{"id":531,"date":"2011-07-15T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-15T13:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=531"},"modified":"2011-07-15T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-15T13:30:00","slug":"wheres-the-dominant-miler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=531","title":{"rendered":"Where\u2019s The Dominant Miler?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

For most of the World Championships\u2019 quarter century run, the \u201cmetric mile\u201d (1500 meters) has seen some truly elite \u201csuper\u201d milers rule.<\/p>\n

The first edition in 1983 was won by Steve Cram (GBR) over an all star field that included Steve Scott (USA), Said Aouita (MOR), and Steve Ovett (GBR) \u2013 almost as a prelude to his WR in \u201885.<\/p>\n

1991 saw Noureddine Morceli (ALG) win as a preface to his own WR in \u201892, before going on to win again in \u201895 \u2013 as well as set another WR in \u201895. In \u201897 the mantle was passed to Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR) who repeated in \u201899, \u201801, and \u201803 \u2013 and set the still standing WR in \u201898 while running 13 of the top 20 times all time along the way!<\/p>\n

Since then we\u2019ve seen a revolving door in the event with Rashid Ramzi (BRN), Bernard Lagat (USA), and Yusuf Kamel (BRN) all taking the title. Kamel was not a major factor last year, and is even less so so far in 2011. So it\u2019s a pretty solid bet that Daegu will once again see another \u201cmiler\u201d take the victory stand this year. <\/p>\n

Have we seen the last of the dominant miler? I realize that the WR in both 1500\/mile are WAY out there, so I\u2019m not necessarily saying that someone should rise up and start rewriting the all time lists. It has been a while, however, since we\u2019ve seen that miler that dominates the competition. A Ryun, Coe, Morceli, El G, that is able to just win win win \u2013 and of course doing it in fast times. <\/p>\n

Given today\u2019s group of milers, fast times means something under 3:31 \u2013 and someone able to go 3:29\/3:30 at will would clean up on the Circuit and at Majors. When you look at the list of the top 10 over 1500 meters in the last couple of seasons the potential seems to be there:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 3:29.27 – Silas Kiplagat – KEN\n
  2. 3:29.47 – Augustine Choge – KEN\n
  3. 3:29.53 – Amine Laalou – MAR\n
  4. 3:30.20 – Haron Keitany – KEN\n
  5. 3:30.90 – Andrew Wheating – USA\n
  6. 3:30.96 – Mehdi Baala – FRA\n
  7. 3:31.06 – Ryan Gregson – AUS\n
  8. 3:31.20 – Asbel Kiprop – KEN\n
  9. 3:31.21 – Antar Zerguelaine – ALG\n
  10. 3:31.47 \u2013 Abdalaati Iguider \u2013 MAR<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The issue has been that those have been mostly one off races with much slower back up performances \u2013 the exceptions being Choge (3:30.88), Keitany (3:30.90), and Kiplagat (3:30.61) who all have significant backup performances. So where does that leave us? It leaves us with the potential for a great miler to come forth. Believe it or not, Kiplagat, Choge and Laalou are all faster than Sebastian Coe\u2019s best of 3:29.77! Keitany better than Ovett\u2019s 3:30.77 \u2013 with Wheating and Baala close. What made Coe and Ovett great was their competitive nature and the ability to compete close to their best on demand. <\/p>\n

