IMO there shouldn't be world records for ages 9, 10 and 11. It's too young.
I think having them for 12 and 13 year olds is semi OK, but anything below 12 is just so young to have that kind of pressure. At least 12 is high school age. An 11 year old could be in primary school (in their last year, but still).
I remember when I went to the English Schools' and we were sharing four a room. One of the girls I shared with was in the junior race (our of junior, inter, senior). It wasn't junior as in under-20, junior was school years 8 and 9 if I remember rightly. She was 13. Anyway, she stood up all night staring out of the window, was crying in the night, she was predicted to finish in the top 3 and get selected for England (top 10 got selected). It was televised (on Sky) I think as well. It wasn't a local race, it was a championship and all of this added up to a lot of pressure. On the bus she seemed fine. From the outside you'd have thought she was fine, enjoying it, if not a bit of a quiet girl. But that weekend I saw the reality of what was going on and it was only bc I was randomly assigned to roomshare with her and her sister as well and saw what was going on away from other people, she obviously couldn't hide it all of the time. Her sister was used to it, it seemed, didn't really say much. But it was obvious how desperately unhappy she was.
She dropped out of the sport at 14.
One of the most talented runners I know, but I feel had she been kept away from that kind of competition until she was a bit older and more mature it would've been a different story. I know she loved running and she enjoyed local races. It was just all of that was too much pressure for her. So, when I hear of 9 or 11 year olds running major national championships or breaking world records it just reminds me of that a bit. I hope this Aussie girl is healthy and enjoying it, that's all.
I agree, I'd even move it to 13 or 14. But otoh there are lots of sports where children have to train professionally, such as gymnastics, figure skating, probably swimming to have a chance at later professional success. So I doubt that such (inofficial) world bests will disappear in athletics.
she's not a triathlete, very competitive at the aquathlon at national level last year, champs again in a month, we'll see
still should progress as a runner though, sisters and mother were very good but got injured... gene pool gets better and better! has younger brother who is also setting local records but not quite at sophie's scale
Looks like little brother set the 9 year old 1000m world record a couple days ago (3:03, old record 3:04) and she set the 11 year old world record at the same distance (2:52, old record 2:38).
Anyone know the story on this race? Incredibly uncommon distance outdoors, which makes me wonder if the family setup this race to chase the record Skandera-style and gives me more pause about how healthy the situation is for them.
1000m is a very common distance for youth classes in Europe (don't know about Australia), probably was even more common in earlier times. When I ran track in the mid-80s Germany it was 1000m for boys up to 14-15, 800m for girls. Only from ca. 16 the "adult distances" were run. (They changed this now to 800m also for younger boys.)
But AFAIK 1000m for both boys and girls is still very common in France, Switzerland, probably Spain as well.
she's not a triathlete, very competitive at the aquathlon at national level last year, champs again in a month, we'll see
still should progress as a runner though, sisters and mother were very good but got injured... gene pool gets better and better! has younger brother who is also setting local records but not quite at sophie's scale
Training in the gene pool great for both triathlon and aquathlon.
Watch out for the age cheats at U10 national meet.
Your math is not mathing. 1500m to 1600m conversion you are adding 23 seconds for 100m.... 3k to 3200m conversion you are adding 42 seconds for 200m....
I can’t think of one girl who ran great times before high school and didn’t burn out.
Think harder.
Katelyn Touhy.
Mary Decker.
Raevyn Rogers.
Jordan Hasay.
There's 4 right there.
It's just math. These young phenoms achieve this type of success because a) genetics and b) they put in a ton of work that other kids their age are not doing. Over time, some burn out, some have genetics that were simply skewed towards early development, and some are just passed off by people who have bigger innate talent but weren't running 40 miles a week when they were 11 years old (or weren't running in organized track meets at all).
Touhy was not breaking world records at age 11. Grace Ping was, and who turned out to be better? Rogers is a 400/800 runner with incredible underlying speed so doesn't fit the classic over-trained middle school distance runner mold. Most people would have thought that Hasay could at least make one Olympic team given her junior level success. So yes not all of them burned out, but not certain they are the best examples for this case.
It's just math. These young phenoms achieve this type of success because a) genetics and b) they put in a ton of work that other kids their age are not doing. Over time, some burn out, some have genetics that were simply skewed towards early development, and some are just passed off by people who have bigger innate talent but weren't running 40 miles a week when they were 11 years old (or weren't running in organized track meets at all).
Touhy was not breaking world records at age 11. Grace Ping was, and who turned out to be better? Rogers is a 400/800 runner with incredible underlying speed so doesn't fit the classic over-trained middle school distance runner mold. Most people would have thought that Hasay could at least make one Olympic team given her junior level success. So yes not all of them burned out, but not certain they are the best examples for this case.
I agree I just think the originally quoted poster was overstating it. It’s not pre-HS success by girls that doesn’t predict well. It’s pre-pubescent success. Longer ETM, I’d rather my daughter be a healthy, normally developing, and pretty good 11 year old than a world record holder at that age. There are plenty of high profile examples of boys at that age having long term success (Jakob, Garcia Romo, etc) but on the girls side it seems that world beating at 11 is negatively associated with long term success.
Rogers was probably two years ahead in puberty compared to average and thus so good at 12-13 in the 400m. Variance in onset of puberty and its stages are another reason why one should not overestimate marks of young teenagers.
AMAZING times for an 11-year old girl!!! Does anyone know when she will turn 12? She looks much older than 11. Young youth runners who run incredible times like this are usually: (1) Much more physically mature than others their age and go through puberty much sooner; & (2) Are training MUCH MORE than others their age. Hopefully she isn't training too much and continues to improve steadily over the years. If so, she will be fun to watch.
It's just math. These young phenoms achieve this type of success because a) genetics and b) they put in a ton of work that other kids their age are not doing. Over time, some burn out, some have genetics that were simply skewed towards early development, and some are just passed off by people who have bigger innate talent but weren't running 40 miles a week when they were 11 years old (or weren't running in organized track meets at all).
Touhy was not breaking world records at age 11. Grace Ping was, and who turned out to be better? Rogers is a 400/800 runner with incredible underlying speed so doesn't fit the classic over-trained middle school distance runner mold. Most people would have thought that Hasay could at least make one Olympic team given her junior level success. So yes not all of them burned out, but not certain they are the best examples for this case.
I agree I just think the originally quoted poster was overstating it. It’s not pre-HS success by girls that doesn’t predict well. It’s pre-pubescent success. Longer ETM, I’d rather my daughter be a healthy, normally developing, and pretty good 11 year old than a world record holder at that age. There are plenty of high profile examples of boys at that age having long term success (Jakob, Garcia Romo, etc) but on the girls side it seems that world beating at 11 is negatively associated with long term success.
She wasn't world-beating at a young age, but Jakob's little sis Ingrid seems to have departed from her desire to be a pro runner. This is probably more tied to Gjert's "retirement" than anything.
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