Alan Webb = a runner of sporadic brilliance? Are you joking Mr. Johnson?

dkny64 wrote:

Because he didn't look right at worlds and has never come close to his 07 form since.

Hardloper wrote: Sure he did. What looked wrong with him?

Can't say I recall Webb's heat at 2007 worlds, but in his semi he seemed labored in the first part of the race, than had to kick hard to advance.

In the final, he was well positioned but when the "real racing" began, he didn't have the kind of finishing kick he'd had in Paris.

As I said before, that, in and of itself, could have reflected a mistimed peak in 2007, but the failure to ever get back to that 2007 level is, at a minimum, sad, and potentially suspicious.

Hardloper wrote:

In my mind, his 2007 final was closer than any American-born male has been to winning a gold in the last decade, 1500 and up.

And you lose all credibility

Webb got injured in his 1:43.8 800m win just before World's in 2007 and he also got sick while in Japan for the race. So, he was not at full strength then, as was completely obvious to anyone who'd seen him run the dominating USATF race over Lagat, the dominating Paris race over Baala, in both cases absolutely crushing them in the kick, the American record, still the fastest mile since maybe 2004 or earlier, and the 800m.

VIPAM wrote:

Probably because in Aouita debut over 26 years ago and only 10000m he ran 27:20 which was around 10 seconds off the world record, is over 15 seconds faster then Alan Webb's 10000m pb.

I don't know why we can't support/praise both of the runners for their incredible versatility from 800m to 10000m! It probably will be another 26-30 years til another runner of Said Aouita and Alan Webb versatility comes along!

Aouita ran 27:26, for the record, which was about 13 seconds off the world record, and only 8 seconds faster than Webb's pb.

Hardloper wrote:

1. "Sporadic" implies rare. Webb's brilliance wasn't rare at all, that's why I posted at least 12 brilliant accomplishments of his spread across several years and there are probably more. I've never heard someone say "he's just a 12-hit wonder..."

Sporadic does not necessarily imply rare. See below for a couple of definitions I just looked up.

"Sporadic is an adjective that you can use to refer to something that happens or appears often, but not constantly or regularly."

"Occurring at irregular intervals; having no pattern or order in time."

I think you are reading way too much into the headline. It's just another way of saying that Webb's brilliance was not consistent. I don't think anyone could argue with that.

wadistance wrote:

Dear All Alan Webb fanbois

Go back and read the article. Take it into context. Realise that it was reported that Gregson is faring a little better than Wheating, not Webb.

Whilst I realise that Webb is the golden boy of this board and you have all owned him since he was a wee High Schooler breaking 4mins, you all need to get your hands off your wieners and look at it objectively. Webb - huge talent , no medals. Gregson/Wheating - likewise. Centro/Rupp/others - medals.

Competition was a lot harder when Webb was running

midwestern miler wrote:

And you lose all credibility

Name the closer ones? Manzano and Rupp and Centro 2011 never looked like they were close to winning. They sat in the back and ran for a medal - never in those races would you think they had a good shot to win. Centro in 2013 was a lot closer, although we were still all pretty certain Kiprop was going to win.

Watching Webb's race was they only time I thought, with

midwestern miler wrote:

And you lose all credibility

Name the closer ones? Manzano and Rupp and Centro 2011 never looked like they were close to winning. They sat in the back and ran for a medal - never in those races would you think they had a good shot to win. Centro in 2013 was a lot closer, although we were still all pretty certain Kiprop was going to win.

Watching Webb's race was they only time I thought, with

I watched the 2007 race live. At no point in that race did I think Webb was going to win. Everyone could see he was going to get rolled up at the end. Hell it was obvious from the semis. If you thought he was going to win, you are delusional. If you think he was closer to winning than Centro this year, then you are delusional. If you think he was closer to winning than Rupp last year, then you are delusional. Furthermore, that you think "looking closest to winning" should be the basis for anything at all is troubling. He finished f*cking 8th, which I believe was his best finish ever in a World Championship or Olympic games. EIGHTH.

I don't doubt it.

