Rank the best milers of all time...

I am aware that there have been other discussions on this topic but you would think that it would never grow old.

In addition the older runners never get credit. Drew Hunter on the other hand is all the rage.

#4 is Roger

Tooo many marathons wrote:

I am aware that there have been other discussions on this topic but you would think that it would never grow old.

In addition the older runners never get credit. Drew Hunter on the other hand is all the rage.

What do you mean it would never grow old? You cannot be serious.

1. Glenn Cunningham - because no one ever had more guts

2. Hicham El Guerrouj

3. Herb Elliot

4. Sir Roger Bannister

5. Hicham El Guerrouj

Retiring Runner wrote:

1. Glenn Cunningham - because no one ever had more guts

2. Hicham El Guerrouj

3. Herb Elliot

4. Sir Roger Bannister

5. Hicham El Guerrouj

Hicham is both the 2nd and 5th best of all time. That is quite a feat.

Retiring Runner wrote:

1. Glenn Cunningham - because no one ever had more guts

2. Hicham El Guerrouj

3. Herb Elliot

4. Sir Roger Bannister

5. Hicham El Guerrouj

Oops, Ryun in at #5.

Thank you for correcting me on that it is Roger (NOT JOHN) Bannister at #4.

My reason for selecting him is he broke what scientists thought was an impossible barrier. I think in the next year 300 people ran under 4 minutes!

It's not always about time but about beating people or doing something no one has ever done before.

My point for writing this thread is that we need to recognize the older runners who were just as great as the guys who are on top now. They just did not have the trampoline tracks, training programs, medical, and psychological advantages we have now.

Consider how much racing strategy has changed!!!

Isn't discussing the mile interesting?

Hicham El Guerrouj being ranked #2 and #5 is good, but at one time Ryun probably had the top 4 or 5 times in the world in the event. If you go back you will find several people who had multiple times ranking in the top ten in the world. Yes you would have to do an internet search and chances are some of the records are incomplete, but Ryun definitely had the two best times in the world as of 1967 as he ran 3:51.3 in 1966 and 3:51.1 in 1967. (On cinder tracks.)

Consider that he was 21 in 1967!

In addition his NCAA 800 record was just broken last year. That record was set in the late 1960s as well!

In this respect, El Guerrouj cannot hold a candle to Jim Ryun.

I had considered putting Glenn Cunningham in the top five, however I did not want to put two Americans on the list.

Tooo many marathons wrote:

It's no fair to just use times. Please consider the time they ran.

My top five milers

1. Herb Elliott, Australia

2. Jim Ryun, USA

3. Peter Snell, New Zealand

4. John Bannister, Great Britain

5. Hicham Elguerrouj, Morocco

I'd only put 2 of them in top 5.

Id go with~

1. Coe

2. El Guerrouj

3. Morceli

4. Elliott

5. Ovett

The first 4 are undisputed imo, although there is obviously arguments for different order.

All top 4 broke world records at both 1500 & mile and were Olympic 1500 champs. They have to be the most important categories as any athlete from 1896 had the opportunity to achieve these. World Champs relatively new and certainly gives big advantage to modern era,

I put Coe 1 due to being the only man to have won 2 Olympic titles and broke the mile WR more times than anyone since the War.

ElGuerrouj at 2 due to the vast number of super fast times he set, even though I think he's the most likely of all the great milers to have doped.

Morceli is 3 for similar reasons to El Guerrouj. Not as many super fast times, but he knocked about 2 secs off both the 1500 and mile records.

Herb Elliott is at 4 due to unbeaten run and his Olympic WR run, although being unbeaten isn't quite so impressive having retired at about 23.

Ovett broke both world records twice, but failed to win an Olympic title. He did however win 2 World Cups either side of Moscow and had a 3 year & 45 race unbeaten win.

In the next group I'd put ~

Snell, who won Olympic 1500 and the Mile WR, but never broke the 1500 WR.

Lovelock, who managed all 3, but in an era when the number of nations competing was very limited.

Walker won the Olympic title and broke the Mile WR, but never held the 1500m WR.

Ryun - broke both world records but never won the Olympic gold, and was only ranked in the top 2 for 3 seasons.

Cram - also broke both WRs and also won Olympic silver. He did however win a World title and was at the top a lot longer than Ryun.

Below that you find the likes of Landy, Bayi, Keino, Hagg, Andersson, Lagat, Kiprop.

1. CENTRO

2. Makhloufi

3. El G

4. Morceli

5. Coe

(It's no fair to just use times. Please consider the time they ran.

My top five milers

1. Herb Elliott, Australia

2. Jim Ryun, USA

3. Peter Snell, New Zealand

4. Roger Bannister, Great Britain

5. Hicham El Guerrouj, Morocco

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'd only put 2 of them in top 5.

Id go with~

1. Coe

2. El Guerrouj

3. Morceli

4. Elliott

5. Ovett

The first 4 are undisputed imo, although there is obviously arguments for different order.

