New Marathon World Record

[Sasha Pachev]

Haile just ran 2:03:59 in Berlin. That's 4:44 per mile. Good report at

http://www.sportsscientists.com/

[Sean Sundwall]

What's sad is that several of us on this board could have been the top American finisher. The top american finished in 59th place in a time of 2:30 and change. I'm sure the poor showing is due largely to the fact that the USATF marathon championships is next week, but still...2:30? 59th place in the fastest marathon course in the world?

[James Winzenz]

Here's another article, from IAAF:

http://iaaf.org/LRR08/news/newsid=47859.html

Not only did Geb set a new marathon world record, but Irena Mikitenko also became the 9th woman to break the 2:20 barrier, and the 7th fastest woman ever.  Just makes me wonder what these athletes could do at St. George, even though the course is aided and would not count for a world record . . .

[James Winzenz]

btw, every time I have ever seen Geb, or he has been interviewed, he has appeared to be the perfect gentleman, always smiling, gracious, humble, etc.  He doesn't puff himself up, doesn't celebrate wildly, doesn't trash-talk, and doesn't disrespect other runners.  I still remember when he originally broke Paul Tergat's world record, he called him up and apologized.  Apologized!  What a great example to other runners of how to behave!

[Jon Allen]

Congrats to Geb!

[Scott Zincone]

The entire race is online to see at http://www.universalsports.com/

Once there got to "Select Sport", then Marathon.

Or go to

http://www.universalsports.com//club/std/ViewCategory.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&CAT_SPORT_ID=13048&DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=&SPID=13048&SPSID=105677

It was fun to watch such a historic race.

[jtshad]

2 world records in 2 years, each a good deal faster than the previous record.  4:44 pace for 26 miles is absolutely astounding!

[Sean Sundwall]

So how low can the WW go. We would probably all agree there is a bottom somewhere, but what is it? Can 2 hours be broken? That is 4:34 pace.

[jtshad]

I think 2 hours can and will be broken, but it still may be a while.  But just in the last year, the WW dropped 1 minute!  So, who knows it could be sooner than any of us think if the right person, with the right genes, right biomechanics and right training comes along.

[Superfly]

Amazing. It makes me sick to my stomach but amazing.

[Jeff Linger]

1:59:59 would take 4:35s? Only 9 seconds a mile .... I know its not only 9 seconds per mile .... but man, they're making their way there. That would definitely be amazing.

[Paul Petersen]

Seems like it was only a few years ago when KK had the world record with a 2:05-mid something. Now 2:05 is old news, and you've got upstarts like Ryan Hall running 2:06 (which would have been a big AR before KK). Nowdays, a 2:06 guy can barely take 10th at the Olympics. It is somewhat shocking to see WR's go down so much in so few years. I think it is a matter of 20 years or so when we see sub-2:00.

[Jon Allen]

World record was 2:06:50 in 1997 and 2:05:42 in 2001.  So it has dropped 2:51 in 11 years and 1:43 in 7 years, so I don't think sub-2:00:00 is far off.  Though we may have reached a plateau for a while, like they had from 1969-1984, where it only improved 28 seconds.  Who knows.  I'm curious to see what marathon Wanjiru does next.

[Jeff Necessary]

I have to think that if Wanjiru had run his Beijing race in, say, about 30 degrees cooler temps, he might well have threatened to break 2:04 as well. The temp at the start in Beijing was 69F, rising to 86 by the finish. It will be interesting to see what he does in his next 26.2 in favorable weather.

[Dale]

I'm not so sure a sub 2 hr is so close around the corner.  It took 24 years to get from 2:08:05 down to 2:03:59, a 4:06 drop.  4:00 is still needed to go below 2 hrs, which is 97.6% of the drop that just took 24 years to achieve.  If you look at the history of marathon records (http://www.marathonguide.com/history/records/), it's evident that the curve has flattened....we've definitely gotten into the area of diminishing returns.  Yes, every so often there's a rapid series of "steps" downwards, but the steps have generally gotten smaller over the years.  

I hate to be the buzzkill, but if I were a betting man, I'd wager it'll be another 30 years before someone manages to get below 2 hours, *assuming* the IAAF continues to take the hard line on artificial aids (i.e. drugs and prosthetics).  I wouldn't want to bet against someone "technologically enhanced" in the next several years making a big improvement.  I also won't bet that the illegality of certain devices (again, like prosthetics) will become less clear in the future that might enable such a leap.  The Bionic man/woman, anyone?