Bingo. In fact, National Geographic fed me an article that is titled “Faith Kipyegon almost breaks 4 minutes in the mile”. people who don’t know any better, will believe this.
Crazy, 3:01 at 1200 and 4:06 is at least in range. When mile record for women was still 4:20, it seemed impossible.
I've never seen so much whitewashing. This event was clearly a huge failure - no offense to poor Faith Kipyegon, but the idea was that she was supposed to break 4 minutes for the mile, and she didn't come close, despite all the rules that were broken and the event being tweaked to try to move every factor in her favor.
Which is fine - sometimes things don't work out - but don't come back with all this "but it was still amazing!!! Courage!!! Womanpower!! Nike genius marketing!! Got the average Joe talking about track and field!!!" So many of you, after the fact, are acting like it was never really about breaking 4 - it was about daring to dream, and proving that Nike's marketing team is chock full of geniuses, and getting people interested in track and field as if it might become a major sport someday.
No. It wasn't a success, either on its own terms, or at changing public perceptions. A 4:01 might have been a borderline success. 4:06, no way. Intrinsically, it wasn't as good a performance as her world record, or many of her other races - so don't give me the line about "it was a truly amazing run, record or no record"
Actually, it was. But not for the final mile time.
The 3:01.8 1200 is clearly a world best and is likely miles better than any other woman has ever achieved. Im surprised theres been so little focus on this accomplishment from self-styled "experts" on LR.
I agree that - as many of us believed - 4-flat is a bridge too far and the focus on an unrealistic woke-augmented moonshot concept undermined what she did in fact accomplish.
Unfortunately the comparisons to Kipchoge and sub-2 dont work in FKs favor. After Monza in 2017 it was clear that EK had a real chance and that marginal technical/engineering boosts could push him over the top. So it proved. But that 2:00:25 was a watershed. If he had gone 2:02:10 do any of you really think he would have been energized or that such investment would be made? Breaking 2 looks judicious and well-organized compared to this Nike stunt.
Even if another attempt is made its clear there is no chance of sub-4. But a 4:03-04 may be within bounds with more realism in the setup.
I've never seen so much whitewashing. This event was clearly a huge failure - no offense to poor Faith Kipyegon, but the idea was that she was supposed to break 4 minutes for the mile, and she didn't come close, despite all the rules that were broken and the event being tweaked to try to move every factor in her favor.
Which is fine - sometimes things don't work out - but don't come back with all this "but it was still amazing!!! Courage!!! Womanpower!! Nike genius marketing!! Got the average Joe talking about track and field!!!" So many of you, after the fact, are acting like it was never really about breaking 4 - it was about daring to dream, and proving that Nike's marketing team is chock full of geniuses, and getting people interested in track and field as if it might become a major sport someday.
No. It wasn't a success, either on its own terms, or at changing public perceptions. A 4:01 might have been a borderline success. 4:06, no way. Intrinsically, it wasn't as good a performance as her world record, or many of her other races - so don't give me the line about "it was a truly amazing run, record or no record". And sure, it might have gotten a fraction of one percent of the American public momentarily interested, because somewhere in the recesses of their brains resides this meme about a 4 minute mile being something important for some unknown reason - but will it make track and field more popular in any useful way? Absolutely not. In fact, I would argue that seeing this tiny wisp of a woman surrounded by about a dozen (apparently) gigantic guys jogging along beside her as if it was a walk in the park while she strained and failed to break 4 will only make the sport seem ridiculous, especially on the women's side. Way to go, Nike marketing geniuses!!
In my country, absolutely nobody noticed this attempt. When Kipchoge did his second Breaking 2-race it was televised on a major channel. Now you had to watch Nike youtube.
Tate McCauley had the perfect comment of this event. "This wasn't for the die hard tradck fan. It was a marketing campaign aimed at women."
The average normie thinks of 6 seconds in the same way we here think of 0.6 seconds.