I had a bunch more posted after the "Webb's race was the only time I thought..." but for some reason it got deleted. I meant to say with 150 meters to go it looked like he might, maybe actually win. That cannot be said about Rupp or Manzano. They hung back and ran for a medal only.

george oscar bluth wrote:

He finished f*cking 8th, which I believe was his best finish ever in a World Championship or Olympic games. EIGHTH.

Oh, and in an extremely deep World Championship field, EIGHT IS PRETTY DAMN GOOD DON'T YOU THINK

Nostradamus. wrote:

Actually, he did win. You'll see.

+1

lol

WEBB best ever wrote:

You idiots fail to see the reality in front of you including the jacka$$ quoted on the main page.

#1 Clean athletes have sporadic performance years. The best sign of a clean athlete is the natural cycle of sporadic performance due to training and racing at that level. Look to any cheater who has been caught for the evidence of consistency. You can inlcude sprinters and even scrub runners race to race like Christian Hesch. Dopers can still perform consistently well while injured depending on severity of injury. Webb is clean and his poor racing last 3 years prove it. All cheaters keep cheating to save face and their elite profile money making ability. Sporadic racers should be celebrated for being a real representation of 100% of all other elite runner's careers.

#2 Webb's 10k PR was his debut. That says it all for how gifted he is.

This is utter and complete nonsense. It´s the exact opposite. The typical career of an EPO/blood doping cheat is they are nowhere to be seen or run mediocre performances for a large part of the time, and then, suddenly they have these incredible peak performances out of nowhere at championships.

Examples: Lasse Viren, Rachid Ramzi, Sureya Ayyan, Martti Vainio, Russian XC skiers in the 1970s/80s, Johann Muhlegg and Adrus Verpalu (XC skiers, both caught.

clownish clown wrote:

Certainly unmatched range in U.S. history, and remember that Webb was only 23 when he ran 27:34. Nobody has ever run that fast that young in U.S. history. Not even Rupp.

Chris Derrick: 27:31.38, age 21, 4/29/12

Galen Rupp: 27:33.48, age 20, 4/29/07

Diego Estrada: 27:32.90, age 22, 4/29/12

worth noting webb's 27'34 was nowhere close to flat-out

it was reported before/after that it was little more than a glorified training run with him & the other guy ( ?teg or ritz ) alternating the lead every lap & then just a sprint on last lap

he was much more likely to have been close to 27'20 that day if in a serious circuit race with good pacers

ventolin^3 wrote:

worth noting webb's 27'34 was nowhere close to flat-out

it was reported before/after that it was little more than a glorified training run with him & the other guy ( ?teg or ritz ) alternating the lead every lap & then just a sprint on last lap

he was much more likely to have been close to 27'20 that day if in a serious circuit race with good pacers

Yes, and this is the important point. All this nitpicking by lesser minds has really managed to evade the issue: Alan Webb was a potential medalist at 10,000m if he'd held form and made it his event. The man could have eventually run 27:10 or so, with 1:45xx speed. This would have allowed him to be a contender in the typical slow championship events.

ventolin^3 wrote:

worth noting webb's 27'34 was nowhere close to flat-out

it was reported before/after that it was little more than a glorified training run with him & the other guy ( ?teg or ritz ) alternating the lead every lap & then just a sprint on last lap

he was much more likely to have been close to 27'20 that day if in a serious circuit race with good pacers

No, in a more serious race setting the mental aspect of Webb would have been far more likely to have come into play and destroyed him. If he had tried to go harder then he very well might have just broke into a all out sprint half way through the race and then DNF or DFL.

He ran what he ran wrote:No, in a more serious race setting the mental aspect of Webb would have been far more likely to have come into play and destroyed him

eh ???

he's not that stoopid that in a race v 26'30/26'40 guys he woud try to hang with them

if he'd got into an elite 10k, he wouda been looking to follow the 2nd or even 3rd group's pacer & aim for the best possible time

if the winner had gone 26'30/26'40, i reckon webb wouda been very happy to finish well down the field, but seeing something like 27'20 against his name

ventolin^3 wrote:

if the winner had gone 26'30/26'40, i reckon webb wouda been very happy to finish well down the field, but seeing something like 27'20 against his name

Could've, would've, should've. Problem is everyone else could've, would've, should've run faster also. So it all evens out, so he ran the best he ever could've run or ever will run.