A BAD title!
But I couldn't fit ALL that follows into a workable (& short!) title!
Anyway, lots to cover, so as one of my favorite people, Carrie Tollefson, always says, "Let's get after it"!
This will be a LONG post, but will be divided into 5 sections.
1. Who's better, Lasse Viren or Mo Farah?
2. Who is the Best HS PRO?
3. My CURRENT Projections for World & US Top 10 choices for AOY's.
4. Best T&F & Running Books (Stats, Bios, Novels)
5. Best T&F & Running Movies (Fictional, Bio-pics, Documentaries)
(I decided to divide this into TWO posts. Just too much to cover, and I want to give enough space to each section! So the first 3 sections (see above) will be in THIS post, the Books & Movies sections in the 2nd post!)
Who's Better, Lasse Viren or Mo Farah?
Mo Farah's double Gold in both the 2012 Olympics and the 2013 World Championships has led people to say he's the Greatest of All Time (GOAT)---at least in Distance Running.
But is he?
Or could it be Lasse Viren, who won double Golds in TWO Olympics?
Let's take a look.
It was 43 years ago that Lasse Viren became famous beyond his native Finland.
He won both the 5000 and 10000 in the 1972 Munich OG.
Then he repeated that feat in the 1976 Montreal Olympics!
(There were no World Championships in those days, just several Regional Champs, such as the Euros, Commonwealth Games, and Pan Am Games.)
It was the 2012 London Olympics that made "MO" a household word--at least in running circles!
He also won double Gold in those London Games.
And while Rio isn't here yet, Farah did win double Gold in the 2013 Moscow WC's, to "match" Viren's feat--at least as far as Medals are concerned!
But let's take a closer look.
In both 1972 and 1976, there were heats AND the final in both of Viren's events.
That meant 30K of racing in each Games.
(In the '76 Games, he added the Marathon's 42.2K, thus he raced 72.2K in Montreal!!)
In both the 2012 OG and the 2013 WC, Farah had "just" 20000 meters of racing at each venue, as there were no 10K heats!
Viren's winning 10000 time in 1972 was a World Record, cutting 1 second from Ron Clarke's venerable 27:39.4 from 1965.
His 5000 time in '72 was about 10 seconds slower than Clarke's WR.
In 1976, Viren won the 10K in 27:40.4, two seconds slower than in 1972, but the WR was just 27:30+ then, so he was also 10 seconds off from that!
His 5K splits in that '76 10K were 14:09 and 13:31!
He won the '76 5000 in 13:24.6, about 11 seconds from the WR at that time!
Mo's times, in both the OG of '12 and the WC of '13 were FAR off the WR's!
Looking at their Records & Marks outside of the Major meets, we see some interesting stats.
Viren's last weeks leading up to the Munich Games were BUSY!
(If you read my post about Clarke, you know that those pre-Professional years saw LOTS more racing by the Distance people than we see today!)
In late July, he ran a 5000 in 13:19.0, then 3rd A-T.
He followed that 2 days later with a BIG PR over 3000, a 7:43.2.
In early August, he ran a National Record 10000 in 27:52.4.
This was soon followed by a World Record over 2 Miles, time of 8:14.0.
Then, just 4 days after the Games ended, he set a WR in the 5000, running 13:16.4.
(Okay, so he broke it by just 0.2, but he BROKE it!)
In the 1976 Games, he tried a TRIPLE, running the Marathon just one day after the 5000 final!
He finished 5th--after being in 3rd through 25K!--in the time of 2:13:11.
In addition to his 2012 and 2013 exploits, Farah had a lot of WC experiences!
He ran in the 2007, 2009, and 2011 WC's also.
He was 6th in the 2007 5K.
He was 7th two years later in the 5K.
Then, in 2011, he was much more successful, almost emulating his later successes, winning the 5K after taking Silver in the 10K.
If you look at Farah's set of PR's, his times were obviously faster than Viren's, given about 35-40 years between their careers!
But were they BETTER?
I noted Viren's WR's, and how close to (or far from!) the WR's of back then he was.
