TrackCoach wrote:The women's world records are not soft, perhaps what they are currently running is, but the records are not
they are
The fact that the top women only routinely run 1:57 in the 800m or 2:20 in the marathon for example is perhaps below where they should be, but the records are in no way soft. In fact, the women's 1500 and marathon records are 2 of the strongest on the books for men or women
the M is strong but the 1500 isn't ( 3k is though )
this is most simple :
in sprints, generally 10.00 = ~ 11.00 & 20.00 = ~ 22.00
that's 10% difference
for longer distances, the 10% shoud reduce slightly as power becomes less of a factor ( as in sprints ) & endurance becomes more prominent, narrowing the gap
i'd guestimate, that from about 800 & up, that gap is somewhere like 9.5 - 9.75% from a few models i've tried
the 1500wr is 3'50, but it was run off a suicidal opening & probably shouda been ~ 3'48 if run anywhere close to sensibly on the circuit ( it was a race not a tt )
3'48 with a 9.5 - 9.75% differential ->
~ 3'27'8 - 3'28.3
in '93, men's wr was 3'28.8, so chinese was better, but morceli claimed it back with his 3'27.3 in '95
you can go apply the 9.5 - 9.75% to the women's 800/3k/5k/10k/M...