This blog is more than dependent on writing coming in from our readers. Some days it's Paul O'Shea with a book review, Darryl Taylor with a moving story from the past, Bill Schnier with a long commentary about something I wrote, and on a rare occasion something from the mind of my original partner in this non profit enterprise Roy Mason. Today we get a prognostication from the mind and keyboard of Richard Mach, a former Western Michigan Bronco.
ARE WE ABOUT TO BE TREATED IN OUR SPORT TO AN EXTRAORDINARY SEASON OF RECORD SETTING ? by Richard Mach
“World records in track and field show us how fast, how far and how high human beings are capable of running, jumping and throwing. They are the ultimates, thus far, @ any moment in history of what our species can accomplish over measured distances alone, in tandem with others or with implements. Each record stands atop all, the often uncountable efforts over all of time before that have been less however than this ultimate mark. This World Record {WR}. We have watched across a life time the evolution and the progression of these records and how they often seem to come altogether in sudden clots of activity — punctuated by periods of stagnancy. Could this be the year a number of them are unleashed?
The February 1954 issue of “Boy’s Life” contained an article about the men’s mile record while asking the question could it ever be broken while going under 4 without the athlete sacrificing his very life in the effort. One 12 yr old boy read the article twice and was introduced to the science of physiology as well as the less certain one of conjecture. And was fascinated.
All the main players in this conjecture back then were present and accounted for. There was John Landy, an entomologist out of Australia portrayed as doing at least part of his training while chasing various insects with a net. He was the author’s favorite candidate to do the deed. And the other big gun was the Kansan, Wes Santee, he of the withering kick, but soon to lose his amateur status because of some doddering AAU prig — aka career wrecker — bound and determined to make it his life’s work to destroy the career of someone he wouldn’t be offered even a seat in the stands @ one of Santee’s great races. This over support money to attend a meet. Also, in passing, was mentioned this Brit studying medicine at Oxford, who’d finished just out of the medals in the ’52 Olympic Games 1500 m final, a R Bannister, who seemed more preoccupied with his studies than his hurried abbreviated training sessions wedged between exams, hospital rounds, his studies, eating and sleeping.
Yet, within 3 months time, Britannia’s Roger Bannister on a cold windy wet day on Iffley Road Field, Oxford University, with two of his pace setting mates on a wet cinder track, became the first ever to dip under 4 between his exams; and both passed them and didn’t die. Instead, he ended up living a long, highly productive life as a talented medical researcher. What few knew at the time was the ever curious and enterprising Bannister had rigged up a treadmill and gas collection system that gave him feedback — personal physiological data after he ran 15 mph for 3 minutes equivalent to 3/4th of a mile. And these data projected out another minute gave him confidence he could run another quarter mile at the same speed. He used science in early 1954 — nearly 7 decades ago now — to assure himself of accomplishing his goal to break 4.
Forty-six {46} days later, Landy, the Aussie, took down the med student’s very recent mark of 3:59.4 by a second and a half.
Landy Taking the Record in Turku, Finland
Late that same summer came what was billed “The Mile of the Century” between the two along with a supporting cast held in Vancouver BC. Landy knew, as a metronomic runner, he had to somehow run the kick out of the Brit to hope to win. And that’s the way it looked at the halfway point: The Aussie gradually pulling farther and farther away until, with a lap and a half to go, the Brit began reeling him back in so that by the bell there was but maybe 3 m between them. Landy resolutely maintained his pace until, almost off the last curve, with but perhaps no more than 65 yards to the tape, Bannister came round him at the same instant Landy was looking back for him inside over his left shoulder. It was over in an instant, Landy regrouped, but Bannister’s acceleration was too much. The gangly Brit collapsed into the arms of his handlers, while Landy, dejected, placed his hands on his hips and walked away — hardly winded.
Some 45 yrs later, a Moroccan, Hichem El Geurrouj, with the ability to run 55 seconds quarters with impeccably flawless biomechanics went for broke and ran some 16 and 3 tenths seconds faster the the world’s first sub-4 minute miler, a mark that 23 years later still stands to this day.
In certain events in track and field, there has been a undeniably significant lull in record setting. And this is especially true in the men’s events in every race between 1500 m, sometime referred to as the metric mile — although 119 yards shorter — and the 10,000 meter track race.
