Powell's Record

Powell seems to own the all-time world list. He's now got five of the six fastest times, and it will change to five of five once Gatlin's mark officially gets the boot.

Yet he's obviously not the world's best 100-meter man. He was well beaten in Osaka. How is this possible?

Simple. He has all the official fastest marks, but in reality he does not dominate. Wind speed and altitude play an unappreciated role in sprint times. Just yesterday, T&FN released their all-time wind/altitude adjusted lists. Take a look; Tyson Gay and Maurice Greene split the top five marks.

There's a decent amount of research being done on the effect of wind and altitude. T&FN's adjustments are based on older work by J. Dapena and M. Feltner; I like Jonas Murieka's research not just because it's newer but because it's easy to apply with his online calculator. Both methods show Powell's recent record to be equal to 9.83 in still air at sea level.

I have a Google spreadsheet for Murieka's all-time adjusted list through last year, and another one for this year's marks. Take a careful look at the top of the 2007 list, and compare it to the all-time one.

Asafa Powell did set a record today. His 9.78 in the final adjusts to 9.79, the fastest ever. So there.

Rieti GP Recap

Meet website
Results
IAAF recap
AP wirestory

The big news:

Asafa Powell ran 9.74 for a new 100m World Record...in the heats. More on that in another post yet to come. The rap on Powell recently is he can produce fast times but is a horrible underachiever in championships, and running a WR in qualifying does nothing to change that impression.

Men's 100: In the final, Powell ran 9.78 to leave Michael Frater a full 1/4 second behind.

Men's 400: Tyler Christopher beat a mostly B-group in 44.94.

Men's 800: A pretty deep field, including Yego and Borza, was beaten by Belel Mansoor Ali (1:44.02).

Men's 1500: Like the 400, a B-group was beaten by the only Osaka finalist entered. Here it was Juan Carlos Higuero in 3:34.78.

Men's 3000m: Seven Kenyans, two Spaniards, two Americans, and a Japanese. The Kenyans took spots 1-7 (Thomas Pkemei Longosiwa won in 7:32.79) while the two Americans bombed.

Men's 400H: Marek Plawgo proved his Osaka bronze was no fluke. He defeated silver medalist Sánchez, 49.07-49.12.

Men' Pole Vault: A grand total of five entries. Osaka last-placer Denys Yurchenko gained some measure of redemption with a clear win over Averbukh.

Men's Long Jump: The pre-meet headlines were mostly centered around the absence of Italian worlds hero Andrew Howe. Irving Saladino continued his winning streak, defeating the field by over a foot.

Men's Hammer: This was probably the deepest event on today's program; half of the Osaka finalists inlcuding the gold and bronze medalists were present. Koji Murofushi took the lead by a single centimeter on his final throw and it held up for the win. Video

Women's 100: Worlds semi-finalist Sally McLellan beat a few decent sprinters, such as Stephanie Durst, Debbie Ferguson and Sherone Simpson.

Women's 200: Lauryn Williams beat a halfway-decent field (Durst, Mothersill, Ferguson, Hurtis) in 22.76.

Women's 400: A mostly Jamaica vs Russia race was won by Shericka Williams (over Osaka finalist Antyukh) in 51.01.

Women's 800: Jepkosgei continued her late-season dominance. She ran 1:56.29 to leave second place (Svetlana Usovich) over two seconds behind.

Women's 1500: Olga Yegerova (remember her?) ran 4:03.27 to beat Osaka finalists Viola Kibiwott and Yuliya Fomenko. American Fleshman ran a PR (4:05.62) back in fifth.

Women's 3k: Winner Vivian Cheruyiot ran the world's second-best time (8:30.25). In third and fourth, Kara Goucher and Kim Smith dueled again just like in Osaka; Goucher came out ahead with a new PR (8:34.99). It's an outdoor AR of sorts (the only two who ran faster had their careers end with doping suspensions).

Women's Steeple: Osaka champ Yekaterina Volkova beat a decent field in a relatively easy 9:26.80.

Women's 400H: Anna Jesien (Worlds bronze) won in 54.78. Danvers-Smith, last place in Osaka, pushed Worlds silver-medalist Pechonkina back into third.

Women's Triple Jump: Another deep field event; Worlds finalists present were Yargelis Savigne (gold), Tatyana Lebedeva (silver), Anna Pyatykh (fourth), Magdelin Martínez (sixth), Olha Saladuha (seventh), and Keila Costa (ninth). They finished in that exact same order--what are the odds?

