[Other Sport] Kipchoge runs marathon under 2 hours!

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Amazing feat and 20 seconds under as well.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Amazing feat

Good legs too.

 

[Is it PotG?]

I'm waiting for the first sub 6 second 100m

 

[hart's shirt]

Compelling viewing and sport at its finest with the very best in the world running as pacemakers and working as a team to make it happen.

The scenes at the end were magical as athletes who would normally be rivals were united in the celebrations and being part of something truly extraordinary.

A truly great sporting moment in our lifetimes.

 

[Cadiz Seagull]

I'm old enough to remember Roger Bannister when he ran the first sub 4 minute mile in 1954. Most people though it was impossible but he did it with help from pacemakers Chris Chataway and Chris brasher (who went on to be a co-founder of the London Marathon).

Unbelievable achievement, very little in the way of specialised diet and nutrition in those days, let alone go-faster running shoes.

Bannister looked absolutely knackered at the finish although most people couldn't see that on TV as the crowd were standing at the side of the track as he broke the tape.

I know nothing about marathon running (I'm pleased to say!) but a fantastic achievement by Kipchoge as well

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bannister

 

[Coldeanseagull]

Gatwick to Brighton during rush hour takes longer than that and is a shorter distance

 

[dazzer6666]

Compelling viewing and sport at its finest with the very best in the world running as pacemakers and working as a team to make it happen.

The scenes at the end were magical as athletes who would normally be rivals were united in the celebrations and being part of something truly extraordinary.

A truly great sporting moment in our lifetimes.

This. Seen a lot of comments saying it wasn’t ‘genuine’ due to the lasers, pacers etc........I don’t care. It’s still a truly remarkable piece of running up there with Bannister’s sub 4 - the raw pace, the splits (every km between 2.48 and 2.52 I think) and how he looked at the end (like he’d been out for a Sunday jog). Amazing.

 

[timbha]

This. Seen a lot of comments saying it wasn’t ‘genuine’ due to the lasers, pacers etc........I don’t care. It’s still a truly remarkable piece of running up there with Bannister’s sub 4 - the raw pace, the splits (every km between 2.48 and 2.52 I think) and how he looked at the end (like he’d been out for a Sunday jog). Amazing.

Fantastic achievement and proves it can be done but I hope we don’t see this contrived event happening more and more for other shorter distances where science and technology could be used to smash other genuine competitive records, eg 1500m

 

[nwgull]

This. Seen a lot of comments saying it wasn’t ‘genuine’ due to the lasers, pacers etc........I don’t care. It’s still a truly remarkable piece of running up there with Bannister’s sub 4 - the raw pace, the splits (every km between 2.48 and 2.52 I think) and how he looked at the end (like he’d been out for a Sunday jog). Amazing.

I don’t disagree that’s it’s a remarkable time and pace - the same pace would’ve completed a parkrun in 14 m 17s - but it’s no more remarkable than his official world record 2.01.39, which was set without the assistance of pace makers he could draft behind for the entire race.

For those questioning the advantage, go to your local track and run 100m in 17s to feel how fast it is and to actually feel the effect of the air resistance.

 

[dazzer6666]

Fantastic achievement and proves it can be done but I hope we don’t see this contrived event happening more and more for other shorter distances where science and technology could be used to smash other genuine competitive records, eg 1500m

I don’t think it’s counting as a record - it’s basically a different event to a true race. Just fascinating to see how fast these guys can it though - I wouldn’t mind seeing more of it. I don’t think the cachet is there for other distances though. The sub-hour half is pretty common and there’s nor real ‘milestone’ time like 2 hours or 4 mins to aim at that would generate the interest.

The 100 mile record went recently (a ridiculous 11 hrs 19 mins).

 

[beorhthelm]

did the pace setters run the whole distance too, or have a couple of teams?

 

[Madafwo]

did the pace setters run the whole distance too, or have a couple of teams?

A team of 42 pacemakers according to the BBC. Its a remarkable achievement but comparing it to the moon landing is a bit ridiculous personally.

 

[portlock seagull]

I can’t believe no one has considered whether he’s done this without the first thing I do these days when records are broken which is...let’s wait for the drug test results first. It’s a shame, we all want to believe this, but it will be several months or years seven before we can be confident this really was a milestone achievement.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

I am campaigning to have Bannister's time expunged from the records because of the use of pacemakers. They also delayed the race to benefit from the wind dropping and waited for near ideal conditions. It was an assisted time and as such, should not have been allowed. The first man to break the 4 minute barrier should have been John Landy, who, only a short time after Bannister and in an unassisted race, ran 3:58:00 smashing the previous time and going on to hold the record for three years.
( I am still awaiting a reply from the IAAF )

 

[Coalburner]

Being totally pedantic, there is no world record for the marathon, merely the world's fastest time. This is because there is no circuit uniformity as there is for other events run over a uniformly flat track. Marathons are run over a set distance but with individual undulations, so none are the same,.

 

[dazzer6666]

Being totally pedantic, there is no world record for the marathon, merely the world's fastest time. This is because there is no circuit uniformity as there is for other events run over a uniformly flat track. Marathons are run over a set distance but with individual undulations, so none are the same,.

Correct....they should have track marathons as part of big athletics events.

 

[Bulldog]

Fantastic achievement and proves it can be done but I hope we don’t see this contrived event happening more and more for other shorter distances where science and technology could be used to smash other genuine competitive records, eg 1500m

I think it will happen at other distances.

Perhaps they need to establish a Marathon (special conditions) record, Half Marathon, 1500 mts (special conditions) so the amazing achievements of these runners get the praise it deserves, but ensures it is not confused with the normal marathon runners who experience very different conditions.

 

[London Irish]

I am campaigning to have Bannister's time expunged from the records because of the use of pacemakers. They also delayed the race to benefit from the wind dropping and waited for near ideal conditions. It was an assisted time and as such, should not have been allowed. The first man to break the 4 minute barrier should have been John Landy, who, only a short time after Bannister and in an unassisted race, ran 3:58:00 smashing the previous time and going on to hold the record for three years.
( I am still awaiting a reply from the IAAF )

One of the best spoofs I’ve read in years

 

[Ernest]

Records should only count in proper races not in set ups like this

 

[ManOfSussex]

There's always been these anomalies at what is officially counted a world record and what isn't.

Zola Budd, for example, breaks the women's 5000m record in 1984, but it doesn't count because apartheid South Africa are banned from international competition, however the women's 800m world record set in 1983 by Jarmila Kratochvilova of Czechoslovakia, which for some strange reason still stands 36 years later, is absolutely fine because she wasn't on drugs 'guv, honest. Why should someone with pace makers by allowed to deny Ms Kratochvilova what is rightfully hers, which was won fair-and-square in normal race conditions?

I don't suppose pace makers are as important in the women's 400m, but furthermore I'd hate for Marita Koch of East Germany to lose her world record from 1986 to someone who used them and cheated their way to taking it off her.

The IAAF are not just the governing body of world athletics - they're the moral custodians too.