Coe excited by Kipchoge marathon attempt
LONDON:
The head of world athletics Sebastian Coe wants to end his federation’s ‘computer says no’ approach which would mean that if Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge runs a sub-two hour marathon next month it would not be ratified as a world record.
What could be one of the most extraordinary feats of human endurance will be written off as a footnote with an asterisk by the sport’s governing body because of arcane regulations that nobody seems close to being able to explain or justify.
The 34-year-old Kipchoge will not be racing in the upcoming world championships but his latest attempt at breaking the twohour barrier in October is likely to attract more worldwide attention than anything that happens in Doha next week.
He missed it by 26 seconds two years ago and is having another attempt in a Vienna park via the “1.59” project.
Kipchoge holds the official world 26.2 mile record of two hours, 1.39 minutes set in the Berlin Marathon last year.
But his 2:00.25 Monza time in 2017 is not recognised as it was achieved using “in and out pacemakers“, was not an official race and he was given mid-race drinks from a moving motorbike rather than having to collect them from a roadside table.
“If there’s an exciting attempt for getting under two hours for the marathon I’m not sure that most people are going to be sitting there going, ‘Well, it wasn’t sanctioned as a world record because it wasn’t in open competition,’, Coe told Reuters in an interview.
“I just don’t think it matters. It’s just a big milestone being met and our sport has space for all sorts of things and I think it will appeal and add value.”
Roger Bannister’s first sub-four minute mile in 1954 was achieved with the aid of pacemakers, while just about every middle and longdistance race on the elite Diamond League circuit uses them — and they do not complete the race.
Decades ago it was a disqualification offence if a runner took a drink within the first 10 miles of a marathon and Briton Coe, who set three middle-distance track world records in 41 days in 1979, recognises the anomalies.
“It may be in years to come that we review those regulations,” he said. “We have to be a broad church here and that’s why I’ve encouraged federations and individuals to be brave and encouraged our commercial partners to activate in smart ways around the sport. I don’t want us to be the ‘computer says no’ federation.”