The Most HUMILIATING DEFEAT In Track & Field History

this is Alan Webb after obliterating the field in the 2004 Olympic Trials in the 1500 meters he unleashed a scream that shattered every eardrum throughout the entire stadium the reason for this barbaric shriek was because he had just utterly humiliated one athlete so badly and so completely that he didn't race again for the next three years now we've seen our fair share of embarrassing and downright disrespectful defeats throughout the years in 1997 we saw a prime Donovan Bailey explode past a struggling Michael Johnson in 2009 we saw Usain Bolt absolutely walk over one of the deepest and strongest 100-meter Fields ever assembled and more recently in 2016 we saw Wade fund Niekerk make the best 400 meter runners in the world look like they were standing still however this one victory which made Alan Webb go full Super Saiyan over the rest of the field was much more than just one athlete outrunning someone else this was personal and it was certainly humiliating but what exactly happened in this race let me take you back to 2004 at the time a young Alan Webb was quickly becoming one of the world's greatest milers and after a stunning three-minute and 53 second mile performance in high school many saw this kid as the next great middle-distance talent and who could blame them I mean he had just run a 353 and in that race he finished directly beside some of the all-time greats in the event in fact this one performance was so fast that it broke Jim Ryan's national high school mile record that had stood for a full 36 years simply amazing after high school Webb went to run at the University of Michigan but after a mixed bag of races both in cross country and track he decided to end his collegiate career and sign his first professional contract with Nike at the time he was still only 19 years old but he was clearly still one of the most sought-after names in the sport of running from 2001 to 2004 Webb had slowly built himself into a true world-class competitor and while most other runners saw this kid as an exceptional talent with a very bright future others simply refused to recognize this Allen web kid enter Michael Steinberg building up to the 2004 Olympic Trials he was having a pretty solid season running a 146 for the 800 and a 337 for the 15 and as a previous olympian he was regarded as one of the favorites to make the Olympic team again and he did not hesitate to share his confidence with the media before the trials stemmer sat down for an interview discussing his 15-hundred meter competitors when asked about Allen Webb he was quick to say that he was not only overrated but he had no chance to beats timber in the finals just a few days later in the 15-hundred meter semi finals stemmer finished the race by trash-talking on the track - Allen Webb and he also strangely made a move out to Lane 4 as if to flex his dominance over Webb at the end of the race to this day I honestly don't know why he felt the need to do this I mean you're in the semi-finals winning this race means nothing it's the actual finals where you're supposed to win although this was clearly a cheap and immature move he did this to mess with Webb's head and even though Webb finished the race calmly and collectively there's no doubt in my mind the Webb used this as motivation for the finals on July 18 2004 both web and Stender took to the track to see who would ultimately prevail at the US Championships and while there were many other great runners in the field most were desperately waiting for the matchup between Allen Webb and Michael Steinberg after this dramatic and quite strange ending to the semi finals everyone was desperately waiting to watch the finals after a rather slow opening 200 meters Webb took to the lead and passed through the first lap in a 59 point one seconds although the opening 200 was quite slow this was a pretty solid opening first lap at this points timber was back in around fourth place but up front and center was Alan Webb through the next lap Webb continue to push forward at a decent pace but with just under two laps to run Webb made a move so strong and so decisive that any attempt to catch him was met with complete and utter failure in about 10 seconds Webb put approximately 30 meters on the entire field and when Michael Steinberg attempted to chase after Webb it's as if his body shut down with the speed of flash himself Webb had demolished his competition and for his final lap well it was mostly a victory lap with a finishing time of three minutes thirty six point one three seconds Webb had won his first US title and he had qualified for his very first Olympic team as for Michael Steinberg who was considered as one of the pre-race favourites he got second-to-last finishing over ten seconds behind Webb to make matters worse Steinberg grew up about twenty minutes from the stadium which was now the site of one of the most brutal and humiliating defeats of his career in an interview with Denver after the race he said I have no idea what's next for me I may take a break for a while maybe a year who knows this was more than just a loss this was borderline career-ending you just don't recover from something like this I mean you're considered as one of the best runners in the entire nation just to lose in a brutal and devastating fashion indeed many athletes have taken painful and difficult losses in big races but none are quite as cold or as humiliating as Alan Webb's defeat over Michael stimbler thanks for watching everyone and as always until next time [Music]

Channel: Total Running Productions

Views: 1,749,417

Rating: 4.8124866 out of 5

Keywords: Alan Webb, 1500 Meters, Best Races, Track and Field, How To Run, Alan Webb American Record, 2020 Track And Field, Track & Field, Track Sprint Finishes, Greatest Race Ever, Kenenisa Bekele, Usain Bolt

Id: T0AkiMl-sHE

Length: 6min 48sec (408 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 27 2020