Haile Gebrselassie's Record

By this time I'm sure you're aware of Geb's lastest world record, 21,285 meters in one hour. How does this match up compared to his other accomplishments?

Not particularly well. While it is true that no other human being has gone further in the one-hour run, several others including Geb himself have gone nearly as far in sginificantly less than an hour. If that's a bit confusing, let me explain.

Road racing and track racing have different sets of records. The one-hour run on a track was once a fairly popular event; former record holders include such legends as Paavo Nurmi, Emil Zatopek and Ron Clarke. But by the late 70s it had become an oddity. Long-distance road running had replaced it.

The road event most equivalent to the one-hour run became the half-marathon, a very popular event these days. The world record for the distance is 58:35 by Samuel Wanjiru.

Geb's splits en route to his one-hour track record suggest a half-marathon time of 59:29. His road PR is 58:55. If Wanjiru went on to the 1-hour mark when he set his half-marathon record, he would have had a minute and 25 seconds to stumble another 188 meters--that's slower than 12-minute pace. So while Geb's new mark is an official World Record because no one has ever done it before, it's hardly what you'd call the best-ever performance at round about an hour.

Using conversions to combine lists of marks made at, for example, 1500m and one mile is a widely-accepted practice. This nifty little calculator allows us to put various efforts at distances near 21.1k on more or less equal footing. Here's our WR progression for the half-marathon using this method.

Mark Athlete (Nat) Year (actual time, distance)
1:14:20 John Levett (GBR) 1850 (1:13:40, 13M)
1:11:09 William Howitt (GBR) 1852 (1:10:31, 13M)
1:10:58 John Levett (GBR) 1854 (1:00:00, 18.022k)
1:09:30 Louis Bennett (USA) 1862 (1:00:00, 18.379k)
1:09:19 Louis Bennett (USA) 1863 (1:00:00, 18.425k)
1:08:59 Louis Bennett (USA) 1863 (1:00:00, 18.507k)
1:08:40 Louis Bennett (USA) 1863 (1:00:00, 18.589k)
1:08:03 Fred Bacon (GBR) 1897 (1:00:00, 18.747k)
1:07:33 Harry Watkins (GBR) 1899 (1:00:00, 18.878k)
1:07:00 Jean Bouin (FRA) 1913 (1:00:00, 19.021k)
1:06:18 Paavo Nurmi (FIN) 1928 (1:00:00, 19.210k)
1:05:50 Viljo Heino (FIN) 1945 (1:00:00, 19.339k)
1:04:51 Emil Zatopek (CZE) 1951 (1:01:15, 20k)
1:03:21 Emil Zatopek (CZE) 1951 (1:00:00, 20.052k)
1:02:53 Bill Baillie (NZL) 1963 (1:00:00, 20.190k)
1:02:45 Ron Clarke (AUS) 1965 (1:00:00, 20.232k)
1:01:25 Gaston Roelants (BEL) 1966 (1:00:00, 20.644k)
1:00:58 Gaston Roelants (BEL) 1972 (1:00:00, 20.784k)
1:00:35 Jos Hermans (NED) 1975 (1:00:00, 20.907k)
1:00:28 Jos Hermans (NED) 1976 (1:00:00, 20.944k)
0:59:59 Arturo Barrios (MEX) 1991 (1:00:00, 21.101k)
0:59:56 Shem Kororia (KEN) 1997 (0:59:56, 1/2 Mar)
0:59:17 Paul Tergat (KEN) 1998 (0:59:17, 1/2 Mar)
0:59:16 Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 2005 (0:59:16, 1/2 Mar)
0:59:07 Paul Kosgei (KEN) 2006 (0:59:07, 1/2 Mar)
0:58:55 Haile Gebreselasie (ETH) 2006 (0:58:55, 1/2 Mar)
0:58:53 Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 2007 (0:58:53, 1/2 Mar)
0:58:35 Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 2007 (0:58:35, 1/2 Mar)

Gender Differences, World Records

In the wake of Meseret Defar's new 5k world record, the Finish Line Pundit took a look at gender differences in world records. As with most things, the issue is far more complex than it appears.

First off, we have to define what a world record is. You might think I'm loony for even bringing this up, but keep with me and you'll understand. At the forming of the IAAF in 1912, its most important job was ratifying world records and sorting out what marks were legit and what weren't.

