The 1500m AND Mile should be replaced by the 2000m. Breaking 5 minutes for the 2km is harder (obviously) than breaking 4 minutes for the mile. There is no controversy of 1500 vs 1600m vs mile. So 5 minutes becomes the new standard. It is 5 laps of 60 seconds, not 4. The world record is held by the same guy who has the mile and 1500m records anyway.
Sure, but the 4 minute mile would once again be deemed humanly impossible, which has to do something for fan engagement right?
idk prolly not bc a 5 minute mile would be just as impressive as a 4 minute mile now and a 4 minute mile would be just as impossible as a 3 minute mile is right now
As a middle distance runner the 1500 was the event I was always least passionate about. If you run a fast 800, 5k, or 10k, everyone is impressed by the time itself. No one compares it to another event. If you throw a shot put far or jump a long distance in long jump everyone is simply impressed by the performance. The 1500 is the only event in track where everyone says “wow that’s like a 3:5X mile” Everyone including announcers in the Olympics just convert the 1500 to a mile time. I was never able to run my mile equivalent in the 1500 and I honestly never cared since everyone just converts 1500 times to mile times anyway.
There is the International System of Units. Established long ago. There are no miles, yards, feet there. If folks in the UK and US prefer to use some middle age units in their countries, it is up to them. But the French do not use lieu (lieue), by the way.
T&F just needs to get rid of the 1500. We already have an objectively better distance in the mile. The 1500 is 3.75 laps. That makes no sense for a spectator. The splits are so weird because they go through 300 and that's the start of the lap, but also there's 100m to go before they've run a lap. If they go through 700m in 1:47 I have no clue what they're on pace for, and neither does anyone in the crowd, nor does anyone watching on TV, nor does anyone on a livestream. Heck, I've heard announcers say what mile pace they're running way more often than I've heard them say what 1500 pace they're on.
Then go over to the king of the distance events: The Mile. Everyone everywhere knows a 4:00 mile is fast, and the mental math is so easy. They went through 1 lap in 1 minute? They're on 4 minute pace. 2 laps in 2 minutes? 4 minute pace. Plus if someone runs sub 3:50 in the mile, you know they're world class. With just those 2 numbers you can tell how good someone is. They have to run that extra 9 meters, but no spectator is even gonna notice that. It's got way more history behind it than the 1500, they're already run all over the world, and it's easier to follow for both spectators and athletes.
All in all, if you want to eliminate any race besides the 1500m, you're probably racist.
Tell us you're an American without telling us you're an American.
I love the 1500m, that 100m less makes the first lap go by so much quicker and helps mentally. Also starting on a straight is a much better option for big fields.
T&F just needs to get rid of the 1500. We already have an objectively better distance in the mile. The 1500 is 3.75 laps. That makes no sense for a spectator. The splits are so weird because they go through 300 and that's the start of the lap, but also there's 100m to go before they've run a lap. If they go through 700m in 1:47 I have no clue what they're on pace for, and neither does anyone in the crowd, nor does anyone watching on TV, nor does anyone on a livestream. Heck, I've heard announcers say what mile pace they're running way more often than I've heard them say what 1500 pace they're on.
Then go over to the king of the distance events: The Mile. Everyone everywhere knows a 4:00 mile is fast, and the mental math is so easy. They went through 1 lap in 1 minute? They're on 4 minute pace. 2 laps in 2 minutes? 4 minute pace. Plus if someone runs sub 3:50 in the mile, you know they're world class. With just those 2 numbers you can tell how good someone is. They have to run that extra 9 meters, but no spectator is even gonna notice that. It's got way more history behind it than the 1500, they're already run all over the world, and it's easier to follow for both spectators and athletes.
All in all, if you want to eliminate any race besides the 1500m, you're probably racist.
Tell us you're an American without telling us you're an American.
Tell us you're an American without telling us you're an American.
we aussies saw the light long ago and converted.
sorry, was responding to There is the International System of Units. Established long ago. There are no miles, yards, feet there. If folks in the UK and US prefer to use some middle age units in their countries, it is up to them. But the French do not use lieu (lieue), by the way.
Sub 4 was fast in the 1950s. Now it's literally a JV time. Can we stop pretending sub 4 is something special to make slow white American guys feel good?
It would actually make more sense to have 500 meter tracks since most of the world is metric. Races should be 100 m, 200 or 250 m, 500 m, and 1,000 m instead of 100, 200, 400, and 800. We live in this weird spot where you use metric distances that are somewhat anchored to imperial distances.
This weird spot is exactly what it is for historical reasons. There might have been a time up to the 1930s when a 500/1000m etc. system might have been possible because there were 500m tracks in continental Europe but in the end a rounding of the imperial distances prevailed up to 800, then the metric took over. With the mile and eventually marathon being important exceptions. That half marathon replaced 25 km for road running in the last ~30 years shows that odd distances can be more popular for strange historical or whatever reasons.
It's moot and wasted energy to change a system that has been in place for olympics etc. since 100 years. There is a big practical advantage of the 1500 vs. mile, namely that as the fastest race (except for the rare 1000m) not started in lanes there is a straight for the runners to get sorted out, thus reducing pushing, shoving, stumbling compared to the mile race.
T&F just needs to get rid of the 1500. We already have an objectively better distance in the mile. The 1500 is 3.75 laps. That makes no sense for a spectator. The splits are so weird because they go through 300 and that's the start of the lap, but also there's 100m to go before they've run a lap. If they go through 700m in 1:47 I have no clue what they're on pace for, and neither does anyone in the crowd, nor does anyone watching on TV, nor does anyone on a livestream. Heck, I've heard announcers say what mile pace they're running way more often than I've heard them say what 1500 pace they're on.
Then go over to the king of the distance events: The Mile. Everyone everywhere knows a 4:00 mile is fast, and the mental math is so easy. They went through 1 lap in 1 minute? They're on 4 minute pace. 2 laps in 2 minutes? 4 minute pace. Plus if someone runs sub 3:50 in the mile, you know they're world class. With just those 2 numbers you can tell how good someone is. They have to run that extra 9 meters, but no spectator is even gonna notice that. It's got way more history behind it than the 1500, they're already run all over the world, and it's easier to follow for both spectators and athletes.
All in all, if you want to eliminate any race besides the 1500m, you're probably racist.
It would be a heck of a lot more confusing for people and impractical for athletes to change all the current track distances to even multiples of laps. Are you really going to tell all athletes to start training for a different distance just so it makes it more easy math wise for a spectator? Also if you've ever been to a live major athletics meet they typically have up a big screen where they are showing you the lap times. For example, with the 1500m they display the lap time each time the athletes pass the original start line mark on the track so you can easily keep track of what type of finishing time they are on course for.
This post was edited 1 minute after it was posted.
Nothing is going to change - 1500 will remain the prestige distance and the mile will remain irrelevant outside the burgerland. This thread is completely pointless.
No one outside of the US or the UK gives a sh*t about the mile.
The 1500m is a much better distance. It is 1.5 kilometres, which is far easier to convert to min/km pace.
If you run a 4:00 1500m, that's 2:40/km pace, which is 13:20 pace for 5000m or 26:40 pace for 10,000m. See how you don't end up with all those annoying decimals because of the weird quirks in your measuring system?
The rest of the world uses the metric because it follows a far more logical structure.