Although the prediction that was made that Merritt would win the 400 was off (and truthfully not one that I would have made), it is somewhat surprising that many seem to think that Merritt will never have a chance to beat Wariner. Is it that there is no limit to what you think Wariner can do? Or, do you think that Merritt has truly already peaked? I think that labeling Wariner as the greatest of all time and ignoring the potential that Merritt has is a mistake.
Let's do a comparison of the progression of the two. As high school seniors, Wariner ran 45.57 and Merritt ran 45.25. At 19, Wariner ran 45.13 and Merritt 44.66. At 20, Wariner ran 44.00 and Merritt 44.14. And at 21, Wariner ran 43.93 while Merritt just ran 43.96. In the last two years Wariner has gone down to 43.62 and now 43.45 at 23 (so far). So is it that you really don't believe that Merritt can continue to improve on his times? Or do you think that regardless of the improvement that Merritt makes, Wariner will always be slightly better. I don't know about all of you, but these times look pretty similar to me, and I think down the line Merritt could certainly truly challenge Wariner.