All top 4 broke world records at both 1500 & mile and were Olympic 1500 champs. They have to be the most important categories as any athlete from 1896 had the opportunity to achieve these. World Champs relatively new and certainly gives big advantage to modern era,

I put Coe 1 due to being the only man to have won 2 Olympic titles and broke the mile WR more times than anyone since the War.

ElGuerrouj at 2 due to the vast number of super fast times he set, even though I think he's the most likely of all the great milers to have doped.

Morceli is 3 for similar reasons to El Guerrouj. Not as many super fast times, but he knocked about 2 secs off both the 1500 and mile records.

Herb Elliott is at 4 due to unbeaten run and his Olympic WR run, although being unbeaten isn't quite so impressive having retired at about 23.

Ovett broke both world records twice, but failed to win an Olympic title. He did however win 2 World Cups either side of Moscow and had a 3 year & 45 race unbeaten win.

In the next group I'd put ~

Snell, who won Olympic 1500 and the Mile WR, but never broke the 1500 WR.

Lovelock, who managed all 3, but in an era when the number of nations competing was very limited.

Walker won the Olympic title and broke the Mile WR, but never held the 1500m WR.

Ryun - broke both world records but never won the Olympic gold, and was only ranked in the top 2 for 3 seasons.

Cram - also broke both WRs and also won Olympic silver. He did however win a World title and was at the top a lot longer than Ryun.

Below that you find the likes of Landy, Bayi, Keino, Hagg, Andersson, Lagat, Kiprop.)

I like your top five better than mine. However your best contribution was remembering JACK LOVELOCK. He was the Olympic Gold Medalist in the 1500 meter run in 1936, which is why he is forgotten by most people.

We have to keep in mind that the older runners were pioneers of training, and if they got injured that was usually it for their career. Life was also much tougher in those days. Read Jack Lovelock's Wikipedia, you will find that he was a much more well-rounded individual than probably any of the great milers. Today he may have continued to run as a professional for many more years.

Revised top five milers of ALL TIME:

Herb Elliot (The guy was pretty much undefeated, even with an insane

training program.)

Jim Ryun (Training program that drove him to peak at 21.)

Sebastian Coe 2 X gold medalist

Hicham El Guerrouj

Peter Snell 3:54.4 on a grass track in the early 1960s!

(Top alternate: Jack Lovelock)

Certainly one could move these guys up and down to any of the 1-5 spots.

Admittedly Ryun is a sentimental favorite on what he could have done. He taught us what NOT TO DO in training!

This post only considers modern runners. There would be no cars if the wheel had not been invented. We should have respect for the people who helped shape what we can do now.

It's not fair to compare a 2006 Chevy Impala to a 1953 Chevy Corvette.

The Impala would blow the Corvette away in more ways than just speed!!!

It's not even close. But what did they know then compared to what we know now?

My criteria are in this order: 1) championship wins, 2) world records, 3) sustained excellence at the top

1) Sebastian Coe - two Olympic wins, multiple world records

2) Herb Elliott - one Olympic win, multiple world records, world record while winning Olympics

3) Peter Snell - Olympic win, multiple world records

4) Steve Cram - World Championships win, multiple world records

5) Kip Keino - Olympic gold and silver, Olympic win over the world record holder, largest winning margin in Olympic history, long career at the top

While El Guerrouj and Morceli ran multiple world records and won gold medals they competed in the EPO era when there was no test for the drug. Very likely they were on EPO. Also, assuming they and the fields they ran against were on EPO, their Olympic competitive records were not so great. El Guerrouj Olympic results: 1 win, 2 losses (1 while heavily favored). Morceli Olympic results: 1 win, 1 loss (while heavily favored).

Others:

6) John Walker - Olympic win, one world record, very long career

7) Steve Ovett - Olympic silver, multiple world records

8) Jim Ryun - Olympic silver, multiple world records (only 2 years at the top drops him to this position)

9) Roger Bannister - set arguably the most famous track & field world record ever, beat Landy in showdown race, finished only 4th in the Olympics

I'd put Steve Scott for his tenacity and longevity.

Excellent post because you added some original stuff.

Cram was a very fast miler who had the advantage of following Coe and Ovett. There not one reason to put him in the top five, or even in the top ten though.

Kip Keino is a good argument because he was a pioneer for the African countries and he actually ran in one Olympics with a kidney problem! Obviously he was amazing and probably a certain top ten candidate if we consider this to be true list of the best milers of all generations.

Perhaps we have to name the best of each ten year period to really be fair:

1920s

1930s

etc.

Does anyone want to take on that?

There needs to be a separate category for most tenacity and longevity.

There is already a list of the people who ran the most sub-4 miles and I believe that Steve Scott is still the all-time leader in that category.

(America is the only country that really had concentrated on running the mile in the past. Now we do not even do it.)

People from Great Britain ran a lot of mile competitions. But there were many more in our country. In fact I suspect that many of the British ran here when they wanted to compete in the mile.