My daughters thought she was super-close. I had to explain that she wasn't.
And predictably, pointing this fact out on social media will get your phone blown up with people calling you a "hater".
This is why I don't necessarily want our sport to be more "popular" if the new fans are not actually gonna take time to learn about it. Hearing knowledge people in the sport be called misogynists by randoms on social media who just learned how long a track is yesterday is infuriating.
Imagine if there was some event to have a woman kick a 90 yard field goal, and any NFL fan who pointed out that that's physically impossible was told "stop hating women sweaty. Hope that helps :)" genuinely rage inducing.
I've never seen so much whitewashing. This event was clearly a huge failure - no offense to poor Faith Kipyegon, but the idea was that she was supposed to break 4 minutes for the mile, and she didn't come close, despite all the rules that were broken and the event being tweaked to try to move every factor in her favor.
Which is fine - sometimes things don't work out - but don't come back with all this "but it was still amazing!!! Courage!!! Womanpower!! Nike genius marketing!! Got the average Joe talking about track and field!!!" So many of you, after the fact, are acting like it was never really about breaking 4 - it was about daring to dream, and proving that Nike's marketing team is chock full of geniuses, and getting people interested in track and field as if it might become a major sport someday.
No. It wasn't a success, either on its own terms, or at changing public perceptions. A 4:01 might have been a borderline success. 4:06, no way. Intrinsically, it wasn't as good a performance as her world record, or many of her other races - so don't give me the line about "it was a truly amazing run, record or no record"
Actually, it was. But not for the final mile time.
The 3:01.8 1200 is clearly a world best and is likely miles better than any other woman has ever achieved. Im surprised theres been so little focus on this accomplishment from self-styled "experts" on LR.
I agree that - as many of us believed - 4-flat is a bridge too far and the focus on an unrealistic woke-augmented moonshot concept undermined what she did in fact accomplish.
Unfortunately the comparisons to Kipchoge and sub-2 dont work in FKs favor. After Monza in 2017 it was clear that EK had a real chance and that marginal technical/engineering boosts could push him over the top. So it proved. But that 2:00:25 was a watershed. If he had gone 2:02:10 do any of you really think he would have been energized or that such investment would be made? Breaking 2 looks judicious and well-organized compared to this Nike stunt.
Even if another attempt is made it’s clear there is no chance of sub-4. But a 4:03-04 may be within bounds with more realism in the setup.
I do hear what you’re sayin and that makes me think to follow up sub2, Kipyegon should have first did sub3.. a sub 3:00 1200m. No not a popular event nor would it be as special outside of the diehard track fans however,
1. it would have been more realistic goal at this point.
2. It would have set the stage for a future sub4, which could have been decided by kipyegon, someone else or a combination of a few women who felt ready to take a crack at it.
Honestly, your idea was so wildly out of touch, it's as if you set the stage for an epic disaster from the get-go. How you thought that this harebrained scheme would somehow pull through is beyond comprehension. It's clear as day, you're utterly clueless about reality. It was doomed from the start. Now we're left picking up the pieces of your monumental screwup.
Lol OP still lives in a world where the actual sporting result is what matters. Very boomer of you.
Honestly, your idea was so wildly out of touch, it's as if you set the stage for an epic disaster from the get-go. How you thought that this harebrained scheme would somehow pull through is beyond comprehension. It's clear as day, you're utterly clueless about reality. It was doomed from the start. Now we're left picking up the pieces of your monumental screwup.
How many people watched it? How much press coverage did it get? Seems to me it was a huge success. They may well get a raise. Deservedly so.
Nike clearly isn’t getting any traction from this. There’s only about a dozen threads on the front page of LRC discussing it. Mainstream running media and many influencers are hyping it. So far, 28 of the 37 girls on the high school XC team that I coach have this linked to their IG pages.
Really dumb idea, Nike!
Why do you follow your HS girl athletes on Instagram?
