"Olav Aleksander Bu is both a researcher and trainer for the triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt. Over the years, he has, among other things, made scientific measurements on how profitable it is to run in the drag of a hare.
"And after spending some time inserting the height, weight and shoulder width of Ingebrigtsen into the model, he quickly arrived at figures that give clear answers to how much the Norwegian lost due to his tactical choice.
The first thing Bu calculated was the average speed of the race time 3:28.24.
- The average speed is then 25.92 km/hour. This amounts to 7.2 meters per second.
In air resistance, this amounts to 15.4 Newtons, or 1.6 kilograms of force. In that case, speed variation or position is not taken into account.
- The simplest image we can use for this is if someone took a rope around your waist and attached a fishing scale to the rope. Then they'd hold you back while you ran until the scale read about 1.6 kilos. It's noticeable, he says."
"The calculations by Bu and the triathlon gang also gave an answer to how much it pays to lie behind a hare.
- You reduce air resistance by 70-80 percent by lying behind a hare at 1,500 metres. Or in this case the air resistance will have been reduced from about 110 to just over 40 Watts. That is significant, says the researcher.
Bu has also calculated how much faster Ingebrigtsen could have run if he had done the same race, and used the same amount of power - with a hare in front of him.
- It is a little difficult to assess as we do not have an exact model of Jakob, but it is about two seconds in 1500 metres.
- In other words, would Jakob Ingebrigtsen have been very close to the world record of 3:26.00?
- Yes, you can say that."
Translated article .
"And after spending some time inserting the height, weight and shoulder width of Ingebrigtsen into the model, he quickly arrived at figures that give clear answers to how much the Norwegian lost due to his tactical choice.
The first thing Bu calculated was the average speed of the race time 3:28.24.
- The average speed is then 25.92 km/hour. This amounts to 7.2 meters per second.
In air resistance, this amounts to 15.4 Newtons, or 1.6 kilograms of force. In that case, speed variation or position is not taken into account.
- The simplest image we can use for this is if someone took a rope around your waist and attached a fishing scale to the rope. Then they'd hold you back while you ran until the scale read about 1.6 kilos. It's noticeable, he says."
"The calculations by Bu and the triathlon gang also gave an answer to how much it pays to lie behind a hare.
- You reduce air resistance by 70-80 percent by lying behind a hare at 1,500 metres. Or in this case the air resistance will have been reduced from about 110 to just over 40 Watts. That is significant, says the researcher.
Bu has also calculated how much faster Ingebrigtsen could have run if he had done the same race, and used the same amount of power - with a hare in front of him.
- It is a little difficult to assess as we do not have an exact model of Jakob, but it is about two seconds in 1500 metres.
- In other words, would Jakob Ingebrigtsen have been very close to the world record of 3:26.00?
- Yes, you can say that."
Translated article .
