Even if Katir had another good race for a ranking I think Nuguse would be higher. Remember Nuguse beat Katir indoors by more than Katir beat Nuguse outdoors. And Nuguse also has his 3:47 mile from this indoor season. I do think Nuguse doesn't have as crazy of a kick as some of these other guys though. He is a great time trial runner, he showed that in college as well with his 3:34? 1500 NCAA record at the ACC prelims but couldn't win the championship races later in the season. I hope I'm wrong, but if it's halfway tactical in Budapest I think he misses a medal. Only if it's a 3:30.XX or faster race will he get a medal.
If anything, he has been known for having a crazy kick his entire career.
Yeah, Steve Scott was kind of a big deal. I don’t disagree with your putting Centro ahead of him based primarily on his Olympic gold, but the thing Scott really has over Centro is that Scott was routinely competing for the win on the Euro circuit from ‘79 to ‘86. He racked up a bunch of wins in meets that would later be called the Golden League and now Diamond League, in Oslo, Brussels, Lausanne, Stockholm, Zurich…That’s why he was ranked top-4 in the world by Track and Field News six times, while Centro was never ranked higher than 5th.
I don’t think there’s any way that Nuguse “matches Scott’s accomplishments in only his first year as a pro” unless he wins Worlds and breaks the world record.
Addendum: I don’t consider Nuguse as having earned a #2 world ranking yet, in the way that Scott/Ryun/Liquori earned top-2 rankings. There’s a big difference between T&F News end-of-year rankings and the automated World Athletics points system. Do you consider it reasonable to call Alicia Monson the #2 ranked 5k woman in the world?—it’s whack, but that’s where she sits in the WA rankings right now. That said, Nuguse is in a fine spot to earn that #2 ranking in the next ~7 weeks.
Yeah, Steve Scott was kind of a big deal. I don’t disagree with your putting Centro ahead of him based primarily on his Olympic gold, but the thing Scott really has over Centro is that Scott was routinely competing for the win on the Euro circuit from ‘79 to ‘86. He racked up a bunch of wins in meets that would later be called the Golden League and now Diamond League, in Oslo, Brussels, Lausanne, Stockholm, Zurich…That’s why he was ranked top-4 in the world by Track and Field News six times, while Centro was never ranked higher than 5th.
I don’t think there’s any way that Nuguse “matches Scott’s accomplishments in only his first year as a pro” unless he wins Worlds and breaks the world record.
Addendum: I don’t consider Nuguse as having earned a #2 world ranking yet, in the way that Scott/Ryun/Liquori earned top-2 rankings. There’s a big difference between T&F News end-of-year rankings and the automated World Athletics points system. Do you consider it reasonable to call Alicia Monson the #2 ranked 5k woman in the world?—it’s whack, but that’s where she sits in the WA rankings right now. That said, Nuguse is in a fine spot to earn that #2 ranking in the next ~7 weeks.
Yeah, Steve Scott was kind of a big deal. I don’t disagree with your putting Centro ahead of him based primarily on his Olympic gold, but the thing Scott really has over Centro is that Scott was routinely competing for the win on the Euro circuit from ‘79 to ‘86. He racked up a bunch of wins in meets that would later be called the Golden League and now Diamond League, in Oslo, Brussels, Lausanne, Stockholm, Zurich…That’s why he was ranked top-4 in the world by Track and Field News six times, while Centro was never ranked higher than 5th.
I don’t think there’s any way that Nuguse “matches Scott’s accomplishments in only his first year as a pro” unless he wins Worlds and breaks the world record.
Addendum: I don’t consider Nuguse as having earned a #2 world ranking yet, in the way that Scott/Ryun/Liquori earned top-2 rankings. There’s a big difference between T&F News end-of-year rankings and the automated World Athletics points system. Do you consider it reasonable to call Alicia Monson the #2 ranked 5k woman in the world?—it’s whack, but that’s where she sits in the WA rankings right now. That said, Nuguse is in a fine spot to earn that #2 ranking in the next ~7 weeks.
how we feelin now
If I were doing a T&F News-style year-end 1500/mile ranking, I’d put Nuguse #2. Probably something like:
1. Jakob Ingebrigtsen 2. Yared Nuguse 3. Josh Kerr 4. Narve Nordas 5. Abel Kipsang 6. Mario Garcia 7. Reynold Cheruiyot 8. Mohamed Katir 9. Azeddine Habz 10. George Mills/Neil Gourley
Timothy Cheruiyot, Cole Hocker and Niels Laros among those just outside the list.