Simple training during practice won’t suffice for the intense event. There are multiple factors included in the performance of an athlete.
“I have not systematically derived confidence limits for a comparison of the variability in the different types of event, but it is reasonably clear from the confidence limits for each type that athletes in longer running events are more variable their performance than those in the shorter events, that athletes in the throwing events are about twice as variable, and that athletes in the high jump and triple jump are somewhere in between” (Peltola 2005).
The event of course will have variations especially with distance runners. There are so many training techniques and running events for distance runners that there is bound to be high variability. Along with that, gender can even be a factor with running and throwing events.
Looking specifically at steeplechase, a runner needs endurance, muscular strength, coordination, and mental strength. Little variation in any of these topics will set each runner apart from the rest of the field, whether that be positive or negative.