It was a 2:04:11 quality performance. That was of the very highest quality on this day for this runner on this course in this race,
That is of very high quality but over a minute off the quality of the current world record.
There are so many variables that can influence times and performance that you can not fully account for all of them.
Pacing, shoe weight, prize money, competition, pride, hate, yesterday's lunch, the color of his singlet, his mother's muscle fibers, the old toe injury, etc.
Tergat might believe it was of record quality.
Tola might believe the same.
Kipsang and Kimetto would disagree.
Running performances are quantitatively measured by precise methods of timing. It is easy to judge the relative quality of the performance.
Lets not get too wrapped up in trying to figure out and compare different times for different races by different people.
Nothing personal, but I believe such comparative speculation is more relevant on the basketball and football boards.