I am having difficulty understanding how you can say that the 1600 and the 1500 are different races altogether. IMO they are 2 of the most similar races in T&F. The length of the shorter one is 94% of the longer one, they finish on the same part of the track, and the gun goes off with one lap to go. Now for conversions...using Alan Webb's PR's and 2007 world's best times for the mile and the 1500m, the ratio is about 1.078. For Erin Gillingham's 1500m time of 4:38.12, Milesplit's conversion to a 5:00.29 represents a ratio of about 1.08. If you crunch some numbers off the IAAF T&F Tables 2008 for men and women, you'll find mile/1500m ratios that range from about 1.079 to about 1.075 for equivalent points ranging from 1300 down to 850. Erin's 1500 time on the IAAF tables converts to a 4:59.14 mile time, which in turn converts to a 4:57.41 1600m time. My point is, while there are minor discrepancies in various conversions, they are all greater ratios than the 2 distances (mile/1500m = about 1.073).
But all this pales in light of the performance itself. Bottom line is Erin ran a heck of a race and leads the nation in that event.
Posted on Apr 7, 2008, 9:33 AM from IP address 68.6.193.98