broken arrow wrote:
Why is it that Sebastian Coe was able to run 1:41.73 in 1981 (43 years ago!!!!) and Joaquim Cruz run a 1:41.77 in 1984. Since 2019 only one Man has dipped under 1:42, that was Nigel Amos in 2019, he ran a 1:41.89.
Also, since 2019, only one other Man, Donavan Brazier, has dipped under 1:42.5, with his 1:42.34 in 2019.
Why is this event not producing any low 1:42 times at least, or any sub 1:42's?
I know there have only been 15 sub 1:42's and that list is dominated by Rudisha and Kipketer, but still I have no answer?
Last year Wanyonyi ran 1:42.80 and Arop ran a 1:42.85 so that is encouraging.
Does anyone have an opinion on this?
You need special talent/lots of drugs (some might suggest both) to run 1:41. The biggest explanation for the post-Rudisha era to me is that the guys with this high-end level of talent have just had tons of injuries. It's pretty evident that Emmanuel Korir and Donavan Brazier are the two big talents of the late 2010s, but combined they've really put together 2 healthy, full-go seasons (Korir in 2018, Brazier in 2019). Amos was also in the mix, but it now seems drugs plus him being a head-case/undisciplined before then took him down.
Also, the developments in spikes technology do not seem to have much of an impact at sub-52 second pace.