Why doesn't he run one?
He does a lot of plyos in training, jumping over the hurdles schouldn't be any problem for him.
Why doesn't he run one?
He does a lot of plyos in training, jumping over the hurdles schouldn't be any problem for him.
Hey yeah, but you see, the hurdles were too steep and high for him. NOT TO DISCREDIT MR.GEB but come on, he's a sub 165cm(?), what was his height again? 163cm? ---> which is I think good for ultra-long distance runners.
No, his strong legs can't take the steeples. It's too high, not in his range to run efficiently.
Sad to say for us former steeplers, but Geb doesn't run it because it is a sideshow event. Good for those who can't win at 1500 meters or 5k, but aside from Kip Keino none of the true greats mess with the event.
Moses K messed with it a bit...
Perfect event for Webb.
Are there any posters out there that were unable to break four and had to resort to messing with the steeple that could give Webb some pointers?
None of the greats messed with it? Rono and Malinowski(very good miler and gold and silver Olympic medals) messed with it. So did Bayi. Silver in Moscow.
Seriously, how many runners at the peak of their careers who would have won Oly or WC gold in a flat 1500 or 5k--or 10 k for that matter--choose the steeple instead? Geb is not the only great who would be a terrific steepler if he worked at it just a bit. So would El G, so would Tergat, so would almost anyone who can run a terrific flat 3k. No insult intended to steeplers, as I did the race myself and appreciate its challenges, but it is not one of track's marquee events. It is always someone's second choice. The true greats like Geb don't need to leave behind their first choice.
Canuck Runner wrote:
None of the greats messed with it? Rono and Malinowski(very good miler and gold and silver Olympic medals) messed with it. So did Bayi. Silver in Moscow.
George Young's bronze in '68.
Jurgan Straub was another who couldn't hack it in the steeplechase, switched to easy pickens in the 1500 and got silver.
Yes, George Young and Geb are pretty much the same. Thanks for proving my point.
I say six months of integrating some hurdling into their workouts and any of the world's top 5000 runners would rule the steeplechase. Same story for some of the stronger 1500 runners and quicker 10k runners.
Sorry if I'm hurting anyone's feelings, but the answer to the question in the original post is that Geb, Tergat, El G, etc. don't need to run the JV race.
Steve Jones tried a few before he moved up to Marathon. Best of 8:32.00 in 1980.