Shoes, nutrition, better training science, and propagation of information through the Internet has immensely helped. But honestly, and this might be a hot take, but I do believe that cross country/track and field is seen as a much 'cooler' sport to do in high school/college nowadays than it was 20 years ago. That means you're getting kids that are naturally athletically gifted and are choosing to run over other sports instead of running being largely filled with kids that weren't athletic enough to make the cut of more popular US sports (basketball, soccer, football, etc.)
Don't forget Bob Kennedy. He showed a corn fed white boy too can run under 13. The sport has also figured out super skinny/lanky guys make best distance runners. Less muscle guys and more Nico Young.
Super shoes. Not only in competition, but in training. With super shoes now you can do a lot more quality mileage at threshold without beating up your legs. So even Marius Bakken was training in a similar fashion to Jakob Ingebrigtsen over 20 years ago. The effectiveness of such training is much more effective with the super shoes.
Supershoes, and Rupp showing everyone what was possible.
There’s no such thing as someone improving by seeing a better athlete accomplishing something. After watching Rupp, did anyone else run a 52 second last lap to win a silver medal? It’s more accurate to say that Rupp showed everyone what they can’t do.
So you don't think Roger Bannister finally breaking 4 for the first time had anything to do with moving the sport forward?
Huh? You believe that without Bannister, Landy wouldn’t have run his sub-4, 6 weeks later? Why did it take 8 years for Ryun to show Bayi, or anyone else, how to run 3:51?
this might be a hot take, but I do believe that cross country/track and field is seen as a much 'cooler' sport to do in high school/college nowadays than it was 20 years ago. That means you're getting kids that are naturally athletically gifted and are choosing to run over other sports instead of running being largely filled with kids that weren't athletic enough to make the cut of more popular US sports (basketball, soccer, football, etc.)
As someone who ran starting in 2011 as a seventh grader and now coaches, this is definitely true. Additionally, the kids who can't make varsity in other sports due to their schools being so large, are more likely to try cross country and track now because it is seen as cooler and a legitimate opportunity to get college scholarships.
Don't forget Bob Kennedy. He showed a corn fed white boy too can run under 13. The sport has also figured out super skinny/lanky guys make best distance runners. Less muscle guys and more Nico Young.
That skinny guys are better distance runners, has been common knowledge for probably hundreds of years.
In the pros it is Drug testing in Kenya. If there were a bunch of 3:25/12:30 guys walking around Americans wouldn’t get much press.
in college it is pretty much super shoes (add .5s-1s/lap and the the times are good but not insane) and chasing times. Shoes also let you get in 10-20% more work without breaking down.
In HS it is like college with the added thing of kids knowing they need to run 50-60mpw and not 30…..
How has no one mentioned bicarb? Specifically the hydrogel solutions that make ingesting an effective 21 gram dose of bicarb possible without having to go to the bathroom during the race.
Social media channels have made distance running into a more exciting and popular sport to follow and participate in, leading to more kids (including many with a lot of athletic ability) taking up the sport and training seriously. Letsrun.com and other running focused websites and books have made it much easier to learn the training methods used by the best in the world.
Don't forget Bob Kennedy. He showed a corn fed white boy too can run under 13. The sport has also figured out super skinny/lanky guys make best distance runners. Less muscle guys and more Nico Young.
That skinny guys are better distance runners, has been common knowledge for probably hundreds of years.
Yeah but 20 years ago a lot of US guys were built more like Joe Klecker. Klecker looks way more athletic in traditional sense than Nico or Nuguse. I think a lot of super skinny high school kids finally figured out they make great distance runners. They don't have to try to make the football or even soccer. Look at Colin Sahlman.
Supershoes, and Rupp showing everyone what was possible.
Everyone is using super shoes. They aren’t an explanation for why Americans specifically are more competitive with the rest of the world than they were 20 years ago.