1979 Seb Coe:1500m.WR (with interview),Zurich

41 days after shattering the world record for 800 metres,followed by the mile record ,Coe went after Bayi's 5 year old 1500m. WR.He made it,just,after some erratic pacing. He thus became the only person ever to concurrently hold the WR's for all three distances.

[@redd605]

I remember watching this on BBC when smaller, brilliant commentary by David Coleman,and brilliant crowd in Zurich,when they replaced this stadium ,it was never the same again . Lausanne in Switzerland,has the old Zurich atmosphere of the past when the diamond league goes there.and Monaco meeting

[@jeremyhomewood9573]

FANTASTIC !!!!!!! 41days in 1979 that will probably never be repeated in a very VERY long time !!!!! Imagine hicham El gerouge doing that !!!!! 800/mile/1500.!!!!!!! The athletic world was left bewildered STEVE OVETT ⭐ had to answer,,,and he did !!!! WHAT a wonderful DAWNING of a NEW ERA !!!!!!!!! FANTASTIC 😁😎😁🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧

[@redd605]

And it was live on BBC, I seem to remember,. when I was small,when BBC and ITV had brilliant coverage of Athletics.

[@varietylife6847]

Love to see him running, very smooth, relax and beautiful stride.

[@68munki]

Best front running world record ever in my opinion.

[@simonedwards5564]

Yeah??? CHECK OUT WHAT FILBERT BAYI DID BACK IN 1974 TO RUN 3:32'2.... NO PACEMAKER FROM GUN TO TAPE BUT SAYING THAT...COE JUST SMASHED THE 800M AND MILE AND TO TELL THE WORLD THAT HE WAS GOING FOR THE TREBLE IS BEYOND BELIEF..3 WORLD RECORDS IN 41 DAYS..1979 !!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT A BRILLIANT BRILLIANT YEAR!!!!!!! COE COULD HAVE DONE WITH ONE MORE PACEMAKER THOUGH WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT FUTURE RECORD BREAKING ATTEMPTS HAD....BETTER TRACKS/TECHNOLOGY SPIKES AND A DRUG THAT WASN'T TESTED FOR UNTIL TO LATE E.P.O. AND GUESS WHAT NOBODY IN 21 YEARS HAS COME NEAR THE 1000M 2000M 1500M MILE...AS FANTASTIC AS COE'S RECORDS WERE THE LONGEST LASTED JUST 18 YEARS? THE KILOMETRE HIS MILE ONLY LASTED 3 YEAR AND A FEW MONTHS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT IF COE HAD BEEN AROUND NOW AND TRAINED AT ALTITUDE..INDEED WAS BORN AT ALTITUDE..THAT GOES FOR OVETT AND CRAM ELLIOTT TOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@donaldcook3112]

@@simonedwards5564 . . . Where I come from , there is a saying : " And if my auntie had knackers ... s h e w o u l d b e m y u n c l e ".

[@simonedwards5564]

@@donaldcook3112 And where I come from we have a saying "WAY DOWN IN THE JUNGLE DEEP,,,A BAD ARSE LION STEPPING ON A SIGNIFIED MONKEYS FEET!!!!!"

[@jeffiles7953]

Such a dignified man is Coe,he was way ahead of his time .

[@mickeymouse7861]

Coe was right to mention in the post-race interview of his inexperience over 1500m. In David Miller's book 'Sebastian Coe Coming Back' the appendix of races suggests that the Zurich 1500m on the 15th of August 1979 was Coe's first competitive race over the distance for three years [since August 1976]. This was because between 1977 and 1978 Coe exclusively ran the 800m in an attempt to better his own personal best. The end result were constant improvements to his 800PB which was lowered from 1:47.7 [1976] to a new UK record of 1:43.97 [1978] before culminating in a new WR the following summer. What a performance, however, in Zurich!

[@redd605]

I remember when small BBC showed this race live,because it was going to be coe vs overt,like the year before,that the only disappointed thing I remember is they never raced each other,at Oslo,zurich,crystal palace,but the excitement,around the rivalry,was electric,and athletics was at fever pitch,

[@izzardclips9350]

To be fair, he had run a handful of one mile races in that time period, which is practically the same thing pacing-wise as 1500m. Still, he didn't have many mile races under his belt either.

