Truly, the greatest American distance runner ever

George Young has to be a contender:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Young_(athlete)

I think Craig Virgin fits in there too, 10,000m record and those 2 World Cross titles.

I'll be the 3rd one to mention Joan Benoit.

Raysharp001 wrote:

Decker

From Wikipedia:

During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and was the world record holder in the mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. In total, she set 17 official and unofficial world records, including being the first woman in history to break 4:20 for the mile. She also set 36 US national records at distances ranging from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, and has held the US record in the mile, 2000 meters and 3000 meters since the early 1980s, while her 1500 meters record stood for 32 years.

donyiyo wrote:

Galen Rupp (take that haters!)

American records at high school, collegiate and senior levels.

Outdoor records in the 10,000 m with a time of 26:44.36.

Indoor 2 mile, 3000 m, and 5000m with times of 8:07.41, 7:30.16 and 13:01.26, respectively.

Olympic medals:

London : silver medal in the men's 10,000 meters

Rio de Janeiro bronze medal in the men's marathon.

May the hating games begin!

Yeah Rupp is the best runner ever. He doesn't have any gold medals but he has had to race some of the greatest of all time. His range is among the best ever, his 26:44 might never be beaten by an American born runner. Then he tops all of this off with likely breaking the marathon AR.

No Doubt wrote:

https://youtu.be/5F5iCsymMj0

Mills was a one-race wonder, never did anything of note before or after Tokyo.

The drugs ruin this selection. Sorry.

Alberto Salazar was one of the best American distance runners ever. I ran a 5-mile race in Denver, CO where Salazar took the race in 22:05 and my coach mentioned the fact that it looked like Salazar wasn't even trying to push the pace...like it was just a workout run...

As far as the best runner? Would have to give to the below runners in order:

(1) G. Rupp

(2) Frank Shorter ('72 gold medalist in marathon, '76 silver medalist)

(3) J. Ryun (Held HS mile record for 38 years w/a 3:58...Got the silver medal in Mexico City in the mile....Was voted as the Best Athlete of the century by Sports Ilustrated magazine beating out other athletes such as Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, etc. (Look it up....)

(4) H. Lindsey (Beat Lasse Viren twice on the roads....broke the 4 min mile several times....Runners World "Runner of the Year" several times between 1979-1984)

5-10: Billy Rodgers, Alberto Salazar, S. Prefontaine, Mark Nenow (Ran a 27:20 10km (AR) back in the late 70s), Steve Scott, Jon Sinclair.

I knew Rupp was great but not this great! I had him as my number one also.....The 26:44 10K time makes the phrase "World Class" an understatement!

I wish to supplement my top ten list:

Mary Decker-Slaney was an awesome runner indeed ! She got the shaft when the South African runner, Zola Budd tangled her up and cost her any chances on getting an Olympic medal back in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I believe. Also had countless American track records.

(2) Joan Benoit: Won a gold medal in the very first woman's marathon for the Olympics back in LA in 1984 I believe and before and after this won several Bosten and NY marathons to boot.

(3) Craig Virgin: Awesome world class runner as our friend mentioned above: Won the world cross-country championship twice. Held track and road records for the 5 and 10 KM runs for several years between 74-83.