Deanouk wrote:
But in comparing Jakob's 3:28.32 Olympic win with previous generations, the very even pace and drafting he received, combined with the new 'super spikes' and the fastest track ever used for an athletics meet (the words of the Mondo designer himself), more than negated the effects of running 2 rounds and easing up in the last 30m. He probably benefitted by between 2 and 3 seconds for the track and spikes alone.
Yakobs olympic 3:28 is worth a 3:30
Coevett wrote:
Not sure at all how that works.
You would if you didn't have a low IQ.
Coevett wrote:
As for the 'reductio ad absurdum' logic, presumably you mean that if Crammy or Coe or Ovett could have run sub 3:26 clean, then I'm a racist fool for believing that most or all Africans during the full throttle EPO era were dirty who ran close to 3:26. Not sure at all how that works.
Racist fool, yes. And also very stupid. Dangerous combination.
There's no proof that the new spikes make much of a difference, maybe a second, maybe nothing. D3, for instance, has seen no improvement, going down through the top 50, at most distance races this year, aside from one fifth year athlete, in comparison to pre-COVID years. The track designer in Tokyo would of course call his track the fastest ever. That is marketing. But it is apparently the same as some others. 3:28.32 in the finals, easing up, and having paced the field the first 400m, shows 3:27 ability at least in a single Monaco-style race. He didn't even have the pacing lights they have elsewhere now. But if you think track, shoes, drafting, temperature, and even pacing all help a lot, and they do relative to different eras, then I'm sure that you'll recognize Jim Ryun in 1967 as in sub 3:28 shape at least. His tracks were seconds slower over a 1500m. His pacing was usually wildly off. When he ran high 2:46 last 1200m, he had run a 60-61 first lap. His shoes were much heavier than anything in the last forty years. One of his best races was in the 90s. And he often had little drafting.