Alan Webb breaks 25 year old US mile record

aoa321

http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=39876.html

In the last week Alan Webb broke Steve Scott's 25 year old US mile record in a low key meeting in Belguim.

I'm a big fan of US middle distance running and I hope that Webb will prove to be the next "great white hope" and he can challenge the Africans, starting at Osaka. I've seen several interviews with him and he really does seem to be one of the most driven sportsmen - he seems to be in it for the pure performance, obsessed with times, with improvement, with harder and harder workouts and training sessions.

Any opinions on Webb? Do you think he's the real deal?

Pherekydes

We'll probably find out in Osaka, but at the mo, I'd say yes.

Incidentally, Ray Flynn and John Walker set national records, that still stand, in the same race in 1982.

Miling has moved on, but not in some countries.

aoa321

I didn't know Walker's record still stood from that race - what a race - I wonder is it up on youtube? I have no details so I cannot search.

Why do you think that middle distance evolved in such a dramatic way with the African athletes but seems to have stood still for everybody else. I do get a sense that the non-africans are really trying to step up to the mark now (Motram, Webb being 2 examples) - I'm loooking forward to Osaka, hopefully we'll see a few good dust ups.

Pherekydes

aoa321 wrote:

Why do you think that middle distance evolved in such a dramatic way with the African athletes but seems to have stood still for everybody else.

Money and hunger. Non-Africans have too much of the former and don't have enough of the latter (mostly). Non-Africans have been convinced by the media and themselves that they cannot compete with the Africans, so they don't even try.

The ones that succeed, like the Radcliffes and the Mottrams, have a different way of looking at things.

thirtyfoot

Webb is the real deal, his win in Paris was class. Now he could be talking sh*te but he says he has been preparing for the last two seasons for this year and next and that has explained why he ran poorly enough the past few seasons. He has been running 10km, 5km etc last season and all with Osaka/Beijing in mind and this year has run a fast 800 (1:45 I think).

Webb was a phenomenom in high school and they reckoned he was the new Prefontaine or Ryun. But after fading away a bit he has now come back very strong. In the US its all about the milers and if you are a top miler you will earn more than any other athlete, Michael Johnson was a legend but if he was a miler he would have been a god. Even average milers in the US will make good money. Some commentators are saying that Webb is the saviour of US Track that a home grown, white american miler will get US Track back on the sports pages. It'll be interesting to see but at the moment the americans track fans are going bananas about him.

Common Sense

I'm not sure yet if, in fact, he's the real deal. There is a huge difference as many top class performers will verify, between running fast times in paced races and going through rounds and winning championships. So, I'm suspending judgement until after Osaka and Beijing. Incidentally, whatever about Ryun proving he was the real deal, sadly in my view Prefontaine didn't and what we were left with was an awful lot of hype. In fairness to him, we don't know what he might have actually done had his life not been tragically cut short but what we're left with is a man who never medalled in a major championship.

thirtyfoot

3.46 mile would do it for me. But yes of course he needs to win at the major.

http://www.flocasts.com/flotrack/coverage.php?c=69&id=4455

I'm presuming thats Ray Flynn at the end of the clip.

thirtyfoot

The Webb bandwagon continues to roll, 1.43.84 tonight in Belgium, super running and if he wasn't already he is now surely the hot favourite for the 1500 in Osaka. That speed to go with his 5/10k of the past couple of seasons means he must go faster in the 1500, sub 3.30 at least.

http://www.timetronics.be/results/WebfilesHeusden2007/

Chamney 1.47 in the same race.

I just noticed Derv ran 12.95 - is she coming good again at the right time???