Live data from Hacker News

Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

nytimes.com

1–10 of 281 posts

Re: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

#2
Given that "[i]t will not be recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers," Mr. Kipchoge's attitude represents the best of sport:

"Now I've done it, I am expecting more people to do it after me... This shows the positivity of sport. I want to make it a clean and interesting sport. Together when we run, we can make it a beautiful world."

An amazing boundary to breach.

Re: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

#6
post #2

Given that "[i]t will not be recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition and he used a team of rotating pacemakers," Mr. Kipchoge's attitude represents the best of sport: "Now I've done it, I am expecting more people to do it after me... This shows the positivity of sport. I want to make it a clean and interesting sport. Together when we run, we can make it a beautiful worl…

> he used a team of rotating pacemakers

Many of whom might be considered his competitors, too

Re: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

#7
While an amazing achievement, this seems quite artificial. A team of human pacemakers and following a car going at just the right speed.

Non paywalled link with photo of laser-guiding pace-car: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/12/sport/eliud-kipchoge-mara...

I can't find anything about anyone doing it on a treadmill before this, though. Maybe that's harder for some reason?

Eliud Kipchoge's world record is 2:01:39, which was 1:18 better than the record before (just 4 years earlier), so it seems pretty likely that <2 hours will happen in competition too, soon.

Re: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

#8
post #7

While an amazing achievement, this seems quite artificial. A team of human pacemakers and following a car going at just the right speed. Non paywalled link with photo of laser-guiding pace-car: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/12/sport/eliud-kipchoge-mara... I can't find anything about anyone doing it on a treadmill before this, though. Maybe that's harder for some reason? Eliud Kipchoge's world record is 2:01:39, whi…

Would a treadmill be safe at that pace? 13mph is extremely fast especially over a sustained period of time.

Re: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

#9
post #7

While an amazing achievement, this seems quite artificial. A team of human pacemakers and following a car going at just the right speed. Non paywalled link with photo of laser-guiding pace-car: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/12/sport/eliud-kipchoge-mara... I can't find anything about anyone doing it on a treadmill before this, though. Maybe that's harder for some reason? Eliud Kipchoge's world record is 2:01:39, whi…

Would a treadmill be safe at that pace? 13mph is extremely fast especially over a sustained period of time.

I don't know how safe it is, but people have done times in that general speed range, e.g. Eric Blake's 2:21:40: https://www.recordholders.org/en/list/treadmill.html

Re: Eliud Kipchoge Breaks Two-Hour Marathon Barrier

#10
post #5

With sports performance a lot of the barriers are psychological. Even though this wasn't a real sanctioned race, Mr. Kipchoge showed it's possible for the human body so now I expect he or someone else will do it in a race within a few years.

The recent Salazar scandal proves otherwise, i.e. that a lot of today’s athletics-related performances are reached based on same old drug cheating. Too bad, athletics as a competitive sport used to be an event that genuinely filled up big stadiums (like in 1993 in Stuttgart or in 1999 in Sevilla), nowadays we’re left wondering which results will be wiped out in 5 years’ time, while the recent 100-meter World Champs final only attracted 8,000 people in Doha.
Post reply on HN