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Lead Stories: Thursday, November 20, 2008

All Americans Who Are Worthy Of Inheriting Pre’s Legacy

Posted March 28th, 2008 at 11:00 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, SoundOFF, Columns, Olympics

Let’s face it—even more than three decades after his untimely death—the great Steve Prefontaine is still the Gold Standard by which American distance running is measured and yet may be for decades to come. So how does the current crop of Americans measure up when we compare their PRs to his? They have done pretty well, actually. Out of all the PR’s listed for Pre in his Wikipedia Article (at least the ones in which runners still compete these days) a full complement of twenty eight American distance runners have been able best Pre in at least one of them.

Of course, such was his talent at so many distances that only one runner out of the current crop has been able to beat all of Pre’s PRs. Care to take a guess as to who? You got it: Alan Webb.

And don’t think he’s not acutely aware of this fact, either. I would bet that every one of these guys knows which of their PRs is better than Pre’s. Like I said, he’s the standard, not only by which all elite American runners measure themselves but by which they are measured by others.
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