While it’s true that in the last half of 2020, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda broke both the 5 and 10 thousand meter records, they’d been held for over a decade and a half before by one man, Kenensia Bekele of Ethiopia. Otherwise, these records as seen below have been surviving — in one case — for as long as for 26 yrs now. Here’s a brief table to consolidate this information: The event, the time, the WRH’s name, their nationality the place the record was set and the date on which it was set.
1500 m 3:26.00 H. El Guerrouj MAR Rome 14JUL’98
Mile 3:43.13 El G MAR Rome 7JUL’99
3,000 m 7.20.67 D. Komen KEN Rieti 1 SEP’96
5,000 m 12:3735. K Bekele ETH Hengelo 31MAY’04
12:35.36 J. Cheptegei UGA Monaco 14AUG’20
10,000 m 26:17.53 K. Bekele ETH Brussels 26AUG’05
26.11.00 J. Cheptegei UGA Valencia 7OCT’20
Meanwhile, across the intervening years, all manner of improvements have been made that would contribute to such performances, a few of which we will mention here in passing. Track surfaces continue to be improved. Some tuned to the same hysteresis or memory resonance that human muscle has. Shoes, too, have been engineered to give back the wearer more of the energy each compressive foot strike delivers to them. The Pro circuit, the WANDA Diamond League, each year offers sizable purses for each event as well as prize money at the end of the year for the top point getters at their many venues. Pacers are used, sometimes as many as 3 different talented athletes themselves, to lead out the top competitors so they can concentrate on being as efficient as possible in conserving their energies for the run on into the tape. Some tracks now have had pacing lights installed along the curve that are set to deliver the pace the runners have aspired to run. Human performance labs dedicated to research toward optimizing training regimens and biomechanical efficiencies toward running faster continue to crank out meaningful looks into the science of running and throwing and jumping. And we cannot ignore the dedication of our East and North African supremely talented runners to training and racing and breaking into the big time, in part, to often escape lives of poverty and limited opportunity.
But, despite all of this, all but Bekele’s records as you can see by the table have endured for much longer than, in fact, the past history of progression in any of these events would ever even begin to predict. This lapse in new record setting is unique in history.
Perhaps, you’ve seen the recent stats provided on the LetsRun.com website citing the number of sub 4 miles indoors -- largely -- the first 3 months of 2022? Over one hundred. It is becoming the usual rather than the exception that a top miler, even a freshman, is going to go under 4 his first year {or two} @ university. It has become something now that all good enough milers just do. Ho Hum. But this factoid is but the tip of the iceberg. Looking rather exhaustively at the unusually sterling performances and marks @ the recent Track and Field World Indoor Championships, I must wonder if we aren't going to have an absolutely cracking next 6-7 months outdoors, mostly on the world stage, but as well at the US college level, where the performances are well beyond expectation and often enough simply out of this world. And where certain world records may go. To start out, in no particular order, I am imagining the Bahamian, Steven Gardiner {6’4”,164#}, might somehow run down Wayde Van Niekerk's scintillating, mid blowing 400m WR of 43.03 And if, in the right race, fully healthy and with viable competition, could we not see a homo sapien dip under 43 for the first time in recorded history?
And then there is the young talented American, Athing Mu, gifted with her forbearers’ Sudanese DNA, already running — as a freshman with Texas A&M — as anchor a 48.85 on their collegiate 4 x 400 m relay early this spring. And, as anchor, a 48.32 final leg for an Olympic gold. At 19, she already has two, the other in her specialty, the individual 800 m.
In that particular distance, resides the longest surviving woman's world record in track and field,— that by the Czech, Jarmila Kratochvilova [KRAT-TOCH-VEE-LO-VA] , a 1:53.28 smack dab in the middle of the no-holds-barred anabolic steroid era. Set in 1983, some 39 years ago, it is in danger. From Mu. At 19, she has already posted a 1:55.04. She has the biomechanical effortlessness of Kenya’s men 800 m WR, David Rudisha. Only Keely Hodgkinson from Great Britain could contemplate being with Mu at the bell in a top race, but, if she, too, were to run out of her head, could we not see a simply spectacular race? Unfortunately, the Brit was recently down with the scourge of COVID, so we can only hope for her full recovery.
