What If World Records Had Started Anew in 2000?

(as of September 07, 2020)

There are those who think that the sport would have been better off if WA (then the IAAF) had listened to proposals to create a set of “new millennium” World Records starting with the 2000 season. We hasten to note that creating a new set of all-time bests wouldn’t have to mean throwing the old ones out. There would simply be records for the 1900s and another set for the 2000s.

Had the international federation bought into that revolutionary idea, this is what the “new millennium” World Records would look like (* = actual WA World Record, surpassing the best mark of the 1900s):

 

MEN’S TRACK
100 9.58* Usain Bolt (Jamaica) ’09
200 19.19* Usain Bolt (Jamaica) ’09
400 43.03* Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa) ’16
800 1:40.91* David Rudisha (Kenya) ’12
1000 2:13.08 Taoufik Makhloufi (Algeria) ’15
1500 3:26:12 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) ’01
Mile 3:44.95 Hicham El Guerrouj (Morocco) ’01
2000 4:49.99i Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) ’07
Steeple 7:53:63* Saïf Shaheen (Qatar) ’04
3000 7:25.02 Ali Saïdi-Sief (Algeria) ’00
5000 12:35.36* Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) ’20
10,000 26:17.53* Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) ’05
110 Hurdles 12.80* Aries Merritt (US) ’12
400 Hurdles 46.87 Karsten Warholm (Norway) ’20
Half-Marathon 58:01* Geoffrey Kamworor (Kenya) ’19
Marathon 2:01:39* Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) ’18
20K Walk 1:16:36* Yusuke Suzuki (Japan) ’15
50K Walk 3:32:33* Yohann Diniz (France) ’14
4 x 100 36.84* Jamaica ’12
4 x 400 2:55.39 United States ’08
MEN’S FIELD
High Jump 2.43 | 7-11½ Mutaz Essa Barshim (Qatar) ’14
Pole Vault 6.18 | 20-3¼i* Mondo Duplantis (Sweden) ’20
Long Jump 8.74 | 28-8¼ Dwight Phillips (US) ’09
Triple Jump 18.21 | 59-9 Christian Taylor (US) ’15
Shot 22.91 | 75-2 Joe Kovacs (US) ’19
22.91 | 75-2 Ryan Crouser (US) ’20
Discus 73.88 | 242-5 Virgilijus Alekna (Lithuania) ’00
Hammer 84.90 | 278-6 Vadim Devyatovskiy (Belarus) ’05
Javelin 97.76 | 320-9 Johannes Vetter (Germany) ’20
Decathlon 9126* Kevin Mayer (France) ’18

 

WOMEN’S TRACK
100 10.64 Carmelita Jeter (US) ’09
200 21.63 Dafne Schippers (Holland) ’15
400 48.14 Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain) ’19
800 1:54.01 Pamela Jelimo (Kenya) ’08
1000 2:29.15 Faith Kipyegon (Kenya) ’20
1500 3:50.07* Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) ’15
Mile 4:12.33* Sifan Hassan (Netherlands) ’16
2000 5:23.75i* Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) ’17
Steeple 8:44.32* Beatrice Chepkoech (Kenya) ’18
3000 8:16.60i Genzebe Dibaba (Ethiopia) ’14
5000 14:11.15* Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) ’08
10,000 29:17.45* Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia) ’16
100 Hurdles 12.20* Keni Harrison (US) ’16
400 Hurdles 52.16* Dalilah Muhammad (US) ’19
Half-Marathon 64.31* Yeshaneh Ababel (Ethiopia) ’20
Marathon 2:14:04* Brigid Kosgei (Kenya) ’19
20K Walk 1:24.38* Hong Liu (China) ’15
50K Walk 3:59:15* Hong Liu (China) ’19
4 x 100 40.82* United States ’12
4 x 400 3:16.87 United States ’12
WOMEN’S FIELD
High Jump 2.08 | 6-9¾i Kajsa Bergqvist (Sweden) ’06
2.08 | 6-9¾ Blanka Vlašić (Croatia) ’09
Pole Vault 5.06 | 16-7¼* Yelena Isinbaeva (Russia) ’09
Long Jump 7.42 | 24-4¼ Tatyana Kotova (Russia) ’02
Triple Jump 15.43 | 50-7½i Yulimar Rojas (Venezuela) ’20
Shot 21.46 | 70-5 Larisa Peleshenko (Russia) ’00
Discus 71.41 | 234-3 Sandra Perković (Croatia) ’17
Hammer 82.98 | 272-3* Anita Włodarczyk (Poland) ’16
Javelin 72.28 | 237-2* Barbora Špotáková (Czech Republic) ’08
Heptathlon 7032 Carolina Klüft (Sweden) ’07

Go here to see what new-millennium American Records look like.