But Farah?
Counting OUTdoor times only (as I did with Viren), Mo's best PR's are in the 1500 and 2 Mile.
His 3:28.81 is far better than Viren's!
(But Farah's Mile best is just 3:56+, worth just a 3:39+ 1500!!)
His 8:07.85 Deuce is just 6.15 seconds faster than what Viren did 42 years earlier!
Mo's 5K and 10K are nowhere near the WR's, being about 16 and 29 seconds slower, respectively..
My decision?
Lasse Viren WINS!!
Easily!
Who's the Best High School PRO?
This question, by virtue of the reality of this particular situation, is limited to 4 Women.
Allyson Felix and Ajee Wilson both turned Pro after HS graduation, and never competed in College.
But Alana Hadley, Mary Cain, Alexa Efraimson, and Kaylin Whitney all signed as Professionals while still ATTENDING High School!!
For whatever reason(s), Male HS'ers haven't gone the Pro route while in HS---yet!!
So who's the Best HS PRO?
(Cain's 2015 season doesn't count, as she was a College Frosh! Only her HS Pro years are considered!)
This question is a bit difficult, as the 4 ladies compete(d) in basically 3 different sets of events.
Cain and Efraimson were/are both mainly 800-1500 runners.
Hadley runs mostly Half and Full Marathons.
And Whitney is a Sprinter.
Let's look first at "Honors Won", which is T&FN's top criteria for their AOY selections!
Cain was 6th in the 2012 World Junior Championships.
She finished 10th in the 2013 Moscow WC's 1500.
She won the 3000 in the '14 WJC's.
Efraimson won Bronze in the 2013 World Youth Championships.
She was 6th in the 2014 WJC's.
She failed to make this year's WC team for Beijing.
Whitney won the 200, while taking 3rd in the 100 in the '14 WJC's.
(She'd won both in the WJC "Trials".)
And Hadley won the 2014 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, after finishing as 2nd Woman the year before.
My blog is more concerned with Times than "Honors Won".
And this particular post's question is concerned with these Women's PRO accomplishments ONLY!
So most of those "Honors Won" are left OUT of consideration!
When did they turn Pro?
As best I could decipher, Hadley was first, signing on 1 week AFTER her 2013 Monumental race.
However, she then accepted prize money from that race, so she must be considered as being Pro on the day she ran that race!
Cain became a Pro on November 20, 2013.
She was then about 2 months into her Senior year of HS.
Efraimson turned Pro on September 20, 2014, when she was just starting her Senior year.
And Whitney was the last of the 4 to go Pro, connecting her signing to her 17th Birthday celebration.
(She was born March 9, 1998.)
Hadley's Marathon PR is 2:38:34, which is about 4 minutes slower than Cathy Schiro (O'Brien's) HSR.
In 2014, that time was just 30th best on the US list!
Her 2:41:55 from 2013 was just 47th on the US list!
I don't know where her 1:16:41 Half PR stands on the HS list, but I'm guessing it's Number ONE, as the Half is a mostly-21st Century event.
But it probably doesn't matter, as I think she ran that while still an amateur!
Ditto with her 34:59.38 Track 10K best from 2012, which remains the Frosh Class Record!
Cain's best times mainly came BEFORE she went the Pro route!
Should I count them?
Sorry, but no!
So what are we looking at, then?
Her best OUTdoor marks in 2014 (her ONLY Pro HS year!) were not her best!
Her 8:58+ winning time in the WJC that year is maybe the LEAST impressive of her Professional High School PR's!
She also ran the 800 in 2:01.67 and the 1500 in 4:06.34, which I consider her finest PRO mark!
Efraimson will be considered a HS'er through August 31st, so all of her OUTdoor times from this year are considered.
Her bests (thus far!) are 2:01.13 over 800, 4:03.39 for 1500, and a 16:09+ 5000.
Whitney's 2015 times are getting better with each race, it seems!
Through today, her HS PRO bests are 11.37 for the 100 (and a heavily--5.4 worth!--wind-aided 11.01) and a PR of 22.47 in the 200.