Nike clearly isn’t getting any traction from this. There’s only about a dozen threads on the front page of LRC discussing it. Mainstream running media and many influencers are hyping it. So far, 28 of the 37 girls on the high school XC team that I coach have this linked to their IG pages.
Really dumb idea, Nike!
Why do you follow your HS girl athletes on Instagram?
High School girls could care less about some doped up Kenyan running a fake mile. This event could not of been more forced to believe
I've never seen so much whitewashing. This event was clearly a huge failure - no offense to poor Faith Kipyegon, but the idea was that she was supposed to break 4 minutes for the mile, and she didn't come close, despite all the rules that were broken and the event being tweaked to try to move every factor in her favor.
Which is fine - sometimes things don't work out - but don't come back with all this "but it was still amazing!!! Courage!!! Womanpower!! Nike genius marketing!! Got the average Joe talking about track and field!!!" So many of you, after the fact, are acting like it was never really about breaking 4 - it was about daring to dream, and proving that Nike's marketing team is chock full of geniuses, and getting people interested in track and field as if it might become a major sport someday.
No. It wasn't a success, either on its own terms, or at changing public perceptions. A 4:01 might have been a borderline success. 4:06, no way. Intrinsically, it wasn't as good a performance as her world record, or many of her other races - so don't give me the line about "it was a truly amazing run, record or no record"
Actually, it was. But not for the final mile time.
The 3:01.8 1200 is clearly a world best and is likely miles better than any other woman has ever achieved. Im surprised theres been so little focus on this accomplishment from self-styled "experts" on LR.
I agree that - as many of us believed - 4-flat is a bridge too far and the focus on an unrealistic woke-augmented moonshot concept undermined what she did in fact accomplish.
Unfortunately the comparisons to Kipchoge and sub-2 dont work in FKs favor. After Monza in 2017 it was clear that EK had a real chance and that marginal technical/engineering boosts could push him over the top. So it proved. But that 2:00:25 was a watershed. If he had gone 2:02:10 do any of you really think he would have been energized or that such investment would be made? Breaking 2 looks judicious and well-organized compared to this Nike stunt.
Even if another attempt is made its clear there is no chance of sub-4. But a 4:03-04 may be within bounds with more realism in the setup.
3:02 doesn't mean what you think it does. To put it in perspective, Bannister ran 2:52 for 3 laps. A woman would need to be able to run that or get near to be capable of 4 minutes. 4:06 was a pretty good measure of her capabilities in unnaturally assisted conditions.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
Using comments the comments on letsrun as a barometer, seems like this was a hugely successful event for Nike. It's about time shoe companies started realizing that something that is pleasing for die-hard track fans is the exact opposite for the casual fan. The casual fan wants to see Tyreek vs ishowSpeed, not Lyles vs Bednarek. The casual fan couldn't give a rats ass if Kerr or Nuguse wins worlds. Sponsoring the likes of Hoppel/Hocker vs. hosting a Breaking 4 event? The return on investment is chalk and cheese. If track and field is to survive, the die-hard fans better wake up and smell the coffee...
A good argument for pitching sports entertainment towards the ignoramuses. That's where the money is.
Using comments the comments on letsrun as a barometer, seems like this was a hugely successful event for Nike. It's about time shoe companies started realizing that something that is pleasing for die-hard track fans is the exact opposite for the casual fan. The casual fan wants to see Tyreek vs ishowSpeed, not Lyles vs Bednarek. The casual fan couldn't give a rats ass if Kerr or Nuguse wins worlds. Sponsoring the likes of Hoppel/Hocker vs. hosting a Breaking 4 event? The return on investment is chalk and cheese. If track and field is to survive, the die-hard fans better wake up and smell the coffee...
A good argument for pitching sports entertainment towards the ignoramuses. That's where the money is.
Why are you so upset that people enjoy one athletic performance that is not in a normal setting? How does that affect you?
