NY Times: Scientists publish study saying they think Faith Kipyegon could feasible go sub-4 in the mile

If Kipyegon ran a sub 4 mile, I would immediately stop following the sport. It’s difficult enough to accept the farce of a woman running a 2:09 marathon. A sub 4 mile would be a bridge too far.

That's a good point. Mu was 100% the talent to push the sport forward and it's a shame she doesn't really want to.

I bet it takes a lot longer than the men. Faith Kipyegon is an unbelievably dominant athlete at the 1500m and mile distances. When the men’s record was in the 4:00s there wasn’t anyone that far ahead of everyone else.

El Gerrouj’s 3:43.13 has stood for 25 plus years. I bet Kipyegon holds the record at least that long (whether with her 4:07.64 or she lowers it to 4:06).

There is legitimately 0% chance that adding another pacer (Or multiple) for an extra 800m is dropping 7 seconds off your mile time. Have people lost their mind

Yes I knew exactly what it was proposing which is why I brought up breaking 2. It could get her 3 seconds max in my eyes. 4:05 was some arbitrary barrier like sub-4 then yes this sort of endeavor could work. 7 seconds is too much.

Exactly. It's clear in the article that they're contemplating a "what can someone do in absolutely perfect artificial conditions" ala Kipchoge's sub-2. I think it would be awesome to get something like that set up for a woman to try and show that sub-4 is possible. I'd watch it. And whereas Kipchoge had to wait a year or two after his near miss to try again, a shorter race like the mile they could make little tweaks to the procedure and try it again and again, maybe a few times a year until Faith, or another athlete, pulled it off.

It’s beyond obvious!! Yet for some reason she’s protected and everyone thinks she’s clean. Either they’re all naive or feel some bizarre need to put her on a non existent superhero pedestal as a female world champion.

How would Mu push the sport forward? If any another runner were to see Mu run 1:51, and think she could do the same thing, is headed for a major disappointment.

No the mile record is weak but going off the 3:49 1500m is is still 6/7 seconds off

Everyone thinks she’s clean? Come on. Well over 50% of LRC posters believe she is a doper.

Yeah I changed my post after thinking more about the "perfect scenario" narrative they are trying to push.

Still believe that 3.3% over a distance as short as the mile seems really on the borderline of plausibility and honestly, still beyond it.

Is there reason to believe Kipyegon’s is extremely soft? A 3.3% improvement in the men’s record would be 3:36 so it would be well past the border of plausibility and well into the area of impossible

I can see 4:04 flat at best with an INEOS type setup and perfect pacing + conditions, but from there trying to chop off another full second per lap isn't happening without more drastic tech advances.

I've seen people on these threads defend her plenty of times. And many comments that insinuate she is a doper have a ridiculous amount of downvotes. And one person stated and I agree, "she will never be caught because of what she's done for the sport"

This is literally not how psychology works. There are thousands of examples in this sport of one person breaking a barrier (in this case, Kratochvilova's record) that stood for years if not decades, and immediately others following and even improving on the time. The longer the barrier has stood, the more powerful the effect.

It's fine to think she's a doper, but her performance level is not that crazy if you take doping out of it.

She has a 1.8s gap on Jessica Hull, who I don't think most people consider an all-timer in terms of talent. Jakob for comparison has bigger/similar time gaps on guys like Mario Garcia Romo, Habz, Ollie Hoare etc. Then when it comes to the 5,000 she is good no doubt about it but worse relative to the field than let's say Jakob is on the men's side.

She's just utterly dominant in 1500m championships because her speed is as good as everyone else's.

OH Puh-leeze!

Kipyegon - current world record holder for the 1,500 metres and mile, and the former world record holder for the 5,000 metres.

The only three-time Olympic champion in the 1500 metres race, having won a gold medal each at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Won a gold medal in the 1,500 m at the 2017, 2022 and 2023 World Athletics Championships and in the 5,000 m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Kipyegon became the first athlete ever to win three consecutive gold medals in the 1500m women's race, where she also set a new Olympic record. Kipyegon had earlier on in the 2024 Paris Olympics also earned a silver medal in the women's 5000m race, an event marked by controversy

Nothing to see here! LoL

I explained why she's so good in championship racing. She has world records, but they frankly aren't that outrageously faster than the likes of Jessica Hull. At the 5,000 her former World Record is not close to the ceiling of what Chebet can now run. If 3,000 was the championship distance, Jakob would be just as dominant and have a comparable/bigger % gap to the field in terms of personal best. That's the truth.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4997537