And we should consider that Whitney, being the youngest of the four, has ANOTHER full year as a HS PRO!!
Since it's hard to compare times over different distances, I'm going to admit "Honors Won" into my criteria.
Hadley WON her PR race (and was 2nd the previous year), but her times were so far down the US list that THAT factor takes away from her placings.
Whitney failed to make the WC team at the USATF meet (the WC "Trials").
But she later PR'ed in the 200!
She also had one race where she took 2nd to Veronica Campbell-Brown in a 200.
And she admittedly is the FASTEST of the 4---as the only Sprinter!
No contest there!
With Cain and Efraimson, the judgment becomes easier, as they were/are in the same events, for the most part.
And here, taking ONLY HS Professional times into consideration, Efraimson wins this "race"---hands down!!
In the 800, she wins, 2:01.13 to 2:01.67.
And Alexa has some solid back-up 800's!
In fact, she took 2nd in a meet in Belgium just yesterday, running 2:01.33 behind the winner, Jenny Meadows.
(And she beat several good runners!)
But it's in the 1500 where Efraimson takes the Grand Prize.
Cain's best PRO mark was 4:06.34.
Efraimson has TWO times better than that, and her fastest--4:03.39--is almost 3 whole seconds faster.
So who is (or in Cain's case, WAS!) the Best HS PRO T&F Athlete?
1. Alexa Efraimson
2. Kaylin Whitney (by a VERY slim margin over Hadley!)
3. Alana Hadley (See Whitney comments! But here, her WINNING her race added some weight!)
4. Mary Cain (If she had turned Pro one year earlier--right after Alberto Salazar became her coach!--it would have been a CLEAR Cain win here!! Also, if I had given ANY weight to INdoor times, Cain's 2014 INdoor PRO season would have given HER 1st place!)
Finally---for THIS already-lengthy post--I will name some names who right NOW must be considered the most likely World and US Athletes of the Year finalists!
For lack of space, I will just list the names---in the order I believe they'd finish in the AOY decision.
But remember, THE Meet of the Year--the World Championships--is still about 6 weeks away.
And there's several more Diamond League meets yet to happen.
And at least 3 MAJOR Marathons--Berlin, Chicago, and New York--yet to be run!
A LOT can---and most certainly WILL--happen that might drastically change my list!!
All that said, here's my list, as of right NOW!
World--Men
1. Justin Gatlin
2. Pablo (or PPPP) Pichardo
3. Eliud Kipchoge
4. Jairus Birech
5. Pawel Fajdek
6. Ayanleh Souleiman
7. David Storl
8. Orlando Ortega
9. Evan Jager
10. Choose from Mutaz Barshim, Renaud Lavillenie, Trey Hardee, Julius Yego, Christian Taylor, and Mo Farah.
US--Men
1. Gatlin
2. Jager
3. Taylor
4. Hardee
5. Joe Kovacs
6. Eric Kynard
7. Trayvon Bromell
8. Marquis Dendy
9. Bershawn Jackson
10. Bernard Lagat (For his Age Records!!)
World--Women
1. Genzebe Dibaba
2. Brrianne Theissen-Eaton
3. Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce
4. Almaz Ayana
5. Allyson Felix
6. Shaunae Miller
7. Virginia Nyambura
8. Anita Wlodarczyk (Her 261-11 "WR" over a river was NOT considered!!)
9. Sharika Nelvis
10 Choose from among Jasmine Stowers, Eunice Sum, Shamier Little, Christina Schwanitz, Nikoleta Kiriakopoulou, and Tianna Bartoletta.
US--Women
1. Felix
2. Nelvis
3. Stowers
4. Little
5. Bartoletta
6. Barbara Nwaba
7. Jenny Simpson
8. Vashti Cunningham
9. English Gardner
10. Choose from among Emma Coburn, Dawn Harper-Nelson, Jenn Suhr, Michelle Carter, and Kara Winger.
Stick around for Part 2.
That will be my list of the Best Books and Movies about T&F and Running.
Should be posted in 2 or 3 hours!
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