Run-Down Forums

[Guest]

whos usually better in the 800, a awsome 400 runner or a awsome miler? why? why not?
thanks

[Anonymously Posted by: 'cory891']

[Dan]

I doubt you'll find any conclusive evidence for one or the other. It's pretty much a toss up between the two, with some decent examples of each, and a spattering of greats. One thing you have to keep in mind when comparing them is that many athletes gradually move up in distance, thus the comparison might be skewed based on when they ran their best at each distance.

Dan

[Guest]

Other than Juantorena, NO primarilly 400/800m runner has ever set a WR or won Olympic Gold at 800m. They are overwhelmingly 800/1500 guys. Snell ran up to 160mpw (and set WRs at 800 and the mile). Coe was a lower milage guy (max 70-80mpw), but was a competitive 3000m runner. Cram was a 65 min half marathoner. Said Auotia won a bronze in the 800 and a gold in the 5000 and was ranked #1 in the world at 10,000. Lately, the degree of speciallization has produced guys like Kipketer and Rodal who don't run other events, but Kipketer comes from the very aerobically based Kenyan tradition and certainly was an aerbically based runner at St. Patricks high school.

I think the 400/800 type is dominated by Americans, most likely because the U.S. is so deep at 400m, many move up. When they get on the world stage, however, they tend to falter. Gray is the only one with reasonible success. Kenah is certainly an 800/1500 type.

Paul

PS. Hi Dan, just passing through

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Paul Talbot']

[Guest]

Oh yeah, Coe moved DOWN in distance from being a 1500/3000m guy in high school.

Paul

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Paul Talbot']

[Dan]

Hi Paul, nice of you to stop by.

You make some good points. I was thinking of Juantorena and Coe, but didn't consider several of the other examples you mentioned. The American/African aspect to the two doubles is interesting. Certainly ties in with the genetics discussion from the t-and-f list...

Dan

[Guest]

Yeah, but Juanto is as white as they come. He may have some mixed background like most Cubans, but he looks like he just got off the boat from Spain.

He also ran a 3:43 1500 once. Not bad. If you read the chapter on Juantorena in Sandrock's book, Juanto recalls his base phase where he was running 15-20 kilometers a day.

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Paul']

[Dan]

That's some serious mileage for a "400" guy. The impressive thing is that he ran such comparable times down to sprint-like distances.

I've only seen a couple of pictures of him, but this one doesn't make him look entirely white. Tough to say if there's a mix or how much, though.

Dan

[Guest]

Just to add an example for the 400m guy vs. the miler in an 800, how do you think a race between the World Record holders in the 400 and mile would do? Hicham El G vs. Michael Johnson. I would put my money on the Morrocan in this contest.

[Anonymously Posted by: 'Andy']

[Dan]

Andy,

I agree, although that comparison is a little skewed in that Michael is arguably better at the 200 than the 400, while Hicham is clearly a miler. Thus, you're taking a sprinter at the top of his range and comparing to a distance twice as long, which requires very different energy systems. That said, I felt the slender MJ from pre-96 would have made a scary 800m runner.

Dan