I sure hope that Paula can win the Marathon next summer in Athens.
However, the World Best time marathon runners, both men and women have historically struggled in World Championship and Olympic marathons. Clearly they are favoirites going in, but these WC and Olympic marathon's are almost completely diiferent races. Why?
- They are often held in less than ideal conditions - typically in hot temps and not run at the best time of the day.
- The course is often not the fastest marathon course around sometimes with some hills of significance
- The pace is often slow and the race tactical - throwing off the timing/form of the really top runners( note the comments of Men's World Best time Marathon runner Kahnoucci after DNF'ing at the Edmonton World Championships "I felt terrible running at that slower pace" Seems absurd, but it's true. If he's trained to run a marathon at 4:45 pace the whole way he feels very different and possibly uncomfortable running 5:10 mils for the first half. That's how finely tuned and specific these athletes are.
- as an adjunct to the last point, it may come down to a sprint finish. Some of the greatest marathon runners ever are terrible sprinters.
- There is the Olympic and World Championship pressure - which is huge and has forced many a great athlete to tense up under pressure and under achieve.
- There is no direct money on the line, of note at the Olympics/ WC's. The payday for winning a major marathon such as London et. al. in a World Best time is huge. Paula's take home from London was possibly close to $1 millon.
All said, I think that Paula's plan is to go on a recon mission to Athen's this summer at the same time of year as next summers' Olympic marathon and check out the course and other factors. She will then decide if she will run the marathon or the 10K on the track.
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog