risk-averse, generally unwilling to try for spectacular things and fail.

I think the 1500/5000 is truly the upward limit of the possible. We haven't seen that combo of speed and strength since El G and may never see it again.

The hardest double on an elite level would have to be, winning a Women only race and a Men Only race, unless of course your Caster Semenya......... bata zing.......

Replying to myself, David Hemery was the 400IH Olympic Gold Medalist in '68 and the 110HH WC Silver Medalist in '69.

There are lots of tough doubles out there but I can't remember seeing anyone try a 400/800 double against elite competition. Not even at the high school level. If I'm wrong someone let me know who tried it, the meet it was attempted at, and the results.

400 Hurdles

3K Steeplechase

D.C. runner wrote:

I think the 1500/5000 is truly the upward limit of the possible. We haven't seen that combo of speed and strength since El G and may never see it again.

what? Um, ever heard of Bernard Lagat?

And Kiprop is a former world jr x-c champ. If he wanted to seriously add the 5k, he has great potential for that double.