[@denisej4813]

Hard to believe this was 40 years ago! I was a student in France when he broke the 800m and 1mile world records earlier than summer and I didn't see either of those. Then I came home for a few weeks and I well remember seeing this live on BBC TV one weekday evening in the August. It was an incredible feat to hold those three world records simultaneously and he really had to break this one the hard way.

[@AndrewRobinson-ee7um]

He was the business !

[@deano27671]

He ran wide on each of the first 4 bends. If you run an entire bend on the line with lane 2, that represents 2.9m extra. I'd suggest Coe was 2m wide on each bend, which means he ran an extra 8m. He also ran wide of the pacer almost the entire first 700m, thus receiving no drafting. Then he runs 700 to 1100m solo, again with no drafting. He also ran some very uneven splits in this race: fastest 100m split was 12.8, slowest 15.7! Evened out this race is worth about 3:31.4. Take off 1.1sec for extra distance and 1.9 for lack of drafting (= 0.7 per 400m), and this run was worth way under 3:30. Possibly as fast as 3:28.4. This was 36 years ago!

[@mathematics5573]

he should have run under 3 minutes. Then the record would still remain unbeaten.

[@shangrila73eldorado]

why did he run wide and without drafting? those are rookie mistakes

[@gakaface]

Deano, what was his precise lap time from 700m - 1100m? It was in this lap that he secured the world record.

[@deano27671]

@@rogerfederer8117 Lol. You are clearly ignorant and have no comprehension of the benefits of even paced running and being drafted/paced! You are probably also unaware of the splits of El G's 1500 WR compared to Coe's. As Coe ran wide of the pacer up to 700m, he received no drafting (look it up) at all. He was inexperienced at running 1500 and should have tucked in behind the pacer. He ten ran from the front for the last 800m. In comparison to EL G, who was drafted all the way from 200m to 1150m in his 1500m WR. That is almost 1000m of drafted pacing, compared to Zero drafting for Coe. EL G also had Ngeny close behind him for much of the last lap, pushing him. Coe was 40m clear of anyone from 800 until the finish. Coe's splits were incredibly erratic and inefficient (53.9, 58.7, 56.9, 42.5). It's surprising he got the record at all after the differential of 4.8secs between laps 1 and 2. EL G, in stark contrast, had splits of - 55.0, 56.1, 55.2, 39.7), very even splits, with a differential of just 1.1secs. His mile WR was even more evenly paced - 55.6, 56.2, 56.1, 55.2. Most enthusiasts who follow the sport will understand the significance of the discrepancy, but I don't expect that to include you.

[@PB111627]

Running tight on inside you have to check your stride.

[@kevinfitzsimons41]

A Titan of the track! Superb entertainment, extraordinary athlete!

[@LPCLASSICAL]

I suppose with good pacemaking this would have been the first sub 3.30 run. I can't believe that pacemaking was so hopeless in those days. Great to see the whole race, lap of honour etc plus interview. Coe was a nice chap at that age - shame that he became a pompous tory post athletics career.

[@archiewoosung5062]

Think Coe always had his mind on a political career..he needed WR's and Olympic gold to raise his profile. Ovett always thought winning races was enough. This race taught him that records mattered.

[@mathematics5573]

he should have run under 3 minutes. Then the record would still remain unbeaten.

[@mathematics5573]

The 2nd placer is about 5 second behind. HeG would have struggled with that, if Seb had done modern training

[@mathematics5573]

Jim. Ryan could solo run from.the gun.

[@SirPeter6464]

He could have had gone under 3.30 and Cram could and did. Ovett wanted that race and wasn't allowed it. We were robbed of something unique, because he could have won. 😌

[@simonedwards5564]

Cram could,,, but not for another 6 years,,,,and there was just no way they could allow ovett in because it could have ruined coes record spree 41 days of history remake but yes ovett would have pushed them both to sub 3:30,,, you are right 🙂

[@litespeed65]

Hard to watch-just some Pixellated blobs moving around what appears to be an oval.

[@robinbauer1975]

awfull pace making but great WR

[@anreas8727]

Overrated

[@deankeith830]

Bollocks !

[@jeremyhomewood9573]

ANR★EAS coe and his father, genius !!!!!!! World class genius!!!!!!

[@godlins]

Knob.

[@janicenicholls5924]

What a dickhead thing to say! He ran beautifully, like the wind.

[@user-cu1rp6lw9q]

Plonker