Ryan Hall is a bad man
Ryan Hall just flat out smoked the London marathon yesterday. He ran a 2:06:17, which is the fastest marathon time *ever* from an American. Khalid Khannouchi has technically run faster but he isn’t a native born American.
American Ryan Hall ran a brilliant, aggressive 2:06:17 to finish fifth in this morning’s London Marathon. Hall remained with the leaders through 35K, as they passed the half-marathon on world record pace, 1:02:12. His 1:13:47 split for 25k is actually a pending U.S. record.
This was only his third marathon and he ran what up until 1998 would have been the World Record. In fact, before yesterday this would have been the 10th fastest time for a marathon ever.
World Best Marathons
1. Paul Tergat 2003 Berlin 2:04:55 2. Sammy Korir 2003 Berlin 2:04:56 3. Khalid Khannouchi 2002 London 2:05:38 4. Khalid Khannouchi 1999 Chicago 2:05:42 5. Paul Tergat 2002 London 2:05:48 6. Evans Rutto 2003 Chicago 2:05:50 7. Khalid Khannouchi 2002 Chicago 2:05:56 7. Haile Gabrselassie 2006 Berlin 2:05:56 9. Ronaldo da Costa 1998 Berlin 2:06:05 10. Felix Limo 2004 Rotterdam 2:06:1
I was happy to see that this amazing performance, wasn’t off a negative split, which I feel is almost impossible, and that if you really negative splits you probably didn’t run the first half fast enough. He basically ran a 1:02 and a 1:04. Amazing!
Hall, dressed in a royal blue singlet and dark sunglasses, stayed to the rear of the group as the miles ticked by. They passed through ten miles in 47:12, still well below world record pace, and hit the halfway mark in an eye-popping time of 1:02:12, well below the 1:02:30 to 1:02:45 the race organizers had asked of the pacemakers.
“I knew the half was going to be fast,” said Hall. “I saw our half split and I was, like, whoa!”
So what’s next for Ryan Hall? Can he go faster? Will he try to go faster?
Nonetheless, Hall thinks he has more to give and can still run faster. “I wanted to break 2:06,” he said. “I was looking at my watch thinking it’s going to be close. Then I saw like a 5:10 mile and I said, ‘oh.’”
Good luck Ryan, you are amazing. I look forward to watching you rip it up in Beijing.
TOP 3 AMERICAN MARATHON PERFORMANCES ALL TIME
1–2:05:38, Khalid Khannouchi, London 02
2–2:05:56, Khalid Khannouchi, Chicago 02
3–2:06:17, Ryan Hall, London 08
Ryan Hall’s splits:
10K, 29:11
20K, 58:58
1/2, 1:02:13
30K, 1:28:38
40K, 1:59:23
finish, 2:06:17
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You bring up a good question: what does it mean to be an American? Khalid Khannouchi, along with any other naturalized American citizen, had to take an oath of citizenship that reads:
Not only that but they must pass a citizenship test which, I would bet, half of the “native born Americans” couldn’t pass. Does being born on American soil have anything to do with it? If so, then you couldn’t count Frank Shorter, who was born in Munich, Germany, as an American.
I don’t think you’re giving Khalid Khannouchi enough credit. I say that he’s as much of an American as the rest of us and should be given his due credit as the fastest “real” American to ever run a marathon. Ryan Hall certainly considers Khalid as an American. He even states so in this video clip on Flotrack.
That’s just my 2 cents. I like your website. Keep up the great running and writing!
That’s a very good point. I don’t mean to take anything away from Khalid Khannouchi as he is an amazing runner and I wish he’d run again.
I consider him an American, I just have a hard time counting naturalized citizenships in athletic competitions. I would be honored to have a beer with him, or bike along side while he runs (as that’s the only way I’d be able to keep up).
I liken it to when rich school districts go out and recruit kids from other areas that happen to be really good at football to come to school at their school. It goes against the spirit of it to me.
As for the Frank Shorter question, I believe he was born on American soil, right? So he gets a pass
Perhaps this warrants a separate blog post all on its own so I can think about it more and come up with a better analysis.
Thanks for the post.
While you are busy writing that next post on when an American is an American and not just a ringer, take a moment to check out the lens I made about Ryan Hall:
http://www.squidoo.com/ryan_hall
As for the citizenship issue, I think if you’re relocating to qualify for the Olympics (because your country is too deep, for example) then it’s hard to say whether your citizenship is “legit”. If you are moving there because you genuinely want to become a citizen of the country (for the sake of marriage, economic opportunity, escape oppression, etc.) then you are totally legit, even if you competed for another country previously.
If I remember correctly, Khannouchi actually had to forego an Olympic Games because of his choice to become an American. It would suck if he didn’t get to call himself a ‘real’ one after that!
I can concur with your reasoning. Perhaps I should be been more clear in saying its the fastest time ever by a native born American. Which is true. Khalid is a great runner no doubt. But I am super excited to see Ryan have such a breakthrough race.
if i’m not mistaken, gebreselassie has the 2 fastest times in the marathon now, so the list is a little out of date. still an absolutely amazing race by ryan hall, i was watching it in disbelief that he was putting up those splits.