Has anyone ever had better range than Curtis Beach?

Sure Rudisha has a great 800 m but his 400 pr is almost exactly what the US national HS record is. Does he even have a 1500 time under his belt? How can you claim he has any range when his range is really 600 meters to 1000 meters.

I remember hearing Said Aouita could run a 46s 400m. There's no reason to think he could run a 100m very fast, but maybe he earned some leeway with a 27:26 10,000m! His other PRs are:

800 meters: 1:43.86

1500 meters: 3:29.46

Mile: 3:46.76

3000 meters: 7:29.45

2-mile: 8:13.45

5000 meters: 12:58.39

He had a similar range with world records for everything above the 100 yard dash.

Get used to it.. wrote:

Sure Rudisha has a great 800 m but his 400 pr is almost exactly what the US national HS record is. Does he even have a 1500 time under his belt? How can you claim he has any range when his range is really 600 meters to 1000 meters.

How can you claim that the US national HS record is just national class??? In most events, the HS record is not national class. It is WORLD class. Rudisha has official world class times from 400-1000m. He is also obviously a sub 4 miler.

I think that beats what Beach has done. Rudisha has an actual world record to go with his range. Are any of Beach's times a threat to win if he was entered in a race?

The National HS record for the 400 is slightly faster than national class. Rudisha is competitive only in the 800 plus or minus 200m. This is not range. This makes him no better than Bolt with regard to range.

Perhaps a different era but consider Zatopek

In one week during 1952 he won OG in the 5,000 (52.x last lap), 10,000 and marathon all with record times AND he spoke six languages.

Get used to it.. wrote:

From 1500 to the marathon is a much much bigger range than 100 meter to 1500 meter.

There are tons of runners with great range (real or hypothetical) over a wide range of middle-distance and distance events. Heck, Haile G was World Indoor 1500 champ and ran 3:31 indoors (at the time the second fastest in history), all the way up to two marathon WRs. There are frequent threads about this sort of mid-d/distance range.

Guys like Beach and Brandon Johnson are a completely different animal, because sprinting is so different from distance running. Very, very few runners are able to bridge the gap between 100 and 1500.

In fact, there was a thread last month about some statistical analysis of world records that made that point:

"When researchers plot world-record speeds against distance, it produces a power-law curve with a curious kink in its shape. It’s almost as if one power law governs running speeds over distances shorter than a mile while another governs running speeds at longer distances."

Of the examples listed so far, Johnson seems like the best at bridging those two worlds. Beach gets some bonus points for being able to jump and throw. Maybe there are others who trump these guys -- it would be interesting to know. But guys who are better at 1500 to marathon don't trump them -- it's a totally different discussion.

+1

Get used to it.. wrote:

The National HS record for the 400 is slightly faster than national class. Rudisha is competitive only in the 800 plus or minus 200m. This is not range. This makes him no better than Bolt with regard to range.

Faster than national class means world class. Rudisha's 400m time IS competitive. Why are you saying otherwise?? He is also obviously a sub 4 miler. That is also world class.

I don't understand how you can think that means only "800 plus or minus 200".

Beach doesn't have a single performance that can stand on its own.

Totally agree

Come on guys, everyone knows GUTI is a LRC troll.

He isn't a sub 4 miler until he runs the mile in under 4 minutes. Sadly to say that even if he did, we still have a high schooler this year who went sub 4 and might get another. What he has done and maybe could do are 2 different things. He has still only show to be a runner with 800 meter brilliance with a 200 meter range. Going from the 1500 to the marathon is just as much if not more different than 800 plus or minus 700. If not why don't we see more 1500 specialists running the marathons? Farah has dropped mad 1500 and marathon times within a relatively short period of time. You haven't see anyone...anyone drop such competitive world class times for these distances and all distances in between. This isn't about not thinking Rudisha is/was great. He is at the 800 but he is not great at the 400 and I haven't seen a 1500 meter time so you don't have a leg to stand on when you talk about his range.

That's a great response when you have nothing of substance to add or refute anything I have said.

yhrebray wrote:

Come on guys, everyone knows GUTI is a LRC troll.

Wang Junxia

1500 - 3:51

3000 - 8:06

5000 - 14:51

10k - 29:31

Mary - 2:24

LOL

Although almost all of his times are faster than Mo's, Haile also moved up in distance over time. Farah marathon and 3:28xx were much closer together.

geneticfreak wrote:

100m: 10.52

400m: 46.72

800m: 1:47.75

1000m: 2:23.63

1500m: 3:59.13

The quick and obvious answer is Aston Eaton

100 Metres 10.21

200 Metres 20.76

400 Metres 45.64

1500 Metres 4:14.48

110 Metres Hurdles 13.35

400 Metres Hurdles 48.69

etc.

Eaton is a world class athlete in at least 4 events; he would have a decent shot at making the U.S. national team in the long jump and 400h.

Beach marks are very good, but not super impressive. Obea Moore had similar range as a high school athlete. Ryun, Coe and Webb had similar credentials over a wider range of events, albeit they don't have a 100m mark on file. Btw, Beach's 800/1000 marks are typical -or in line for a decathletes strongest events. Beach is also a decent jumper, but his weight throws are very poor.

Ibrahim Hussein anchored the U. New Mexico indoor 4x400 record that still stands and won both the New York and Boston Marathons, the latter three times with a PR of 2:08. 400 to 42000 is pretty good range to me.

Eaton is good at all the sprint events. That's not much of a range.

Aouita is the best answer in the thread. Truly world class at 800m up to 5k and with strong 400m and 10k times.

Webb actually had pretty ridiculous range 1:43 800m, 3:46 MILE, 13:10 5k, 27:30s for 10k. that seems just as crazy to me