Like many fine young runners these days, Mu is likely enough to peak rather early in her career; and so while that window of time within which to take down Kratochvilova’s ersatz record is hardly closing, it is nonetheless perhaps more limited than we would like.
And then there is America’s Ryan Crouser, whom, although he suffered a loss in the just past Belgrade WCs to the gifted Brazilian thrower, is putting brilliantly and with such finesse in that altogether so tiny ring for someone 6'7" and 320#. Crouser recently finally exceeded another aged {1990}, plenty questionable WR, this one by the US’s Randy Barnes, set, again, during the time of florid doping. And at now 29, Crouser is peaking. His current WR is 76’ 5 1/4”, but he is not through. And from the looks of things, every time he steps into the ring, he’s gunning for another one.
And in the world’s favorite two middle distance events? The Eritrean, Samuel Tefera, was seen two weeks ago in the WC 1500 m final in Serbia, running away from El G's 1500m/mile heir apparent, Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen. We later learned that right after the race, the Norweigan sought testing for COVID because he felt during the run in to the tape he just didn’t have it and that test was positive.
The Moroccan, Hichem El Guerrouj WRs of 3:26.00 at 1500 m and 3:43.13 in the mile have resisted all comers for nearly 24 and 23 years respectively because of how exceptional they would have to be— if for no other reason than their longevity. With Tefera revealing he is no fluke and many players giving notice, there’s the appearance of a kind of gelling underway at that distance for the men. And we could see the take-down of both these tremendous records this outdoor season in 2022, perhaps in Monaco in early mid-season. Or, maybe, we will have to wait until the fall. The gelling I speak of is the number of heaters out there who are going to want a crack at it. And we have the World Championships here in Eugene’s new stadium set for mid-July this year.
Tefera Upends Ingebrigtsen At 21, Jakob Ingebrigtsen has pretty much established himself as the one to beat. His gold medal from Tokyo in hand, along setting the Olympic record, his world indoor record of 3:30.60 set only 6 wks ago, coupled with an impressive sets of wins at longer distances and world class credentials therein, he is, at 21, most of all to be reckoned with. His outdoor PRs are 5.5 seconds and 13 seconds off the WRs @ 3000 and 5000 m. Currently. That breadth and that depth of capability bodes well for his future. In his Olympic final, he ran each lap faster than the one before. And we mustn’t forget the ever dangerous, primier, nearly unbeatable Kenyan miler, Timothy Cheriuyot, the world’s top miler for the past 3-4 seasons. Nor, as well, a number of others who are in the 3:46 or so range in the mile.
Grant Holloway, the former Virginia HS phenom, in the high hurdles is awaiting a true competitor still there over the last hurdle to take down Aries Merritt’s 12.80 WR in the high hurdles. He is capable of a jet start and a flawless execution over the 10 hurdles when he finds his MoJo has gelled early between the first and second hurdle. At such speeds, this race is one of immense precision. Holloway now owns the WR at the 60 m indoor hurdles at 7.29. Currently he stands alone above his competition. He has run 6.50 in the 60m flat sprint indoors. Has jumped over 27 ft in the long jump and over 7’1’ in the high jump and has run a high 43s 3rd leg on his Florida U 4 x 4. This versatility reveals the breadth of his athleticism. And tells us to watch for him in the World Championships final 3.5 months from now. If the weather is good, no rain, and a competitor steps up to challenge; then, watch out.
Sweden’s { and America's} Armand Gustav Duplantis, “Mondo”, has broken the PV record yet again. At Serbia’s WCs just past. And, altho set indoors, it is seen as thee WR. He now has a mind boggling 20 ft 4 inches mark. Already, it is beginning to appear that Mondo is intent on building a fine nest egg early on — ala, the Russian, Sergey Bubka — bumping up the record just a little at the time along with all the notoriety and prize money and acclaim that subsequently accrues.
