7soiusidud wrote:
You're comparing almost certainly doped Africans (with joke drug testing) with often fake ages to Caucasian American real junior. Apples to Oranges. Compared to all European ancestry "prodigies," Rupp's 4:01 to 13:37 range in highschool is unmatched, only Lindgren was close to it.
Yeah and now he's kicking the asses of the very same almost certainly doped Africans with joke drug testing. So what's that say to you? I can't compare him to guys who went nowhere on the world scene, I can only compare him to the guys he's competing against, most of whom were faster than him at age 22.
You think Tariku's age is fake? Haile's? Maybe Geb is actually 45 years old? Not likely...
I'm a physicist, so here's some data: the list of guys with slightly slower 10K PRs than Rupp, including their 10K PR, and their PRs at age 22 (according to IAAF.org):
All-time 10K:
1. Kenenisa Bekele
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15. Galen Rupp: 10k PR: 26:44. 22 yo PRs: 27:33, 13:30
16. Mo Farah: 10k PR: 26:46.57 22 yo PRs: 13:30 (no 10k listed)
17. Imane Merga: 10k PR: 26:48. 22 yo PR: 12:53, 26:48 (october birthday)
18. Josephat Bett Kipkoech: 10k PR: 26:48.99. 22 yo PR: 12:57, 26:48.
19. Eliud Kipchoge: 10k PR: 26:49.02 22 yo PR: 12:46 (age 20)
20. Moses Ndiema Masai: 10k PR: 26:49.20 22 yo PR: 12:50, 26:49
21. Sammy Kipketer: 10k PR: 26:49.02 22 yo PR: 12:52, 26:49
22. Paul Kipngetich Tanui: 10k PR: 26:49.41 22 yo PR: 13:04, 26:50 (December birthday)
23. Moses Mosop: 10k PR: 26:49.55 22 yo PR: 12:54, 26:49
24. Assefa Mezgebu: 10k PR: 26:49.90 22 yo PR: 12:53, (27:19)
25. Richard Limo: 10k PR: 26:50.20. 22 yo PR: 12:56, 26:50
So at age 22, every single guy (except Farah) between Rupp (#15) and Richard Limo (#25) on the all-time 10K list blows Rupp out of the water. Remarkably consistent, most of them had run close to their 10K PR by age 22 and all of them were well under 13 in the 5K. Every single one, except Mo Farah, whose times at age 22 were similar to Rupp's.
Even at age 24, Rupp's PRs were 13:07 and 27:10; he dropped 22 seconds on his 10K PR at age 25.
You mentioned Rupp's highschool times, and I tried but found it too hard to compare to these other guys because many of them weren't really running at that age. The 22 yo times form a much more solid dataset.
I'm not going to speculate further. My point is that Rupp and Farah did NOT follow a typical progression for runners of their ability.