Most aesthetically pleasing runner?

walshb

Guys/gals, of all the runners, including long jumpers and triple jumpers, who
do you feel are the most aesthetically pleasing to the eye; the most graceful and fluid and stylish?

Two categories necessary due to the requirements and changes in technique.

So, from 100 metres up to and including 400 metres: Category A

And from 800 metres up to and including the 10000 metres: Category B

So here is my top 5 in both categories:

A: 1. Carl Lewis. Was there ever a more fluid and natural and beautiful
sprinter. Poetry in motion. And such blazing TOP speed...

2. Usain Bolt. For similar reasons to Lewis, though not as perfect looking, I found his power running and acceleration to be just awesome

3. Alberto Juantorena. He did the maddest double in Olympic history
IMO. He wins the 400 and 800 at the 1976 games. So fluid and stylish with such a long and graceful stride

4. Donovan Bailey. He could look slightly awkward at times, but when he got to 50 metres, it was pure drive and power and serious TOP speed.

5. Edwin Moses was the supreme 1 lap runner over hurdles. With that ridiculous stride pattern and perfect jumping technique, he was one to watch over and over

B 1. This is easy for me. Wilson Kipketer was the most effortless runner
I have ever seen. It was almost like he was floating on the track. He barely touched the ground and never seemed to be even pushing it or working it.

2. Hicham El Gerrouj. Again, seemed so natural and effortless and moved so quickly and had an amazing pace injection while maintaining such a solid form.

3. Paul Ereng. The surprise Seoul 800 champion from the 1988 games.
Such long strides and always made up so much ground over the final 200.

4. Seb Coe. Such a fast runner with serious top speed, possibly the fastest
runner ever at 1500 metres, for top speed.

5. Bekele. Another great runner and for such a small guy, he looked like he
was a lot taller with the ground he ate up with his strides.

Please please, nobody try to argue a case for Paula Radcliffe!:eek:

RoyMcC

Personal choice for me - Katharine Merry. So beautifully poised, controlled and correct. So pleased she got an Olympic medal before injury finally struck her down.

Pherekydes

walshb wrote: »

Please please, nobody try to argue a case for Paula Radcliffe!:eek:

/Nods agreeably

Rineanna

Group A: I love watching Veronica Campbell-Brown run. Especially the 2007 Worlds where she attempted in vain to hunt down Torri Edwards in teh 4x100m:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFYI4IEVJ2o&feature=fvw


Group B: I may be looking through green tinted glasses, but no athlete in this category has ever given me so much joy to watch than Sonia O' Sullivan. Her running style was so fluid and a joy to watch.

If I may be so bold as to add a Group C: for field eventers? Then I'd give my nod to Tatyana Lebedeva in the Long Jump, Yargelis Savigne in the Triple Jump and 2004 Olympic Hammer Champ Olga Kuzenkova.

I've watched those videos I've posted above hundreds of times in succession.

mrak

Great list - for me it's Johnson (Michael, for power) and El Gerrouj (Hicham, for style).

cfitz

I'm a bit young to remember some of the guys mentioned, but I reckon these ones are good to watch:

A. Usain Bolt, Alyson Felix, Liu Xiang

B. Kipketer (800m), Hicham El Guerrouj, Haile Gebresalassie


There's a guy that Greg McMillan coaches that ran World Cross for USA called Brett Gotcher, timewise he wouldn't be in the same class as those guys above but if you checkout the videos on the McMillan Elite site he is really fluent.

thirtyfoot

Kathtrin Krabbe for sprints, Robles for hurdles, El Guerrouj [ or as a once off Coghlan's indoor mile record, it was rough but it was beautifull], Jonathon Edwards in the Triple. So many, hard to pick.

christeb

+1 on Wilson Kipketer, a beautiful and exciting runner. And "from" with fatherland of Denmark, although I'm sure the Kenyans would have something to say about that!

hawkwing

A : Lewis
B : Tirunesh Dibaba

walshb

Tingle wrote: »

Kathtrin Krabbe for sprints, Robles for hurdles, El Guerrouj [ or as a once off Coghlan's indoor mile record, it was rough but it was beautifull], Jonathon Edwards in the Triple. So many, hard to pick.

Edwards almost made my list, but could't put him ahead of Moses.

Also, Flo Jo was superb in full flight

MCOS

Hmm its a tough one but Athens 1996 still stand out a mile in my young mind..

Even though my favourite moment was MJ in the 400, I have to say the most aesthetically looking runner was Marie Jose Perec. She glided around the track as far as I could see.

walshb

MCOS wrote: »

Hmm its a tough one but Athens 1996 still stand out a mile in my young mind..

