2 athletes start 200m apart in the track; first one to catch the other wins. Who will be the best in the world?

every non-american: "who?"

We had a "race" where 4 runners started 100 meters apart. When you were caught you were out. Winner of each heat went to finals.

Men's and women's races the "faster" 1 mile/5k types won.

We did something similiar after High School baseball practise. Players were put on each base and in between. You'd run and try to tag the guy in front. Once tagged you were out.

Isn't the 4 person race also a function of the order of the runners? For example, if you are a 10k guy in a race with 2 other 10k guys and 1 1500 guy, you want to start directly behind the 1500 guy and not directly in front of him. I don't see how the 1500 guy or the 10K directly in front of him could ever win the race (assuming abilities are comparable).

Na man, people arent as illiterate as you

The 4 man race makes this much more interesting. The 1 VS 1 will most of the times end in a long long grind

I took it as understood that each historic athlete was taken at their peak, not what they might run if the race was held today.

Watching some old El G vids, the gap he would open on excellent EPO fields seems to me to be astounding, even at shorter distances like the mile.

I still think the 5k guys would formidable in this: Chep, Bekele, Geb, Komen. Close at 5k, maybe Komen drops by 10k, leaving the top 3. Knowing nothing, I see only Bekele and Geb left at the end, and in that battle, it would come down to who could better fight off boredom, going around a track, and who was having a better day.

Crazy.

I think you need to have an upper limit of distance to sharpen the strategic focus. Like, the runner who starts in the lead will win after a maximum of 25 laps or similar.

Same. I was slow then and hated this type of baseball conditioning.

200m lead sucks the thrill out, as obviously the speeds would be like 5k pace which is relatively boring.

A better event would be team 1 vs team 2 consisting of 2 people, team 1 would have their 2 runners placed at the classic start/finish line and 200m start line, team 2 would have their 2 runners placed at the 300m start line and 100m start line.

This would make up for faster paces as every runner would be scared of the runner behind them while having to catch the one ahead.

Have you seen the movie the running man?

my presumption is that if cheptegei is in better 10k fitness, he is also likely in better half marathon fitness. perhaps not everyone agrees with that.

in reality, its virtually impossible to predict who would win between athletes of extremely similar type and ability. my larger point was that the cheptegei/kiplimo archetype is the type of runner who i think would dominate this type of competition.

Geb wins this. He can win as a 1500m guy, or he can win as a marathon guy, or he can win as anything in between.

different, but also interesting were the old handicapped races at the 168th st armory when it was flat floor(50's?). everyone gets a starting spot around the track based on their pr, gun goes off and theoretically race ends in a blanket finish. never saw one, or even had a race described, but they existed.

OK but my understanding is that nobody is in the lead or even starts in the lead.

This is interesting but ultimately mere speculation. The track is a tough place to run for a long time. Mo Farah, Hicham, Kenenisa, Geb, Komen, Lagat, Morceli, the 2 Ugandans, Tadese, Kandy Man, Kipchoge and a few others would be contenders. Sprinting ability would of course be useful. The ability to changer gears. Miruts Yifter would be no joke.

Real world example: if cop has to run down a criminal with a head start, cop needs to be a distance runner, can keep going as long as it takes to catch the the bad guy. If the bad guy is a sprinter, he doesn't stand a chance because sooner or later he's going to slow down or stop while the cop just keeps on going. If both are distance runners you've got a good race to watch from the news chopper.

Kiplimo beat Bekele with almost 1.5 minutes in the Great North Run recently!

Do you agree this equals to a distance between 500 and 600m?

I agree with several other in this thread that Kiplimo must be the man. No 800/1500m man can gap him with 200m before they reach 1500-2000m and hereafter Kiplimo is the stronger.

And Kiplimo will gap every marathon runner with 200m before 20KM.

Jakob may later in his career be a challenger.

Cheptegei can´t be judged on his 5000/ 10000m WRs anymore since he hasn´t come close to these times in 2 years.

I sense that many of you are overrating Kiplimo here. Yes he would be near or at the top of the list but there is no reason to make him the favorite. His tools are impressive but not in a way that distinguishes him above a prime Kenenisa or Geb. We just never saw a prime Kenenisa or Geb run a half marathon in super shoes, or maybe any shoes?

One more formidable competitor here would be Samuel Wanjiru, a real warrior who ran 26:41 and an Olympic Marathon Gold.