SPOILER ALERT: I hereby wander into news territory that’s technically out of bounds for T&FN as a monthly magazine. We’re a website too, so here I go.
Though you won’t find a report in this issue, just as I sat down to scribble this column, miler par excellence Faith Kipyegon tore another 0.36 out of her own 1500 World Record in the final event of the ’25 Prefontaine Classic.
A full report of the meet’s blockbuster 50th edition will go up on our website shortly but not appear in a print edition until the August issue. [As we post this column to our home page newsfeed two weeks later, here’s our Pre meet women’s report.]
Here’s why I’m jumping the gun with thoughts on Kipyegon’s majestic 3:48.68 run. Her time converts, for those who still think in Imperial terms, to a 4:06.98 mile. Sub-4:07!
That gladdens the numbers-oriented corner of my heart after a recent and hide-chapping futz with women’s mile numbers.
I’m referring here to Nike’s Breaking4 exhibition in Paris wherein Kipyegon, aided by all manner of outside-the-normal-rules measures, took a bold shot at running sub-4:00 for the mile.
It was a game effort, absolutely what we’d expect of “Faith the Great.” The 3-time Olympic gold medalist went all in, grimacing through the lactate load all the way on the last lap. You’ll find our report in this issue.
Kipyegon stopped the clock at 4:06.91*. More about the asterisk and my bone to pick later.
Breaking4, clearly, was premature. I get it. Nike had been a partner in the meticulously planned and staged INEOS 1:59 Challenge back in ’19 that saw Eliud Kipchoge become the first in history to run the marathon distance under 2 hours. Four years on from that event in Vienna, the late Kelvin Kiptum pushed to within 36 seconds of breaking the barrier under record-eligible conditions in the Berlin Marathon.
The marketers surely thought a kindred women’s project was called for. Alas, sub-4:00 for the mile was the only barrier that might ignite analogous fire in the imagination.
Alas again, the 4-lap “moonshot” turned out to be a techno-trick too far. Whereas Kipchoge in Vienna had run about 1.6% faster than his WR at the time (2:01:39 versus 1:59:41), the ask of Kipyegon was that she exceed her 4:07.64 mile record by more than 3%. At the pointiest portion of performance pyramids those percentages are miles apart, pun intended.
Since men’s mile WR holder Hicham El Guerrouj is two-decades into retirement and never enjoyed the benefit of the current era’s spikes, let’s make Jakob Ingebrigtsen our example.
Norway’s stellar miler would need to take his 3:43.73 PR down to 3:36.82 to equal what was asked of Kipyegon. Try that thought on for size.
Sub-4 by a woman was not meant to come on June 26 in Paris. I believe the crucible of talent, training and the human drive to push limits will pour out that performance some day.
Today I’m just thrilled Kipyegon in Eugene validated — laid down a near-equivalent of — her 4 laps (plus 9.35m) in Paris.
Line athletes up and let ‘em race. That’s what turns my crank. While pacers and wavelights — fixtures of our age — aren’t going away, a race is what we got at the Pre meet. The winner set a World Record in an edge-of-your-seat contest with competitors.
As for me, I can now let go of my purist’s ire over the asterisk we’ve felt obligated to place after the Breaking4 time. The clock in Paris stopped at 4:06.91. Multiple careful video analyses have supported that figure to within a few 100ths.
Just after the time flashed up, however, Breaking4 project organizers “corrected” the result to 4:06.42. Baffling. A head-scratcher. Fiction!
Full credit to letsrun.com. They asked Nike how, why? The response: “Hi, As with any track & field race, the clock time is unofficial and gets replaced within a few seconds by the official chip time, which is calculated by a device worn by Faith.”
Nope! That’s not how “any track & field race” is timed. Chip times to the second are fine for recreational runners in road races. They are provably not accurate enough for anything “official” reported in 100ths.
I now follow my scold’s finger-wagging with a high five from my other hand to Nike for keeping world class competition alive at the Pre meet.
My wise, learned predecessor in the Editor’s chair, E. Garry Hill, told me this was a “tempest in a teapot.” He was right. Now Kipyegon & company have provided a way for me to let it go.
