History in Chicago: Ruth Chepngetich runs 2:09:57 at 2024 Chicago Marathon

Keep a few things in mind.
1-Chepngetich had 5th fastest marathon time before Sunday.
2-Sunday she beat WR by ~ 2 minutes and her pb by ~4 minutes.
3-5th all time women’s mile is 4.14

So to your comments using the mile instead of marathon it’s more like like a miler (female) with a 4.14 pb going out in 60 second laps and then winning with the first sub 4 mile ever. It’s more than a quantum leap on an already quickly (recently) accelerating performance improvement curve. That kind of improvement in that time frame doesn’t happen just based on a human body’s capacity to adapt.

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=13090761

It has no comparison to middle distance. Totally irrelevant. Endurance events are where the weak results and acceptance have been, particularly on the women's side. I've emphasized it for decades. Katie Ledecky's records in swimming are no big deal at all. Ridiculously overhyped, and over scored on the points tables. You just don't have any of the ultra elite swimmers willing to commit to those distances. Fortunately in women's track the new shoes and increased profile/funding have led to greater talents prioritizing those distances.

As others have posted, Chepngetich has used the correct strategy numerous times. She was finally rewarded for it.

Kiptum was going to destroy the men's world record. If that had happened simultaneous to Chepngetich's effort there would have been far less scrutiny on Ruth. Somehow we had a marathon world with a late 30s guy heralded as supernatural, and lousy women's standards accepted as iron clad.

BTW, Chepngetich should have answered the pathetic cynical question by saying she's sorry that women's distance runners haven't conformed to dullard expectation by breaking the 5000 and up records by 1 or 2 seconds every 5 years. Keep the urine sample for as many decades as you wish.

No, it's not.

no 2h09h56 can be equivalent to a 10k a touch above 29min depending on your profile already for male athletes (yuki kawauchi 10k record is 28'53, marathon 2h07h27). for women athletes it correlates even better.

women convert better their speed in 5/10k to longer distances. I can spank all of my country's elite women in a 5k /10k and they would beat me in the marathon by a few mins

2h09h56 is bang in line with 10k women WR of 28:46 with male pacers on the road, 28:54 on the track

It really isn't though. 29-flat is worth closer to 2:13. That's part of the problem here. Nothing in her past times, or anyone else's in the sport, suggest a performance like this.

If you can take down everyone at 5k/10k, maybe you're not running enough mileage or training for the marathon the right way. Maybe you're just better at the shorter stuff. It isn't just a 1:1 from personal experience. There isn't much to suggest sub-2:10 potential. You getting beat at the marathon, without supporting facts about training, doesn't move the needle for me to view this any differently.

Reed Fischer is a 28:12 guy. She beat him. Kipchirchir only managed 2:11 & has run 27-flat & 1:01. I don't think CJ has a real 10k PB but has a 7:59 3k/13:50 5k. Panning has broken 28:00 for 10k. Is this where we're at now in the sport? & we made the jump overnight? Now throw in who her coach/agent are. Want to appreciate good performances but let's be adults here.

It's reassuring to know that the mods are determined to remove any comment that names this performance for what it is. The record has provoked scepticism and disbelief as much as for any performance discussed on this site but the mods have made it clear which side they have come down for.

Since the previous record, which is 2 minutes slower, has only just been ratified the chances are another record that carves a couple of minutes off this one will be run when this latest time is still being ratified. I expect the justifications for it will be the same as usual here.

One extension to the fifth fastest thing: her first 25k back then was quicker than all the others. So, as I said elsewhere, Ruth just had to get more organised with hydration and pacing. Pacing was first class here

How fast would 1975 Bill Rodgers have run in today's shoes?

We wont really know until she has had a drug test. Innocent until proven guilty

So the only dopers are those who have been caught?

Sadly, in the context of medals, wins, and records, yes.

Yes, otherwise lets just assume that all runners are doping and thus, stop complaining.

yes you can convert 29 speed to sub 2h10. especially women

see french elite times, german elite times, basically any japanese marathoner with a PB in 2h09 /2h10 has almost certainly never broken 28.45

yuki kawauchi 29.02 to 2.07

nicolas navarro 29.16 to 2.06

tadesse abraham 28.28 to 2.05

michael gras 28.43 to 2.08.40

kenji yamamoto 28.26 to 2.08.30

it is not Ruth's fault that America's "best" Marathoners suck !!

I'm trying to figure out how this performance is legit. All I can come up with is that women's participation in sport is much lower than men, and that they're slightly more sites to the marathon.

For those defending the performance, what time would make you suspicious? 207?

Suited

Improving 4 min in the marathon is the same percentage as improving 8 seconds in the mile. So its not like a 4:14 runner going 4 flat, its like a 4:14 runner going 4:06. Not saying its likely, just that the previous poster's original comparison to a 4:20 runner all of of a sudden breaking the world record because they ran a fast 200 was a really bad analogy.

That would have been an epic response