Summers dad and mom were good college runners.
Mary Ruth Joyner did not become a track star despite both of her parents winning Olympic Gold medals.
Tim Montgomery Jr is 19. Don’t know if he runs but his father had the 100m World Record and his mother is Marion Jones.
Two current WR holders just off the top of head have elite pedigree.
Wayde van Niekerk, mum sprinter Odessa Swarts and dad Wayne van Niekerk, competitive high jumper
David Rudisha, dad Olympian silver medallist in 4 x400m Daniel Rudisha
It helps but you can still be fast without parents ever being runners.
Based on Sean Brosnan’s podcasts, Nico Young’s parents knew nothing about running before he started it
It’s because all the athletic kids that played basketball and football in the 80s 90s were driven out of those sports
YES! wrote:
I am currently in the middle of doing a statistical study about running times on all levels over the past 10 years, and have found that the amount of confounding variables surrounding the faster youth is astounding. We could chalk it up to the shoe technology, but the reality is that it's only one facet of many surrounding the explosion of talent over these past few years.
I would wager it's likely this factor along with
1) Increase in shoe technology on a national level.
2) The pandemic allowed for the sport to gain more participants/popularity
3) Which, in turn, allowed for those in the sport, to specialize more and train on a more dedicated level at a younger age.
I'm sure there are more, but that likely is the largest three, along with increases in technology/training/and knowledge availability with the exponential growth of the internet and more advanced development of training.
Don't forget faster tracks.
Angelina Topic's father was a HJer that competed in five Olympic Games and her mother competed in two OGs as a triple jumper. She was born with springs for legs.
You need the female to be talented to get the mitochondrial DNA from her to pass onto the children.
Peach Pit wrote:
Interesting theory. I saw some ted talk where a guy was saying the improvements we've made in athletics lately comes down to technology/training improvements, not humans just getting better. That makes sense because evolution is slow. Still, it makes logical sense that 2 good runners having a kid would have better running genetics than 0-1 good runners having a kid.
Even if the genetics didn't play a huge role, I'd have to imagine that the environmental factors that come from having 2 running parents would be huge. 2 runners are just gonna raise a much healthier kid than 2 average people. Someone who's been going on jogs with their parents since they were a kid is gonna have a huge head start on the average kid today. Rheinhardt Harrison holds the half marathon WR for 10 year olds or something, the Youngs were running youth track before middle school, and of course Jakob is practically a science experiment on training someone to run from day 1. As good as genetics can make you, they need an environment to express themselves in. If your environment from age 5 is pushing you to be a good runner, you'll adapt to it.
As far as performance within HS, waiting until one’s freshman year is just as good as starting at age 5. Waiting is actually better as there will be far less chance of injuries.
Maybe Ingebrigtsen’s science experiment is why he’s now suffering from reoccurring Achilles tendon injuries.
Greyhounds were genetically bred.
We should therefore call OP’s hypothesis, the Greyhound Hypothesis.
So Ritz daughter should marry Rocco Culpepper
Babagh wrote:
So Ritz daughter should marry Rocco Culpepper
Woah, I didn’t know that anyone would bring that up
Your idea makes partial sense — if two fast athletes are more likely to have children, it can slightly enhance genetic abilities. But that's not the main reason why today's runners are faster. Better training, a scientific approach, new technologies (like shoes), nutrition and recovery have a greater impact, as well as the fact that more people around the world are training at a high level and competition has become much higher
My wife and I were Div 1 athletes and our son won multiple national medals in triathlon including a national championship when he was 16.
Yes everyone has heard about Sam Ruthe and his families sporting history but you also get those kids that neither parent were athletic and they just have gifts. I can't explain how I coach a 16 year old who has run 8:00.24 for 3k and 3:45 for 1500. Or that I picked a kid out of class and encouraged him to give cycling a go would go on to win the Green Jersey at the Tour de France in 2017 and neither parent was sporty at all.
That is what makes the sporting world so exciting. You just never know!
Or Ritz' daughter could marry Colt Goucher.
John Regis + Jennifer Stoute = Renée Regis
Roger Black + Elsa Devassoigne = Isabelle Black
Cameron Sharp + Carol Lightfoot = Lynsey Sharp
Peter McColgan + Liz Lynch = Eilish McColgan