Splits are irrelevant. I don't know why people throw them out. Felix also had a 47s 400M split, but could only manage a 49 low 400M block start once. Within the past 12 months, Sydney has PBd in the 200/400. Proving that she is faster . Empirical evidence always transcends conjecture and suppositions.
Once Sydney is back to hurdling proficiently, I expect that she will lower her WR again because she has developed faster foot speed. The skill is now to control that speed and return to hurdling efficiency. I would love to see her lower her WR by running at least 49.87.
I don't think it's that splits are irrelevant, it's that the conditions someone runs their best split are usually not replicated in a race. Both due to the fact that there's no chasing like that to be done, and the fact that even if someone jumped out on her at the beginning, if it was an open race she'd still stick to her race plan and see what she has left at the end. It's this judging of the race plan that widens the gap between most athlete's split PR and their actual PR. In a relay the adrenaline takes over. If you take athletes that run balls to the wall like Naser (irrespective of drugs), her open times are even better than her splits.
Splits are irrelevant from the perspective they are no indication of fast an athlete is. Take the 4x1 splits as an example: Which female athlete can a sub 10.6? Yet there are female athletes who have sub 10 splits in the 4x1.
Similarly, in the 4x4, there are many female athletes who have sub 49 split yet cannot and have never run a sub 51 block start 400M.
No, that's not it. The difference was that in 2022 she was pushing hard and yesterday she was taking it easy. She could have run faster than 52.70 if she was going all out.
Sir, this is the LRC forums. Please adhere to our grammar standards by using one of the following:
I agree a sub-50 is unlikely, but I think it’s plausible she can go under 50.5 considering her age. When she ran 50.68, she was only 22, a couple weeks shy of turning 23. She turns 25 this summer, so I can see her lowering her WR this year or next.
For reference, here are the ages when the rest of the top 10 women all time (after Sydney and Femke) ran their personal bests: