Why so few distance front runner's?

[dj]

Re: Why so few distance front runner's?

Paula Radcliffe. John Ngugi.

Vladimir Kuts. Ran them into the ground. I saw one race where it did not work though. Against Pirie in Norway in 1956. Pirie just hung on and blasted past him in the last 200 and set his 5000 WR.

Is this race what led Kuts to run such a dramatically surging race in the OG 10? Had Kuts been known for such alterations in pace before Melbourne?

[John G]

Re: Why so few distance front runner's?

I'd be interested if anyone thought there were examples of athletes who lost a gold because of a failure to take on the pace? I immediately thought of Tergat in Atlanta. Geb hadn't run for several days due to blisters and, according to his autobiography was not confident. Had Tergat gone earlier he may have broken him. I'm not sure he was quite the same athlete in Sydney but Geb was vulnerable there as well.

[Per Andersen]

Re: Why so few distance front runner's?

Is this race what led Kuts to run such a dramatically surging race in the OG 10? Had Kuts been known for such alterations in pace before Melbourne?

I'm certain Kuts learned from that Bergen race in June '56, as Pirie beat him with such a devastating finish. I don't have any lap times but I did not notice much surging from Kuts. But this was Pirie at the top of his game, on a perfect cinder track, ideal temperature and with a very pro Pirie crowd. He was often in Bergen in those years.

[catson52]

Re: Why so few distance front runner's?

RLQ lists Pirie's km fractions as: 2:36.0, 2:46.0, 2:47.0, 2:48.0 and 2:39.8. Last 300 m in 41.2 to finish out a great WR.