Who's the best ever at IM distance?

Triathlon Forum
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Who’s the best ever at IM distance?

Will anyone ever win as much as Mark and Dave. Crowie? Any ITU guys?

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  1. Paula Newby Fraser. Most Ironman wins. Ever.
  2. Mark Allen. Tenacity in Hawaii.
  3. Lothar Leder (first sub 8 hour Ironman).
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Tom…I couldn’t agree any more. Any thoughts on if anyone would crack that top 3?

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Hmmm. Tough to say. There are some stellar Ironman athletes now. Crowie is awesome. McCormack has won Hawaii and gone sub 8 at another Ironman. He’s got a lot of fine races left in him. I like him.

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PNF, easily
.

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How about LVL (Luc Van Lierde)

1996 1st IM Hawaii (Hawaii course record - 8:04:08, and 1st time he ever ran a marathon)
1997 IM Europe fastest IM - 7:50:27, a 2:36 run including transitions.
1998 2nd IM Hawaii
1999 1st IM Hawaii

Was a real force till he was plagued with achilles problems.

Darren

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LVL was good, but definitely not the best (at least in my opinion).
As much as she bugs the crap out of me, I have to go with PNF for the women’s side.
And I think I would say Mark Allen for the men, with Dave Scott a close second.

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PNF at the top of the list as she was just incredible.

Allen/Scott on the men’s side with the nod going to Allen with all his other wins.

I personally like Reid to be thrown in the top 5 along with Fuhr as I think she is second in most wins for the women.

I think my top 5 will change however with Wellington coming up especially if she keeps on winning the way she has been. However, if you listen to DOC, she is only going to go south now that she is being coached by Lessing.

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Totally agree with Mark Allen, and Dave Scott. Was just throwing some honorable mentions out. I just starting watching all the IM Hawaii’s again from the 90’s and hadn’t realized how good LVL was.Darren

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Dave Scott – he set the standard and was the first to truly show other competitors that Ironman was a RACE to be WON, not just an insane endurance event. Six wins in Hawaii, incredibly fast marathon times, three second place finishes (including at 40 years old), a 5th place at the age of 42. In fact, if you throw out his DNF in 2001, Dave has NEVER been beaten by anyone in Hawaii who is not also an Ironman World Champion in their own right – Tinley, Allen, Welch, LVL, Hellriegel, and Reid.

Mark Allen – his dominance in Hawaii after the Dave-era ended goes without saying. However, I say that Dave made Mark who/what he became.

Luc Van Lierde – possibly the most incredible talent ever in the game, with some spectacular results to back it up.

Reid and McCormack have turned in more than a few years’ worth of outstanding wins and finishing times over a variety of fields… Hawaii, Austrailia, Europe, etc.

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PNF
Allen
Baker
Scott
McCormack
Badmann
LVL

Pretty much in that order…I’d allow for some quibbling, though, beyond the first two. PNF pwns the top spot, period. Baker would have, had she stayed in the game. Who’s baker? Look her up…

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PNF on the women’s side…at least for now. I suspect Wellington will prove to be though. She certainly will break dreams in the next few years and set a new standard of finishing times for women.

Dave Scott is the pioneer for men. When he came out in 1980 the winning time went from 11:15 in 1979 to 9:24 in 1980. Then he went sub 9 in 84, sub 8:30 in 86. It was then Mark Allen that dropped the bomb in 89 going 8:09. They haven’t gone much faster since. Allen, Tinley and Scott were the best.

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1996 2nd IM Hawaii
1997 1st IM Hawaii (Hawaii course record - 8:04:08, and 1st time he ever ran a marathon)

I’m confused by this. How did he place 2nd in 1996 if you claim 1997 was his first marathon? Just curious.

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Dave Scott.

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I’m thinking it’d be tough to pick between Allen and Scott for the men. Allen likely ran against the better talent later, but remember that Scott also came back at 40 and ran himself into 2nd behind a screaming Greg Welch!

PNF was definitely the best of her era, but again, Badmann ran against better fields.

Also, didn’t LVL test positive for something a year or so after he won? I’m not sure about this, but recall something to that effect taking place. Maybe he was cleared of it and I’m not remembering the details properly. Sorry to LVL if I’m wrong.(no harm intended)

BPS

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Can’t believe you would leave out Dave Scott and have Lothar ahead of him.WTF? Dave Scott beat Mark Allen way more then Allen beat Scott and Dave also beat plenty of otherr talent to include Tinley and many others. This was when the pro field was stacked and the race conditions were a little more brutal then they have been of late. PNF is good even great in the womens field; however, there were some years she had virtually no competition…I would never put her ahead of Dave though.

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LVL never tested positive AFAIK. He’s just fragile and got some very bad luck with an Achilles infection that required a few ops to resolve. I remember reading that he was tested in a Belgium lab and his numbers (i.e. Vo2 and various thresholds) were the best that they’d ever seen, and that includes Boonen. Nice friendly guy too. I think this year will be his last year racing.
SteveMc

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1996 2nd IM Hawaii
1997 1st IM Hawaii (Hawaii course record - 8:04:08, and 1st time he ever ran a marathon)
I’m confused by this. How did he place 2nd in 1996 if you claim 1997 was his first marathon? Just curious.

DUH!!! Sorry about that guess it was late when I did it!!! Good things it’s the weekend or I would of been slaughtered for that mishap. Original post edited. Thanks …

Darren

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I’m thinking it’d be tough to pick between Allen and Scott for the men. Allen likely ran against the better talent later, but remember that Scott also came back at 40 and ran himself into 2nd behind a screaming Greg Welch!

PNF was definitely the best of her era, but again, Badmann ran against better fields.

Also, didn’t LVL test positive for something a year or so after he won? I’m not sure about this, but recall something to that effect taking place. Maybe he was cleared of it and I’m not remembering the details properly. Sorry to LVL if I’m wrong.(no harm intended)

BPS

somehow deleted my comments so edited:
Not sure about the LVL testing postive thing!! Maybe someone will Chime in.

Ive been watching the old IM Hawaiis and agree Allen Ran against a better field (so I think anyway- like Dave Scott). SAme for Badman.

Agree Dave Scott is incrediable at 40 coming in 2nd. I just watched that IM and on the bike he was riding with Welchy, most had gone to bar shifting and there was Dave down tubing, all about the engine baby.

I think IM Hawaii right now has more talent coming in and you are going to see the pace pushed, and the times drop. With great runners like MAcca and Crowie. Also I think Potts might be one to watch, not a lot said about his 7th place, he just kinda flew under the radar, and he has some wheels!!! Lot of young talent coming up too!!! IM HAwaii is going to be good next yr!!!

Darren

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This forum is losing its edge.

Of course there is only one answer:

THE SERGIO!!!