Even though my favourite moment was MJ in the 400, I have to say the most aesthetically looking runner was Marie Jose Perec. She glided around the track as far as I could see.

Great choice, had forgot about her. She was only the second woman to do that double. I think it was Briscoe Hooks in 1984 who also did it.

BTW, it was Atlanta, not Athens

RJC

So this isn't about whether the Kayano is nicer to look at than the Supernova or the Progrid Paramount then...................:pac:

mrak

walshb wrote: »

Please please, nobody try to argue a case for Paula Radcliffe!:eek:

Funny enough a pretty good south african lad I used to work/run with (~32 min 10k man) used to say that if you could ignore her head Paula had the neatest running style he'd ever seen. If you check this out you can see that she scores pretty highly for technique:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jJ7bWJfp64

MCOS

walshb wrote: »

Great choice, had forgot about her. She was only the second woman to do that double. I think it was Briscoe Hooks in 1984 who also did it.

BTW, it was Atlanta, not Athens

ah yes... typo. Oops Ta. Yep, she won them with style and grace. The only thing I remember from 1984 is Carl Lewis winning 4 track golds in just as much style and grace

bewleys berry

ah can't believe no one has mentioned the unbelieveably stylish USA runner Erin Donohue:D

see attached pic for evidence of her fluid style:P http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2008-w33/img.314092_t.jpg

MCOS

Rineanna

bewleys berry wrote: »

ah can't believe no one has mentioned the unbelieveably stylish USA runner Erin Donohue:D

see attached pic for evidence of her fluid style:P http://www.nancarrow-webdesk.com/warehouse/storage2/2008-w33/img.314092_t.jpg

She's unbelievable. I saw her run in Crystal Palace last year, and couldn't get over her running style. It was said on a thread on TAFN recently that she was a High School medallist in the javelin; that doesn't suprise me one bit!

aero2k

mrak wrote: »

if you could ignore her head Paula had the neatest running style

Yeah, but how could you ignore it?!

Merlene Ottey, anyone?

bewleys berry

yeah Rineanna...she runs like someone who has just taken part in a field event alright....... lebedeva is no smooth runner but would leave her standing in the style stakes i reckon:pac:

louthandproud

Ed Moses for me, poetry in motion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RinvhEuZB9k

Kiptanui

Nobody voted for me??:mad:

Seb Coe, Paul Tergat, Bekele, Ismail Kirui, Paul Ereng, Dieter Baumann.

Donovan Bailey, Merlen Ottey, Evelyn Ashford.

Field eventers: Sergey Bubka was a joy to watch. Jan Zelezny was technically magnificent in the javelin.

walshb

Zelezny was a joy to watch alright. He's my choice for the field events.

TJC

TJC

On a more serious note...I really liked Kiptanui.. Sorry, Kipketer..the Danish lad...Got a bit mixed up..

On the female side...any Swedish high jumper :)

Ham Slicer

Daniel Komen, Said Aouita and Karl Lewis.

Racing Flat

mrak wrote: »

Funny enough a pretty good south african lad I used to work/run with (~32 min 10k man) used to say that if you could ignore her head Paula had the neatest running style he'd ever seen. If you check this out you can see that she scores pretty highly for technique:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jJ7bWJfp64

I'm not sure about that - looking at her in that clip from the side she seems to have more vertical displacement than the others (maybe wasting time/energy in the air?) and certainly if you look at her from the front she tends to be bow-legged and is a supinnator - although those are probably due to her genetics/natural biomechanics, so she's made a lot of what she's got.

walshb

Ham Slicer wrote: »

Daniel Komen, Said Aouita and Karl Lewis.

Who's this guy? Is he German?:)

mrak

Racing Flat wrote: »

I'm not sure about that - looking at her in that clip from the side she seems to have more vertical displacement than the others (maybe wasting time/energy in the air?) and certainly if you look at her from the front she tends to be bow-legged and is a supinnator - although those are probably due to her genetics/natural biomechanics, so she's made a lot of what she's got.

I see where you're coming from on the up and down. The bloke from the "institute" commenting in the video seemed to say she was doing things better than the others - I don't know. I don't think her style is as bad as people say - it was my mate that used to rave about her to me.

bewleys berry

is quite funny to see in that clip of ed moses that when they enter the back straight, one of the advertising hoardings is for IKEA!....how did it take em so long to come to tallaght

thirtyfoot

walshb wrote: »

Who's this guy? Is he German?:)

He may mean Carol Lewis, as in Carl Lewis' sister, a pretty handy long jumper in her own right;)

Pherekydes

bewleys berry wrote: »

IKEA!....how did it take em so long to come to tallaght

They're in Tallaght, too? :eek: