Column | Doubts accompany new records

I am still in shock after my live broadcast on Eurosport a few days ago. It was more than just a surprise or a sensation. The two hours, nine minutes and 56 seconds that Ruth Chepngetich from Kenya needed in Chicago to run the 42 kilometers and 195 meters, the official marathon distance, were like a laser beam from a distant galaxy. One with a fatal, somehow destructive effect. Nothing is as it once was in the already complicated world of elite sport, and certainly not in the marathon. Boundaries have been pushed into a new era. 02:09:56 hours. This was the first time a woman ran under 02:10 hours.

I'm writing it again like this and staring at this game of numbers from another world. She won, of course. But be careful: it's 11th place in the overall ranking. Only ten men were faster than the 30-year-old African woman that day. She ran the first five kilometers in exactly 15 minutes. The projections were breathtaking. If she had been able to keep up that pace, it would have been 02:06:00 hours. Then, I guarantee, I wouldn't have been able to think of anything else to say.

Ruth Chepngetich at her finish line in Chicago. © APA / MICHAEL REAVES

The eventual winner in the men's race, John Korir (Kenya), ran the first five kilometers in his group in 14:43 minutes. Ruth Chepngetich could almost have kept up. Unbelievable. In the end, she ran the 421m 100 times in 18.485 seconds. Running that once is OK. Twice in a row is a challenge if you're not well trained. Then it's time to call it a day. Then she would only have to run the 419m 100 times in a row in the 18-second range mentioned above to finish with the Kenyan. As I said, only ten men managed that in a world-class field. Yes, it's unbelievable, especially as the new world record is almost two minutes under the old mark set by Tigist Assefa from Ethiopia. And the 02:11:57 from Berlin last year was already described as a fabulous world record. Never, not even with the greatest optimism in the performance of women, did such a development seem to be predictable. Granted, Ruth Chepngetich had already won twice in Chicago. However, she had been 13 minutes slower three years ago and in 2022 she was five minutes short of her current incredible record.

She knew the course, which is considered the fastest marathon course in the world. An advantage. The current men's world record, set by Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car accident this spring, was achieved on Lake Michigan in 2023 with 02:00:13 hours. Experience speaks in favor of Chepngetich, who admittedly finished in 21th place at the London Marathon on April 9 of this year with a time of 02:24:26 hours. An exclamation mark is not enough. Almost half an hour slower than now in Chicago. What, one wonders, happened in between?

Shoes like springboks Then of course there are the shoe designs that are actually no longer so new, which have opened up a new world with their carbon inserts embedded in foam. They act like little springs, like a light trampoline effect. The entire running style has changed as a result. Times are exploding, even in stadiums and on shorter distances. The new material is also supposed to ensure less fatigue and thus enable higher training intensities. The possible risks and new susceptibility to injury in the area of the Achilles tendon, for example, and the greater strain on the midfoot are a topic in themselves. A top athlete will only see the advantages of a possible better performance. Nothing else for now. And these are there.

You see: It is an almost desperate search for tangible parameters for an almost unbelievable performance. And once again the specter of doping appears. Not unexpected, especially in this case, even if it may not currently affect Ruth Chepngetich personally. But it is not without reason that Kenya has been under observation by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for years. Before the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, there was even a threat of exclusion, which could only be prevented by the establishment of a National Doping Agency. Between 2020 and 2023, 35 long-distance runners from Kenya were convicted of doping. And now, after extensive budget cuts in Kenya, the funding for testing has also been cut, so that Kenya must fear a worldwide ban. Daniel Makdwallo, the CEO of the National Doping Agency of Kenya (ADAK), spoke plainly on this. He said bluntly that they are not in a position to meet their existing obligations. "This means we risk not being able to comply with the anti-doping code." Doubts therefore surround the outstanding result in Chicago, as doubts often accompany results and performances that seem to be reaching new dimensions in many sports and that somehow ultimately leave us at a loss. And there is no end in sight to the hunt for new records.

About the author: Sigi Heinrich The award-winning sports journalist (including winner of the German Television Prize, the Bavarian Sports Prize and nominated for the prestigious Grimme Prize), author, long-time sports editor of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and commentator on many sports since the founding of Eurosport in 1989, devotes his column to the entire diversity of sport. He also likes to explore new territory. Sometimes with a wink, sometimes thoughtfully or deliberately provocatively. There should be something for everyone.

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Column | Doubts accompany new records

The incredible new world record for women in the marathon (02:09:56 hours), recently set in Chicago, also leaves our columnist Sigi Heinrich, who commented on this race for Eurosport, in a difficult position to explain. He sets out to find parameters that could have made this time possible.

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