Comparing Paula’s 30:01 (2002) with Eilish’s 30:19 (2022)

Paula ran faster (30:01<30:19)

Super Shoes ruin this debate. These shoes are absolutely a huge advantage. Personally, I'd like to ban them... but there is no putting that monster back in the cage. Paula is still the greatest that I've ever seen. But I am old school and would take Khannouchi over today's heroes (super shoes) too. KK took on EVERYONE - any where and any distance.

Give Eilish monster doses of EPO and see how fast she runs.

Paula ran faster without super shoes in awful conditions all on her own from the gun. Elish had super shoes and wave light. Great run from Elish but the performances are not remotely comparable. A better question would be who had the better performance, Elish or her mother when she set her PB. Elish seems to respond very well to super shoes so my guess would be it would be close but she would just have the edge over her mother.

Both impressive, but it’s hard to think of how many hypothetical “extra” factors would have to be present to make a slower time now “comparable” to a faster time 20 years ago. Paula’s run is significantly more impressive.

Both ladies have very similar Personal bests.

Paula: 4:05.37, 4:24.94, 8:22.20, 14:29.11, 30:01.09, 1:06:47, 2:15:25

Eilish: 4:00.97, 4:24.71, 8:31.00, 14:28.55, 30:19.02, 1:06:26

Paula Radcliffe

1500 Metres
4:05.37
Glasgow (GBR)
01 JUL 2001
1163
One Mile
4:24.94
Zürich (SUI)
14 AUG 1996
1156
2000 Metres
5:39.20
Sheffield (GBR)
29 AUG 1993
1141
3000 Metres
8:22.20
Stade Louis II, Monaco (MON)
19 JUL 2002
NR
1236
Two Miles
9:32.07
Loughborough (GBR)
23 MAY 1999
1131
5000 Metres
14:29.11
Zdzislaw Krzyszkowiak Stadium, Bydgoszcz (POL)
20 JUN 2004
1224
10,000 Metres
30:01.09
Olympiastadion, München (GER)
06 AUG 2002
NR
1247
5 Kilometres
14:51
London (GBR)
14 SEP 2003
1181
5 Miles Road
24:47
Balmoral (GBR)
24 APR 1999
0
10 Kilometres
30:21
San Juan (PUR)
23 FEB 2003
AR
1228
15 Kilometres
52:48
Heerenberg (NED)
07 DEC 2014
1010
10 Miles Road
51:11
Portsmouth (GBR)
26 OCT 2008
1171
Half Marathon
1:06:47
Bristol (GBR)
07 OCT 2001
1197
Half Marathon
1:05:40 *
South Shields (GBR)
22 SEP 2003
1200
Marathon
2:15:25
London (GBR)

Eilish McColgan

800 Metres
2:08.11
Trafford Athletic Stadium, Manchester (GBR)
25 AUG 2020
1022
1500 Metres
4:00.97
Complexe Sportif Prince Moulay Abdellah, Rabat (MAR)
16 JUN 2019
1198
One Mile
4:24.71
Alexander Stadium, Birmingham (GBR)
18 AUG 2019
1158
3000 Metres
8:31.00
Alexander Stadium, Birmingham (GBR)
20 AUG 2017
1205
5000 Metres
14:28.55
Bislett Stadion, Oslo (NOR)
01 JUL 2021
NR
1225
10,000 Metres
30:19.02
Blankers-Koen Stadion, Hengelo (NED)
06 JUN 2022
1230
2000 Metres Steeplechase
6:42.24
Bedford (GBR)
02 MAY 2011
1020
3000 Metres Steeplechase
9:35.82
Luzhniki Stadion, Moskva (RUS)
10 AUG 2013
1154
5 Kilometres
14:45
Málaga (ESP)
24 APR 2022
NR
1192
10 Kilometres
30:19
Manchester (GBR)
22 MAY 2022
AR(p)NR
1230
10 Miles Road
50:43
Portsmouth (GBR)
17 OCT 2021
ABPNBP
1185
Half Marathon
1:06:26
Ras Al Khaimah (UAE)
19 FEB 2022
NR
1204
4x1500 Metres Relay
19:09.20
Grangemouth (GBR)

McColgan and Radcliffe, running mavericks:

It is generally agreed that both ladies have/had unorthodox running styles but in my opinion Paula, aside from her strange head bobbing, actually had a pretty good and efficient style for running which is not the case, again in my opinion, with Eilish, who throws a spanner into the works of all coaches who say that “style/technique” is important, but maybe finally is not. What possibly saves Eilish is that she is a forefoot striker (on her toes?), which creates less stress on her body. Paula was more classic mid foot striker, and possibly even sometimes heel striker when she was tired.

Style/technique is not important.

Making sure an athlete is strong enough to withstand their own anatomy based gait is.

Shoes are an advantage. So are the massive amounts of PEDs that Paula took.

let's finally get Paula to release her biological passport then #doping

It's not that simple when you compare performances. I've been running since 1971.

I can tell you there's a world of difference running on a typical cinder track in the Onitsuka shoes that we called spikes back then to the modern tracks and super shoes now.

I've seen a progression of shoes and tracks the make up to least 1 second per lap difference and I really think I'm being conservative.

I remember her saying that she wanted blood samples frozen so they can be retested as testing got more advanced. Perhaps they're in some freezer somewhere?

how fast would eilish run without the super shoes? how fast would she run on the same track as paula without the shoes?

Radcliffe's 30.01 in old shoes certainly can make one wonder. It's debatable how bad the conditions were in that race - quite heavy rain not ideal but not too brutal as the PBs/NRs by those far behind her (notably a lot of East Europeans, know what I mean) suggest.