I made this comment in work today and after the laughs died down I added – over the marathon distance. I was only joking around of course but it got me thinking to what sort of times can a world class 100m sprinter run a marathon. Does anyone know of such a sprinter who has run a marathon and if so what was his time? I’d imagine it would have to be someone who has just retired as I don’t think any sprinter would do such a thing.
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I don't know of any that have tried. It's doubtful you'd be faster than any world class track athlete over any distance if he put any training to it.
Didn't Steve Cram do a quite respectable time in FLM in recent years?
I read somewhere about the distance that sprinters train over and their maximum runs were all less than a kilometer or so - they really dont do any distance at all. So you would have the edge there. Plus some of them are built like brick lavvies....
Oh hang on Iwan Thomas ran London last year - just under 4 hours I think ?
In the world of two wheels.
During training for the Olympics/World Championships, the Russian track-sprinters (& all the various velodrome disciplines) used to go out for the 'long rides' with the road team, & maybe knock up 70-80 mile rides per day (& their speciality may be the 1K sprint)
I believe the same thing happens to a certain extent with the present British track teams.
On a similar note; Lance Armstrong, between his 2005 retirement, & his return to the bike, ran marathons (eg; 2007 New York in 2.46, & 2008 Boston in 2.51)
But let's not forget he was a (junior) runner initally, before becoming a triathlete (& beating the 20 year olds when he was 16)
I remember all the numpty debates about Lance Armstrong and what time he might achieve, when he announced he was running the New York marathon. VO2max of 85 milliwotsits per thingy, therefore he should go out and break the world record. Innit.
Interesting question about sprinters though. If someone is born with an unusually large proportion of fast twitch muscle fibres, would this actually put them at a disadvantage in the marathon, compared to your average Joe??
If you gave Usain Bolt a zillion pounds to train for a sub-2:30 for London next year, could he do it?
Personally I reckon Lances biggest advantage in the marathons was that he believed in himself (okay & he had a level of fitness us mere mortals could only dream of)
Yes I know he was coached by damned good marathon runners, & even told to slow down during the 'NYM'
Chris Boardman ran London last year and did 3h19
I always remember Daley Thompson sauntering round the 1500m because he already had the overall event in the bag! Pretty obvious it's a race he hated.
Seb Coe didn't race / train hard for that marathon.
What made DT's 1500m look even slower was that he was running them at the same time that Coe, Ovett and Cram were around!
I've never run 1,500m but I just plugged my best race time into McMillan and it reckons I could beat DT's pb (4:20.3) by 2 secs! (Bet it would hurt though.)
You can guarantee that in a race of 42.2kms, Usain Bolt would be bound to trip over his laces at some point, with the very real possibility of injuring himself. So on balance, yes BadBark, there is a possibility you could beat him in a marathon. I'd probably still bet on him though. With a grin like that, he'd charm the finishing line towards him.
I knew about Boardman (& his unaerodynamic beard!) at the London Marathon, but not Olao & Aldag.
One of the English ex-semi professional (as in; 'domestic' racing scene) once ran a marathon in about 2:30 - think it may have been Darryl Webster (Manchester Wheelers??)
Thanks for all the replies everyone and it looks like the jury is still out. I hope to run a sub 3:30 PB in my next marathon and whether Usian Bolt could beat that time would be arguable. I’m sure he has a very high percentage of fast twitch muscle fibres and a lot would depend on how much training he was to do. Even if he gave up sprinting I’d be surprised if he could beat 3:30 even after 6 months training but after 2 years I think he could.
I ran a 2:53 21 mile LSR on Saturday so I’d be willing to bet that I could easily beat him if we ran a marathon now!
Quality bit of journalism Kittenkat!
I'd be willing to bet a large amount of money on Bolt running sub 2:30, regardless of how much money was on the table for him...as many on here have pointed out he just simply isn't built for long distance running, and he'd be lucky to get around the course let alone do a decent time.