NoNameNoShame wrote:
...I'm guessing you could take one at random, put a pair of spikes on his feet and tell him a dinner of roast bison is one lap of the track away and he could scorch round in 20 seconds, a full 50 seconds faster than the average modern American male.
Incorrect, their longer heel bone meant that they couldn't store energy in their Achilles tendon in the way that we do when we run.
Not joking. They were extremely slow, which was one of several anatomical disadvantages when compared to modern humans. They also couldn't throw properly.
See this peer reviewed research backing my claims:
David A. Raichlen, Hunter Armstrong, Daniel E. Lieberman, Calcaneus length determines running economy: Implications for endurance running performance in modern humans and Neandertals, Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 60, Issue 3, 2011, Pages 299-308
Sorry to crush your Neanderthal running fantasies.