    That is what we are lacking now. The gutsy, go to the well, kind of milers that we saw in Ryun, Coe, Ovett, Cram, Aouita, Komen, Morceli and El G. Perhaps we will get a start to a new legacy in Daegu. After all, Worlds seemed to be a good stepping stone for Cram, Morceli and El G. And I\u2019m betting that one of the men listed above wins gold in Korea. I\u2019ll tell you which one when we\u2019re a bit closer to the opening of the meet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    For most of the World Championships\u2019 quarter century run, the \u201cmetric mile\u201d (1500 meters) has seen some truly elite \u201csuper\u201d milers rule. The first edition in 1983 was won by Steve Cram (GBR) over an all star field that included Steve Scott (USA), Said Aouita (MOR), and Steve Ovett (GBR) \u2013 almost as a prelude to his WR in \u201885. 1991 saw Noureddine Morceli (ALG) win as a preface to his own WR in \u201892, before going on to win again in \u201895 \u2013 as well as set another WR in \u201895. In \u201897 the mantle was passed to Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR) who repeated in \u201899, \u201801, and \u201803 \u2013 and set the still standing WR in \u201898 while running 13 of the top 20 times all time along the way! Since then we\u2019ve seen a revolving door in the event with Rashid Ramzi (BRN), Bernard Lagat (USA), and Yusuf Kamel (BRN) all taking the title. Kamel was not a major factor last year, and is even less so so far in 2011. So it\u2019s a pretty solid bet that Daegu will once again see another \u201cmiler\u201d take the victory stand this year. Have we seen the last of the dominant miler? I realize that the WR in both 1500\/mile are WAY out there, so I\u2019m not necessarily saying that someone should rise up and start rewriting the all time lists. It has been a while, however, since we\u2019ve seen that miler that dominates the competition. A Ryun, Coe, Morceli, El G, that is able to just win win win \u2013 and of course doing it in fast times. Given today\u2019s group of milers, fast times means something under 3:31 \u2013 and someone able to go 3:29\/3:30 at will would clean up on the Circuit and at Majors. When you look at the list of the top 10 over 1500 meters in the last couple of seasons the potential seems to be there: 3:29.27 – Silas Kiplagat – KEN 3:29.47 – Augustine Choge – KEN 3:29.53 – Amine Laalou – MAR 3:30.20 – Haron Keitany – KEN 3:30.90 – Andrew Wheating – USA 3:30.96 – Mehdi Baala – FRA 3:31.06 – Ryan Gregson – AUS 3:31.20 – Asbel Kiprop – KEN 3:31.21 – Antar Zerguelaine – ALG 3:31.47 \u2013 Abdalaati Iguider \u2013 MAR The issue has been that those have been mostly one off races with much slower back up performances \u2013 the exceptions being Choge (3:30.88), Keitany (3:30.90), and Kiplagat (3:30.61) who all have significant backup performances. So where does that leave us? It leaves us with the potential for a great miler to come forth. Believe it or not, Kiplagat, Choge and Laalou are all faster than Sebastian Coe\u2019s best of 3:29.77! Keitany better than Ovett\u2019s 3:30.77 \u2013 with Wheating and Baala close. What made Coe and Ovett great was their competitive nature and the ability to compete close to their best on demand. That is what we are lacking now. The gutsy, go to the well, kind of milers that we saw in Ryun, Coe, Ovett, Cram, Aouita, Komen, Morceli and El G. Perhaps we will get a start to a new legacy in Daegu. After all, Worlds seemed to be a good stepping stone for Cram, Morceli and El G. And I\u2019m betting that one of the men listed above wins gold in Korea. I\u2019ll tell you which one when we\u2019re a bit closer to the opening of the meet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa3DCY-8z","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":606,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=606","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":0},"title":"John Smith Reboots w\/ Dix & Bailey!","author":"CHill","date":"November 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time U.S. sprint fortunes were in the precarious position we are now was coming off the 1996 Olympics. Yes, Michael Johnson won the long sprint double \u2013 the 200 in WR time. But for four straight Majors (\u201992, \u201993, \u201995 & \u201996), we had lost the men\u2019s 100\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Bailey\"","block_context":{"text":"Bailey","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=bailey"},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-gWl8fcUh6LM\/TrRc_1ov-mI\/AAAAAAAAAkQ\/gF8dQbfbpog\/image_thumb%25255B3%25255D.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":204,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=204","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":1},"title":"London On Tap For Friday\/Saturday","author":"CHill","date":"July 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"London will be one of the final tune ups before the big party in Berlin. As such it will be one of the best attended venues by top athletes this season. So we'll get a peak at some of the athletes that should shape events in Berlin. Among those in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":899,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=899","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":2},"title":"Memories of the Games – The 110 Hurdles","author":"CHill","date":"March 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve got a bit of breathing room until the NCAA and World Indoor Championships get rolling next weekend, so I thought I would take another trip down memory lane to past Olympic Games. Looking over at my current poll where the men\u2019s 110 hurdles is clearly winning as the WR\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"110 Hurdles\"","block_context":{"text":"110 Hurdles","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=110-hurdles"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rod Milburn Munich","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Rod-Milburn-Munich_thumb.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":181,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=181","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":3},"title":"Robles Hurdles to World Lead in Ostrava","author":"CHill","date":"June 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Olympic Champion David Robles(CUB) and Bershawn Jackson (US) ran to world leading times of 13.04 and 48.32 in the men's 110 and 400 meter hurdle events to lead a handful outstanding performances in Ostrava. Robles cruised to an easy victory on the track where he set the WR (12.87) in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"UPI POY 2008 - The Beijing Olympics.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.picapp.com\/ftp\/Images\/a\/8\/c\/9\/39.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1799,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1799","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":4},"title":"Indoors Closing With a Bang","author":"CHill","date":"March 6, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This past weekend saw a rash of big time indoor performances as the European and US Championships were held. Below are my top half dozen performers\/performances from the weekend. Initially I was going to do a top five as that's a more common number, but that Mary Cain just had\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 7 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 7 comments","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=1799#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mary Cain","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/trackchill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Cain_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":572,"url":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?p=572","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":5},"title":"Worlds Day 9 \u2013 Bolt & Taylor Close Out in Style","author":"CHill","date":"September 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the semis for the men and women\u2019s 4x1\u2019s, the finals got underway with the men\u2019s 5000 meters. It became yet another championship race \u2013 which means they spent some 4200 meters warming up for a showdown between kickers. What made the race exciting is that this time it was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Farah\"","block_context":{"text":"Farah","link":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/?tag=farah"},"img":{"alt_text":"image","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.ggpht.com\/-aCJv1PP4kWs\/TmN0IfLesLI\/AAAAAAAAAcg\/1jOC_Xsnzl0\/image_thumb.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/trackchill.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}