Runners who succeeded moving DOWN in distance

Said Aouita kind of, he won the LA 1984 gold medal in the 5,000 then the bronze at 800 at Seoul 1988.

Actually one more, Jenny Simpson. Steeple to 1500m

Hobbs Kessler. :)

Bit of a reach here, but after HS I think people had Centro pegged as someone who would succeed at 3k/5k/XC. Obviously became a successful 1500 guy (insert comment about slow Rio cuckrace here).

Bolt - 200/400 to 100/200

wasn't Usain Bolt trying to be a 400m runner before focusing on the 100m/200m?

Martyn Rooney was a 1500m man until he was about 18, then changed to 400m and competed regularly for GB

James Ronald Ryun set the world record for the mile at 3:51.1 in 1967, and as I recall, it held up for about ten years. Most of his mile/1500 records were off the books within 20 years for sure. But his Kansas Relays 880/800 record lasted for over 50 years until broke a few years ago. He also ran a leg in the 4 X 400 for UK. While he did not really move down in distance, one has to wonder if he would not have been better at the half.

Shericka Jackson 400 to 100/200

Kerley?

Should have read the last line of op. Embarrassing.

On the distance side:
-Narve Nordas went from a very bad half marathoner to a fringe professional 3,000-10,000m (7:41/13:15) runner to a bronze medalist in the 1500 (3:29 PB).
-Shelby Houlihan had a weird one as she went up from the 800 to the 5000, where she was a fringe finalist. In 2018-19 she became top-5 in the women's 1,500. She was busted for doping of course.
-Abbey Caldwell and Sage Hurta-Klecker have kinda gone down in event to focus more on 800, though they have had dual focus so not sure it counts

Nah, it’s okay.

I wonder if there is any physiological difference in sprinters dropping in event distance (Bolt, Kerley, Jackson) and distance/mid-distance (Simpson, etc.)

Gail Devers ran the 800 early in high school. Finished 6th in the CA state championship in 10th grader with a 2:11, had a 2:08 PR. Switched to sprints/hurdles in 11th grade.

Not exactly a true move down, but I think Mo Farah running 3:28 for the 1500 was kind of jaw dropping to a lot of people at the time.

Not as fast, but in a similar vein Geb winning the World Indoor 1500 remains wild and I'd argue more impressive. Geb was double World Junior Champ at 5/10K, so to then to be a middle distance World Champ seven years later is impressive stuff (even against not the top guys of the era). Farah did run 1:48.6 at age 20, and his best time trial distance might've been 3,000 if he ever cared to chase a time. It certainly was surprising the first time he ran 3:28, but I think he was a 3-5K guy at his core with enough strength for the 10 and speed for the 15.

No, Bolt's coach wanted him to be a 400 meter runner, Bolt wanted to focus on the 100 and 200.

Hobbs Kessler making the Olympic team in the 800m and running 1:43

Narve Nordas in the 1500m

Joe Falcon was the 1987 NCAA champ at 10,000 and then the 1988 NCAA champ at 1500m.
Eventually ranked #3 in the world at 1500m in 1990.

Lamecha Girma, from 3000m steeple WR to a 3:29.51 1500m was impressive.