Runner of the decade... World? US?

I was kidding with Broe. He's great but he was pretty much by himself during a really bad patch for the U.S men and I thought I'd mention him.

Taylor over Meb. Definitely, even though the NYC win by Meb made it closer for me. The problem with a lot of the sprinters is their longevity (doping?). 4-5 years does not make for dominating a decade. Taylor found a way to stick around. He gets NO publicity despite four Olympic golds while Gay and several other high profile, high publicity athletes have none.

Felix over Flanagan and Kastor just because of the medals? And it's not even close? I would lean towards Kastor. Flanagan, upon closer inspection, maybe not.

Felix's gold came in a relay. She has two silvers on her own. Felix is a 200m runner. She's very competitive in the 400 (her relay gold) and 100 but she uses those events to train/prepare for her 200. And she has no American records. Even Flanagan has one of those.

Kastor set AR's in the marathon, half marathon, 8k, road 5k, and several other AR's during her London marathon and Berlin half. And she also has a medal from the Olympics.

Don't get me wrong, I like Allyson Felix. She's an awesome athlete and seems to be a great person. However....

Olympic Bronze, multiple AR's, 5k-marathon range > Two Olympic silvers and a relay gold, 200 specialist

MSCoach wrote:

Don't get me wrong, I like Allyson Felix. She's an awesome athlete and seems to be a great person. However....

Olympic Bronze, multiple AR's, 5k-marathon range >

Two Olympic silvers and a relay gold, 200 specialist

OK, road AR doesn't cut it.

Also, Felix has 3 WC golds and 3 WC relay golds. You're just going to ignore those? But count a road AR? Are you kidding?

Felix is the best 200m runner in the world for this decade. Kastor is not the best anything in the world for this decade. Kastor medaled in the weakest running event at the Olympics, no offense to her.

Felix has range too, 100m to 400m, just as impressive as 5k to marathon. She makes both relays and is ranked top 10 all-time in the US in the 400.

We're going to say the first decade AD had 9 years (years 1-9) or included 1 BC.

And that a decade is defined by the second to last digit.

Wiki agrees

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decade

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0s

So we include the 2000 Olympics in this debate and not the 2010 non-championship year.

That gives Geb an Olympic Gold in this decade but most of his track success was in the 90's.

World-Bekele

US- Jeremy Wariner is the most decorated runner.

Honorable mention to Allen Johnson and Angelo Taylor

Excluding half the decade that he was Kenyan, Lagat still had a good decade as an American

[quote]Wendell Gee wrote:

Felix is the best 200m runner in the world for this decade. Kastor is not the best anything in the world for this decade.

I'm not even completely convinced Felix is the best American sprinter this decade while Kastor is definitely the best American distance runner this decade. She is much more dominant in her events (among Americans) than Felix is in hers. Kastor is the only American under 2:20. She's #9 all time and has 3 of the top 4 performances ever in the marathon among Americans. Felix doesn't appear on any of the top ten all time in any of her events.

Veronica Campbell Brown has proven, on a regular basis, she is better than Allyson Felix, especially when it counts (the Olympics). And she's on the top ten all time list.

Sure, take out the road 5k. But that is just as suspect as counting 4 relay golds. But you can't seriously consider relay golds?

And again, Felix's American records are.......?

Dean Karnazes

MSCoach wrote:

I'm not even completely convinced Felix is the best American sprinter this decade while Kastor is definitely the best American distance runner this decade. She is much more dominant in her events (among Americans) than Felix is in hers. Kastor is the only American under 2:20. She's #9 all time and has 3 of the top 4 performances ever in the marathon among Americans. Felix doesn't appear on any of the top ten all time in any of her events.

Veronica Campbell Brown has proven, on a regular basis, she is better than Allyson Felix, especially when it counts (the Olympics). And she's on the top ten all time list.

Sure, take out the road 5k. But that is just as suspect as counting 4 relay golds. But you can't seriously consider relay golds?

And again, Felix's American records are.......?

Fine, leave out relay medals, I don't care. Felix still has far more international medals than Kastor.

If Brown is better than Felix, which is highly debatable considering Felix has 3 WC golds, so what? Kastor has been World ranked #1 only once. Her two WC silvers in XC impress me more than anything else.

Kastor has one major medal in track so I'm not sure how people are busting on Felix for not having more.

MSCoach wrote:

And again, Felix's American records are.......?

As for records, you don't really want to compare the 200m to the marathon do you? Seriously? How bad are we at the marathon? It's brutal.

FYI IAAF tables show their PR's (21.81 and 2:19:36) to be basically equal, with a slight edge to Felix.

Wendell Gee wrote:

MSCoach wrote:

And again, Felix's American records are.......?

As for records, you don't really want to compare the 200m to the marathon do you? Seriously? How bad are we at the marathon? It's brutal.

FYI IAAF tables show their PR's (21.81 and 2:19:36) to be basically equal, with a slight edge to Felix.

Yes, we're bad at the marathon..... except for Kastor! Are we bad in the sprints? No, they are our deepest events. She might not be what she once was but for most of the past decade she dominated American women's distance running and was the only American that was part of the "discussion" internationally. There are only 4 women who have run the marathon faster! How many women have run faster than 21.88 in the 200? At least 10...

I'm not trying to bust on Felix. But i just don't think she has distinguished herself among her peers (American sprinters) like Kastor has. Sanya Richards is arguably just as accomplished as Felix. There are no American distance runners (save Flanagan on the track) who were in Kastor's class in the past decade. One medal in track. So what? The OP did ask about runners of the decade, not necessarily track. So I think the road and XC accomplishments are definitely fair game. Then again, indoor should be for Felix....

The best US runner is definately a white guy and definately a distance guy.