Which Briton had the greatest middle-distance range? Steve Ovett tops our men’s list

In our November 2022 monthly issue, we pondered who is the best British all-round middle-distance runner in history based purely on 800m, 1500m and 3000m PBs?

Using average pace per lap over the three distances to equalise the distances, it was Jake Wightman who narrowly came out as top man.

Further below we list the updated top 10 as indoor marks for Josh Kerr and Neil Gourley have advanced their position and we also bring 5000m times into the equation with a second list.

However, it is clear that the stats that produced the lists are heavily weighted to current day runners with better shoes, tracks, opposition and pacing.

Therefore, we here make a choice on who are the most versatile runners not on lap times but on the athletes’ competitive records.

While the initial list was focused on 800m, 1500m and 3000m, we have widened it to include 5000m and a lesser extent longer races. This is not who was the best 800m and 1500m runner – that would be Sebastian Coe but it’s his great rival from Moscow, Steve Ovett who is our UK No.1.

1 Steve Ovett

When an athlete first wins a World Cup and European 1500m, then an Olympic 800m and then a Commonwealth 5000m then it’s clear he has a special range. While initially showing no appetite for records, he also set a world two mile best (defeating multiple world record-holder Henry Rono in 1978) and later set a number of 1500m and mile world marks.

But the Brighton-born athletes versatility goes much further as he won the very first Dartford Half-Marathon in 1977 from Olympic marathoner Barry Watson. I was also in that race though admittedly only saw the eventual winner for about 800m.

Then a midsummer race, he made a late decision to run when a flight to the Highland Games was cancelled so he went along with his training partner Matt Patterson. He ran 65:38 a few weeks before his World Cup 1500m UK record breakthrough.

He originally showed astonishing range as a junior. He won an English Schools 400m title in 1970 and AAA Youth 400m titles in 1971 and 1972 and finished his junior career with a huge win in the English National Cross Country over six miles in 1975.

Additionally he won an European junior 800m title in 1973 (ahead of future world champion Willi Wulbeck) and then a senior silver at the age of 18 in 1974.
Altogether he ran in seven global finals from 800m to 5000m.

For more Ovett articles click here and here

2 Sydney Wooderson

As some of his best times were recorded over 80 years ago, they don’t compare with modern day runners but if you focus on the era and the effect of the time, the bespectacled and slight Blackheath Harrier is the only athlete who can compete with Ovett in range.

While Ovett won Olympic gold at 800m, he never set a world record at the shorter event but Wooderson set records at 800m (1:48.4) and half-mile (1:49.2) in 1938.

He also set a world mile record the year before of 4:06.4 in a Handicap race, again at Motspur Park.

He was injured at the 1936 Olympics when in form to medal and World War Two accounted for 1940 and 1944 but he did win European 1500m gold in 1938.

Ill in 1944 and 1945, he was told he would never run again due to serious rheumatism and was in hospital for four months but later in the year he set British mile and 1500m records and gave world record-holder Arne Anderson a good race.

He moved up distances in 1946 winning the European 5000m title in a UK record 14:08.6 defeating future Olympic champions Emil Zatopek and Gaston Reiff.

He ended his career with a win in the English National cross-country Championships over 10 miles in 1948.

To read more about Wooderson click here and here

3 Steve Cram

Cram’s range doesn’t quite match Ovett’s and it was at 1500m and mile he had his nearly all his own successes. He won a world title, Olympic silver and two European and two Commonwealth golds and set 1500m and mile world records and was the first runner to break 3:30 for 1500m.

Cram’s 800m career was relatively modest but three times he ran the world’s fastest time in 1982, 1983 and 1986, and in the latter year he won a Commonwealth gold and a European bronze.

At longer events, he set a world 2000m record, won a European junior 3000m title, came close to the world two mile best and won a UK 5000m title when he set his 13:28.59 PB.

His cross-country form never matched Ovett’s but he won a Northern title in 1985 and his road race PB’s included 28:23 for 10km and 65:33 for half-marathon. He was in better shape in recent years than his contemporaries and the highly regarded commentator ran a 87 half-marathon at the age of 60.