Early on, there are instances where their standards may have been too restrictive. These days, the accusations are that they aren't restrictive enough. For example, the IAAF now keeps records for road racing, but its standards for approval have been heavily criticized for their laxity. Many believe that FloJo's famous 100-meter world record never should have been ratified due to strong doubts about wind conditions. There are many more examples, but the basic point is the IAAF has strong financial incentives to keep the world records coming. So if some official IAAF records should be rejected, which ones and why?

The IAAF itself rewrites the record book when it's obvious that it should be done. For example, the men's javelin record used to be 104.80 meters by Uwe Hohn. This was taken off the books when the javelin specifications were rewritten in the late 80s, because the new javelin couldn't be thrown as far. There were new records because the rules of competition had changed. This has actually occurred in all events, with the results more obvious in some than others.

In the early 90s, the IAAF began year-round random out-of-competition drug testing. At the same time, the east European Communist regimes fell and their state-sponsored doping programs went with them. The combined effect was that if became much more difficult to use anabolic steroids and get away with it. In essence, today's athletes are competing under different rules andthe results show it. In the men's throws and just about all women's events, the ones where steroids have the greatest effect, have had next to no world records set since 1992. The new records are all in events that were still fairly new in the 80s (women's 5k, marathon, 400H, PV, TJ, and the walks) or whose rules were re-written (men's & women's javelin).

Actually, there are a few glaring exceptions: three women's distance records that were all set in an out-of-the-way Chinese domestic competition and with no international observers present. This, combined with the exceptionality of the marks, makes them highly suspicious and are generally treated as such.

There are some other marks the IAAF probably should not have ratified but did. The tracks used for the 1991 World Championships and 1996 Olympic Games were exceptionally hard and (at least according to some) did not meet IAAF specs for "track compliance". The sprint/hurdle marks made on them were very fast.

If we throw all these out (along with marks made by those who have taken a "doping vacation"), here are the new world records that result:

MEN
200 meters: 19.63, Xavier Carter, 2007
Shot Put: 22.54, Christian Cantwell, 2004
Discus Throw: 73.88, Virgilius Alekna, 2000
Hammer Throw: 86.73, Ivan Tsikhan, 2003

WOMEN
100 meters: 10.70, Marion Jones, 1999 (but I feel better about 10.73, Christine Arron, 1998)
200 meters: 21.72, Gwen Torrance, 1992
400 meters: 48.70, Sanya Richards, 2006
800 meters: 1:54.82, Ana Quirot, 1997
1500 meters: 3:55.30, Hassiba Boulmerka, 1992
3000 meters: 8:21.42, Gabriella Szabo, 2002
10,000 meters: 30:01.09, Paula Radcliffe, 2002
100m Hurdles: 12.33, Gail Devers, 2000
High Jump: 2.08, Kajsa Bergqvist, 2006
Long Jump: 7.49, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1994
Shot Put: 21.22, Astrid Kumbernuss, 1995
Discus Throw: 71.68, Yanling Xiao, 1992
Heptathlon: 7044, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, 1992

It would make sense to compare the above marks with that of the opposite gender, because they were set under similar conditions. Anything else is ignoring the painful but obvious truth.

State record, maybe national record?

At yesterday's Eastwood Relays in rural Pemberville OH, a new state record was set. It might be a national record, but I don't know if anyone keeps track of these things. I'm having login problems at the T&FN message boards, so I'm having a hard time asking for help.

Around here it's fairly common to do two- or three-athlete team totals in field event competition. Tiny Woodmore High School (enrollment approx. 390) set a new state record in the three-girl discus throw "relay": 408 feet, 8 inches. This is a huge improvement and significant on a national level.

How did this tiny school do it? Well, their best thrower is Emily Pendleton. As a 17-year-old, she was last year's USA Junior champion and beat a significant number of college freshmen to do it. She even has a profile at the IAAF website. Her sister Erin was fourth at the Ohio Division III championships last year. Their father coaches the throwers at Woodmore, and even poured his own concrete circle in their backyard.

If anyone can confirm or deny the existence of national records in team field even competition, please let us know.

The Onion

Justin Gatlin: 'Under The Right Conditions, I Can Run The 100 In 3.2 seconds'

Conditions include an aiding wind equal to a Cat 4 hurricane and dropping off a cliff.