Using comments the comments on letsrun as a barometer, seems like this was a hugely successful event for Nike. It's about time shoe companies started realizing that something that is pleasing for die-hard track fans is the exact opposite for the casual fan. The casual fan wants to see Tyreek vs ishowSpeed, not Lyles vs Bednarek. The casual fan couldn't give a rats ass if Kerr or Nuguse wins worlds. Sponsoring the likes of Hoppel/Hocker vs. hosting a Breaking 4 event? The return on investment is chalk and cheese. If track and field is to survive, the die-hard fans better wake up and smell the coffee...
A good argument for pitching sports entertainment towards the ignoramuses. That's where the money is.
The other poster wrote "the casual fan" and you call the casual fan an ignoramus. You are the ignoramus. You don't care about the recreational/health side of running. You don't care about Jane Doe who jogs 3 times a week and runs a 4 hour marathon because she doesn't follow professional running.
But many Jane Does started running because of Kipchoge's Sub 2. Oh, you didn't know that? I do. I know a bunch who did.
You are a pompous elitist who thinks only professional running matters. Other people enjoy professional running, enjoy the occasional event like this one, and are grateful that that gets more attention to our sport, and more people out of the house going for a run. You should try that some time.
Tate McCauley had the perfect comment of this event. "This wasn't for the die hard tradck fan. It was a marketing campaign aimed at women."
And by that mark it was a BIG SUCCESS. I told several female friends about it and then asked one of them what they thought. They watched it live and aren't even a track fan. "I started to get emotional and tear up. I wasn't paying attention to the time on the screen but the announcers were so excited and she was right with the green lights so I thought she did it."
When I watched it, I had it on mute as I was doing my own show. Thank God I did or I would have ripped them. I mean it basically was false advertising on the broadcast. Was all intentional?
1) They never explained what the lights were and which one she needed to be on - we just got some weird explanation about green lights being extended to her WR time.
2) The splits on the screen were 400/800/1200 splits instead of the more logical 1/4th mile, 1/2 mile, 3/4th mile so everything appears faster. With a lap to go, Paul Swangard falsely said, "3:01.8 with alap to go" (no it was over 3:03 with a lap too go) and then DIljeet started screaming about how "she is with the green lights".
Then when they cut to the shot where you can see how the pacers are miles ahead of her, we were told how it was by design that the pacers were way ahead.
Then she finishes and she runs 4:06. 4:06 high which is quickly moved down.
ya, this echo chamber has 6 feet of concrete between itself and the real world.
and the real world, well it's debatable if its real.
Honestly, your idea was so wildly out of touch, it's as if you set the stage for an epic disaster from the get-go. How you thought that this harebrained scheme would somehow pull through is beyond comprehension. It's clear as day, you're utterly clueless about reality. It was doomed from the start. Now we're left picking up the pieces of your monumental screwup.
Personally I enjoyed the race and do not understand why people are getting so worked up over a race. You never tried to reach your potential by trying to get a personal PR that seems out of reach to yourself. I'm glad Nike put on this even t either way and was inspired by her guts to try. Some of you posters on here really need to get a life or something. Have a beer and chill out.
Personally I enjoyed the race and do not understand why people are getting so worked up over a race. You never tried to reach your potential by trying to get a personal PR that seems out of reach to yourself. I'm glad Nike put on this even t either way and was inspired by her guts to try. Some of you posters on here really need to get a life or something. Have a beer and chill out.
Haters are gonna hate.
Agreed! Loved throwing this on my screen in the afternoon and thinking "I mean, she can't do it, right?" but in the back of my mind thinking there was a chance to witness something truly incomprehensible.
After these DL results, GST, Breaking 4, I realized I gotta stop coming here. All my fmr teammates and local runners, we love talking about this stuff but all y'all are just so damned grumpy all the time.
Also, as someone who works for a running brand, if you think Nike is upset by this you are trippinggggg
I just checked and 15 threads totally almost a thousand comments on the first page related to the event. If Nike isn't loving the traction they have gained with this event at least LR should.