To read more about Cram click here

4 Mo Farah

Exclude the 800m and the Somalian-born athlete would be the best all-round athlete. The eight-time global champion (he won the titles successively in seven seasons between 2011 and 2017 shoe-horned between silvers in those two years) set European records at 1500m (3:28.81) and marathon (2:05:11) even though he never competed in championships races at this event.

However, his modest 800m best of 1:48.69 negates the quality of his range. Considering in 2015 in his final world 5000m gold, he covered the last 600 metres quicker than 800m winner David Rudisha, it’s safe to say he was capable of much, much faster than 1:48.

To read more about Farah’s best track races click here

5 Dave Moorcroft

He set a memorable world 5000m record (13:00.41), a European 3000m record (7:32.79) and won Commonwealth golds at 1500m and 5000m in 1978 and 1982 respectively. He won the Oslo Dream Mile in 1984 in 3:50.95 having set a PB of 3:49.34 two years earlier where he also set his 800m PB of 1:46.64.

His cross-country form was good, finishing second in the English National in 1976, the year he finished seventh in the Olympic 1500m final.

While injury hampered his career, he won the AAA Junior Indoor 1500m in 1971 and the UK 3000m title in 1989 and in 1993 at the age of 40 set a world masters mile world record of 4:02.53.

To read more about Moorcroft click here

6 Sebastian Coe

Britain’s most successful 800m and 1500m runner initially started as a 3000m runner – winning the England schoolboy title at the age of 16 and had planned to end his career as a 5000m runner, but apart from a AAA indoor title at 3000m, his form over the longer events doesn’t match the five ranked above him.

He does though have the edge in titles – winning two Olympic 1500m golds and two 1500m silvers as well as an European 800m title and multiple world records at 800m, 1000m, 1500m and mile.

Considering he started as a distance runner, he quite remarkably was Britain’s leading runner in the AAA 400m in 1979 as he ran 46.87 in second spot behind a foreign athlete.

His 5000m PB of 14:06.2 was probably around a minute down on his real potential and he ran a 2:56:20 in the 1991 London Marathon, the year after he retired as an international athlete.

To read more about Coe’s career click here

7 Brendan Foster

In terms of middle-distance, his 800m credentials (1:51.12 PB) don’t warrant inclusion but his range is notable as he is the only Briton to win Commonwealth medals at 1500m (bronze), 5000m (silver and bronze) and 10,000m (gold).

Additionally, he won a European 5000m crown and an Olympic 10,000m bronze and is the only one of the 10 to win an English National senior cross-country title and he set world records at 3000m and two miles.

He is also the only UK runner with a top five placing in the Olympic 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m.

To read more about Foster click here

8 Jake Wightman

The world 1500m champion can also boast a European 800m silver from his 2022 season but though he has run a solid 3000m indoors of 7:37.81, there is still some scope for major improvement at longer events which suggests he is far from the finished all-round product.

9 Josh Kerr

Kerr doesn’t race as much as many of his rivals and all his Championships experience has been at 1500m highlighted by an Olympic bronze where he ran his PB of 3:29.05 .

He has run a solid 800m of 1:45.35 and this winter destroyed his 3000m PB with a near UK indoor record 7:33.47 and he has also previously run a quick 5000m of 13:23.78 but needs more experience at other events to rank higher.

10 Neil Gourley

Like Kerr, he has focused almost exclusively on 1500m where this winter he set a British indoor record of 3:32.58 and won European indoor silver behind Jake Ingebrigtsen.

He has run one fast 800m of 1:44.82 and this winter showed improved endurance with an indoor 5000m of 13:16.24 – quicker than 1500m specialists Cram, Ovett, Coe, Wightman and Kerr.

11 Peter Elliott

A world silver at 800m and Olympic silver at 1500m put him right up there over the two shorter distances but though he won a UK 3000m title his PB of 8:07.51 counts against him.

Judging by his 2000m PB of 4:52.82 showed he could have run well over 30 seconds quicker and it’s worth remembering he won a National Youths title on the country so had plenty of stamina.

To read more about Elliott click here

12 Anthony Whiteman

Won a Commonwealth bronze and had a good range of times from 800m to 3000m and confirmed his all round ability rather belatedly when he won world masters titles at 800m, 1500m and 3000m in Budapest in 2014.