NBC, craven as they are, long refused to give Mondo his due in their scanty coverage because of their hard core ‘patriotic’ nonsense around his choosing to jump for his mother’s home country of Sweden despite being born and raised in Louisiana. You‘d think they were the CIA’s wannabe arm for All American fealty. Once he broke the world record, the suits there on the top floor @ NBC — still trying to fit track and field into their football model — were placed squarely in the position of continuing to not cover the world record holder more than summarily or bend to his talent and fame. The latter stratagem won out … to the advantage of everyone involved, including the suits — still craven — on the top floor.
Despite the still competing Mustafa Barshim scaling 7’ 11 3/4” earlier in his career {2014}, that superhuman 8' 1/4"jump by Javier Sotomayor, the Cuban, way back in 1993 and perhaps also fueled by anabolic stroids, appears to remain safe … at least for the moment.
The nearly ever changing cast of potential world beaters in the longer 2 track flat races, the 5000 and 10000 m, while, again, largely representing 5-6 African nations need to get together — counter-intuitively — and decided to take down the two world best ever times Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei has set by switching the lead every lap or two to spread the demand out evenly enough. With the best of the best 3 or 4 on that day dragging the field around thru the bulk of the race; then, in those closing laps it’s mano a mano, every man for himself. We are looking at averaging under 4:03 a mile for 5K and under 4:13/mile for 10k to break these awesome records. Marks whose contemplation alone has me mumbling incoherently. Kenensia Bekele, the Ethiopian, held both 5 and 10 Km records for more than a decade and a half, and then, as covered earlier, Cheptegei took 2 seconds off the 5K and 6.5 seconds off the longer race.
In any premier race, Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega and team mate and Indoor Mile WRH, Yomif Kajelcha {3:47.01, Boston, 3MAR’19} would be expect to be in the mix along with Cheptegei and his Ugandan team mate, Jacob Kiplimo, also likely there and perhaps our ever improving Grant Fisher {12:53i} a former Stanford Cardinal and NCAA 5,000 m champion will break into the Big, Big Time here in any such race.
As an aside I calculated the average mile pace for the Kenyan record holder in the marathon, Eiiud Kipchoge, who, back in 2003 at 18.8 yrs old served notice and beat both El G and Bekele in the world championships finals at 5000 m with a then jaw dropping 53 second last 400. In his world best marathon of 2:01.39, he averaged 4:38.39 and in his paced, sheltered 1:59.40, he averaged 4:33.85 across 26.2 miles. When you look at Kipchoge’s career performances, he is right up there in the pantheon along with El G, Bekele, and Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie.
For now, the marks put down by the now safely retired Usain Bolt from Jamaica in the 100 m and 200 m seem safe @ 9.58 and 19.19 as is Kenya’s 800 m phenom, Rudisha’s. @ 1.40.91. An all American women’s 4x 400 m woman’s relay team might have a chance to reduce the current WR some more, but that is to but wait and see.
Finally, the javelin seems populated by gradually switching players every year, but the Germans have three prodigious throwers all well over 90 meters. And their top thrower, and favorite for the Tokyo OLY Gold, Johannes Vetter, who did so badly in the Olympic Games finishing 9th, was rumored to have been defeated by the surface material on the run-up track. The top layer proved not substantial enough to resist the tremendous forces he put on it at the moment of sudden stopping before release. And converting all his mass and velocity in the process to the end of his throwing arm and the javelin. He was said to have been shredding the area where he planted. Making it an undependable, unstable plant surface. The material reputedly gave way and he found himself not firmly anchored and the surface failed him. His longest throw to date otherwise is 320’ 8 3/4’, 2.5 ft short of the world record. With a firm surface we may find his javelin sails beyond 323’ 1 1/4.” Or his constant, highly competitive teammate, Thomas Rohler, does the deed.
Rich
Wow! What extensive research! Why the enormous resurgence in T&F potential records? It is probably the natural progression of ups and downs but also the statistical difficulty of breaking records when so many have prepared themselves to do so. These records are currently amazing, so to break them a person has to be more amazing. It seems as if many such people are on the horizon. The number of people and countries in the mix has surely assisted the effort as have all the other advantages suggested by Richard Mach, yet it will still be an intriguing summer. T&F is back in its full glory and I only hope there are lots of people like we were in the 1970s who embrace this excellence and this sport to make it more exciting than just a sentence in a newspaper citing another world record. Bill Schner
