Too many World Records being set —- not happy

1) Yes, it is true that better equipment (and perhaps, better drugs) are helping today's athletes achieve faster times, greater heights, etc.

2) This leads to debates as to who is a better runner between today's athlete who beat the time of an athlete from days past or the athlete from long ago who performed without the new technology.

3) Technological improvement is inevitable.

That's just the way it is. No amount of whining or demanding bans on certain technologies is going to change this.

Pacing should be eliminated, pacing lights should be eliminated. (.)

Seb Coe and Nike have the greatest benefit. T&F is a low cost marketing for Nike. They get to spend less to shine swoosh logo the better. And all shoes companies benefit from selling high-margin carbon shoes so they can run that 5 min PR. And of course all T&F governing bodies and officers will benefit financially. It's basically a business decision. They have compete with other major sports for attention.

That’s because will always be better 10, 20, or 30 years ago. Depending on who you ask.

In 10 years you’ll see people complaining about “kids these days, we were tougher 10 years ago”.

Cue up Don McLean... American Pie .. 1971 [the loss of innocence]

Of the lesser of two evils, it's easier to blame the shoes than "you-know-what", because to acknowledge it's mostly the latter strips the facade away and shows the "sport" for what it is.

So athletes before a couple of years ago weren't wearing shoes that enhanced performance? Give me a break. The recent smashing of records is to do with a far more powerful performance booster than anything you put on your feet.

So is everyone that’s running faster than you did a better runner?

Sorry - it's doping that can't be detected.

No, it isn't. The science of doping today far exceeds the 90's - as it does in everything else. Huge amounts of money go into it - and the demand for it fuels it. It is way ahead of antidoping.

It’s mechanical doping. Those shoes are worth one second per lap. Even as the naysayers are in denial (those who aren’t disingenuous truly accept what is happening). But, the genie is out of the bottle, and we are now in the new era of T&F. Nothing should be compared to old records but to contemporary records.

Tracks and pace lighting help too. Add it to the recovery and speed the spikes let one race in, and, abracadabra a 7:33 magically becomes a 7:25. A 3:47 becomes a 3:43. This is the reality.

They are absolutely not worth one second per lap. not for elite runners anyway.

And the womens records were still very soft up until this year. They are closing the gap, but the 5000 should still come down several seconds.

The women haven't had near the depth of the men, though it has gotten much stronger over the last few years, peaking right now with 4 all-time great runners (Tsegay, Hassan, Gidey, and Kipyegon) Iron sharpens iron.

i am old enough i ran -- and even smacked a last hurdle and slid painfully on -- a cinder track for a junior high meet. or trained on dirt, dear god. it is not "mechanical doping" to have better equipment. comparing it generally to doping is gross.

you want to complain, find an actual spring in the shoes. that is akin to doping. to me this other complaint, as i said, a fast 100m in turn of century shoes was over 11.

If you genuinely consider the recovery the shoes allow so more work can be done AND the fact that allow for faster running, combined with pace lighting (and harder surfaces) they are worth one second per lap. For just racing, I believe one Nick Willis said they were worth 0.6 sec per lap. He would know.

Mechanical doping is, perhaps, the wrong, “provocative” phrase and offensive. But as someone who also ran in inferior shoes on inferior tracks back in the day, and who has really good prep kids who improved starkly with the new spikes, I can legitimately and authentically admit they are a game changer. I don’t know why this is hard for people to accept. I have. Sub-3:45 and sub-7:30 are the new normal. And it’s ok.

Of course. Why is the obvious so hard to accept?

Don't forget Chebet!