Best UK 800m to 3000m runners on lap times
On the list from the November issue, not too much changed over the winter though Josh Kerr obliterated his 3000m PB improving from 8:08.37 (a 5000m race split) to a world class 7:33.47 and Neil Gourley improved his 1500m from 3:32.93 to 3:32.48 and with both marks being set indoors suggesting more to come outdoors his summer.

Kerr moves up from outside the top ten, to a very close second just 0.07 of a second slower over the three events than Wightman. Gourley dropped out of the top 10 after Kerr’s 3000m but moved back into the top 10 ahead of Andrew Baddeley.

1 Jake Wightman (times set in 2022) average lap pace over the 3 events 56.22
1:43.65 (51.82), 3:29.23 (55.80), 7:37.81 (61.04)
2 Josh Kerr (2019-23) av 56.29
1:45.35 (52.67), 3:29.05 (55.75), 7:33.47 (60.46)
3 Steve Cram (1983-5) av 56.36
1:42.88 (51.44), 3:29.67 (55.91), 7:43.1 (61.74)
4 Steve Ovett (1977-83) av 56.58
1:44.09 (52.04), 3:30.77 (56.20), 7:41.3 (61.50)
5 Seb Coe (1981-6) av 56.68
1:41.73 (50.86), 3:29.77 (55.93), 7:54.32 (63.24)
6 Mo Farah (2013-16) av 56.79
1:48.69 (54.34), 3:28.81 (55.69), 7:32.62 (60.35)
7 Dave Moorcroft (1983) av 56.90
1:46.64 (53.32), 3:33.79 (57.01), 7:32.79 (60.37)
8 Charles Da’Vall Grice (2016-9) av 57.06
1:45.53 (52.76), 3:30.62 (55.17), 7:54.33 (63.24)
9 Anthony Whiteman (1997-2000) av 57.11
1:45.81 (52.90), 3:32.34 (56.62), 7:43.61 (61.81)
10 Neil Gourley (2022-3) av 57.20
1:44.82 (52.41), 3:32.48 (56.66), 7:48.94 (62.52)

Next on list
Jake Heyward (2021-2) (av 57.34)
1:46.47 (53.23), 3:31.08 (56.29), 7:48.83 (62.51)

Best averages over 800m, 1500m, 3000m and 5000

What happens if you bring 5000m into the equation? Thanks to his 12:53.11 UK record then that moves Farah to the top despite his relatively poor 800m PB of 1:48.69 while Wightman and Coe drop down due to their modest 5000m PB’s. John Mayock also comes into the equation with his 5000m making up for a less impressive 800m PB.
1 Mo Farah av 58.06
1:48.69 (54.34), 3:28.81 (55.69), 7:32.62 (60.35), 12:53.11 (61.85)
2 Dave Moorcroft av 58.28
1:46.64 (53.32), 3:33.79 (57.01), 7:32.79 (60.37), 13:00.41 (62.43)
3 Josh Kerr av 58.30
1:45.35 (52.67), 3:29.05 (55.75), 7:33.47 (60.46) 13:23.78 (64.30)
4 Steve Ovett av 58.44
1:44.09 (52.04), 3:30.77 (56.20), 7:41.3 (61.50), 13:20.06 (64.00)
5 Steve Cram av 58.45
1:42.88 (51.44), 3:29.67 (55.91), 7:43.1 (61.74) 13:28.58 (64.69)
6 Neil Gourley av 58.82
1:44.82 (52.41), 3:32.48 (56.66), 7:48.94 (62.52), 13:16.24 (63.70)
7 Andy Baddeley av 58.93
1:46.32 (53.16), 3:34.36 (57.16), 7:39.86 (61.31), 13:20.85 (64.07)
8 John Mayock av 58.96
1:47.8 (53.90), 3:31.86 (56.50), 7:41.09 (61.48) 13:19.43 (63.95)
9 Jake Wightman av 59.35
1:43.65 (51.82), 3:29.23 (55.80), 7:37.81 (61.04) 14:19 (68.72)
10 Seb Coe av 59.43
1:41.73 (50.86), 3:29.77 (55.93), 7:54.32 (63.24), 14:06.02 (67.68)

Next on list
Brendan Foster av 59.47
1:51.15 (55.57), 3:37.64 (58.04), 7:35.1 (60.68), 13:14.6 (63.57)

The women’s list will follow.