kartelite wrote:
Serious question: why is Japan very decent in the short sprints (in terms of relay and individual performances, probably top 5-10 over the past decade) and quite good in the marathon (top 5 status is pretty much undisputed) but is completely irrelevant in anything between?
I was thinking it’s perhaps related to average physiology, if you look at Europeans they tend to be taller and best in long sprints to mid distance which isn’t generally ideal for super short sprints nor for marathons (Karsten and Jakob for instance, and I realize Usain is an exception to the height rule for short sprinters), which is the opposite of Japanese..but the top performances are determined by outliers not individuals and you’d think a country with the genetic components to produce world-class sprinters and distance runners could have at least one person of relevance in the mid distances.
Outliers not averages, my bad.