Since 1973, Mary Decker has held the world mile record for 14 year old girls. Decker's time was 4:40.1.
Today Angie Alder, who just turned 13 a few weeks ago, ran 4:38.25, breaking the world records for 13 year olds and 14 year olds.
Next on the list is the world record for 15 year old girls, set last year by Paige Sheppard who ran 4:33.67.
With Sheppard and Lincoln still in high school, and Alder still in middle school, Jane Hedengren's high school record of 4:23.50 doesn't look very safe.
Decker's 4:40.1 was an indoor meet in Richmond, VA. It was the indoor WR, not just the 14-yo WR. It was a relatively slow time compared to what women were running outdoors at the time but it was still the WR. I am not sure what the track was like in Richmond at the time. It was common for indoor tracks to be 160 yards (about 146 meters) or 11 laps to the mile. Insanely impressive time considering the tight turns, the track composition, the shoes she ran in, etc.
That was the same year that Decker beat the 800m OG silver medalist from the year before.
Insanity
Was that Decker's last record? wrote:
Since 1973, Mary Decker has held the world mile record for 14 year old girls. Decker's time was 4:40.1.
Today Angie Alder, who just turned 13 a few weeks ago, ran 4:38.25, breaking the world records for 13 year olds and 14 year olds.
Next on the list is the world record for 15 year old girls, set last year by Paige Sheppard who ran 4:33.67.
With Sheppard and Lincoln still in high school, and Alder still in middle school, Jane Hedengren's high school record of 4:23.50 doesn't look very safe.
Correction worth noting here.
Decker held the US middle school and age-14 WR of 4:40.1h until 2021 when Sadie Englehardt ran 4:40.16.
Because t&f statisticians convert hand timed marks upwards by 0.14 seconds for distance races, it was Englehardt's record that Alder broke.
Of course, all a moot point now.
Have wonder how fast Angie can actually run as a middle schooler if she is ever able to get into a high school or open race against competitors faster than her who can pull her along to God-knows-how-fast a time.
Also, when 2027 rolls around and she's finally a frosh at Timpview HS in Provo, she'll be running xc against then-senior Natasza Dudek. Have to believe Angie will be one of the best high school harriers as well so that will be quite an interesting match-up between two young phenoms.
Note: 8th grader Susan Hedengren, Angie's teammate on the RoadRunners youth club coached by John Hedengren, recently ran a 4:29-point/1500 in a mixed race. That's worth roughly a 4:49-4:50 mile, significantly faster than her 4:57 pr set at last year's Brooks PR meet. Do not know why she was not entered today, as Oaklei Rohatinsky, another RoadRunners teammate, also competed and got herself under 5 min for the first time.
Last year when Jane set the HS record I commented that I think we will start seeing HS girls regularly dipping into the 4:20s (when I say regularly I mean someone will break 4:30 most years, not that a ton of people will be running sub 4:30 every race). And I predicted that we'll see a HS girl run sub 4:20 within 5 years. I was downvoted into oblivion.
I stand by that prediction. Downvote away!
dsgfdfg wrote:
Last year when Jane set the HS record I commented that I think we will start seeing HS girls regularly dipping into the 4:20s (when I say regularly I mean someone will break 4:30 most years, not that a ton of people will be running sub 4:30 every race). And I predicted that we'll see a HS girl run sub 4:20 within 5 years. I was downvoted into oblivion.
I stand by that prediction. Downvote away!
I agree. Those predictions are pretty obvious for anyone closely following the sport.
consider how far 4:20 is from the WR of 4:05. Now compare that to the boys. 3:43+15 is 3:58. It’s actually crazy how we don’t see high school girls getting close in the middle distances to elite women when we see it all the time in the sprint events.
Scuba celebration wrote:
... It’s actually crazy how we don’t see high school girls getting close in the middle distances to elite women when we see it all the time in the sprint events.
Sprints are largely pure genetics which do not require the type of rigorous training and work volume as middle distance. That is not to say sprinters don't train rigorously, but the talented ones don't have to. I've seen high school sprinters who spent more time smoking weed and drinking whiskey than they did training and would sprint 10.4-10.5 for 100m.
dsgfdfg wrote:
Last year when Jane set the HS record I commented that I think we will start seeing HS girls regularly dipping into the 4:20s (when I say regularly I mean someone will break 4:30 most years, not that a ton of people will be running sub 4:30 every race). And I predicted that we'll see a HS girl run sub 4:20 within 5 years. I was downvoted into oblivion.
I stand by that prediction. Downvote away!
I think a high school girl will break 410 in the mile by 2126
I think a lot of the girls we are seeing with these insanely fast times will likely burn out by high school. So many girls are chasing national titles and fame in middle school before they even hit puberty. What a shame
Khexwexrex wrote:
I think a lot of the girls we are seeing with these insanely fast times will likely burn out by high school.
Angie Alder only run 20 - 25 miles per week. How much less than that do you think she should run?
If she’s running only 20-25 miles per week then her paces and her workouts have to be incredibly hard, it’s common sense.
Spot on!
Khexwexrex wrote:
I think a lot of the girls we are seeing with these insanely fast times will likely burn out by high school...
I'm not so sure. I think you're possibly relying on an outdated cliche: tiny young girls who become what might be called "artificially fast" at a young age by training like professionals, then inevitably burn out when their bodies change.
Not to say that that can't still happen, but I feel that at least some modern coaches seem to have solved the riddle regarding how to train talented youngsters. With increased physiological understanding, they seem to have found the right mix of intensity mixed with appropriate rest. I would think that modern, more forgiving shoes, better diets, and an awareness of the pitfalls that tripped up young phenoms in the past have changed the game. Of course, there are always going to be some who "burn out" for one reason or another - boys too.
There are definitely real risks when pre-pubescent girls (roughly before puberty / early puberty) are pushed into very high-volume, high-intensity endurance training, especially in sports like track where “fast times” can encourage adult-level workloads too early!
Pre-pubescent fast times often reflect:
-early maturation (they’re temporarily ahead biologically)
-high training load masking natural development
-not necessarily long-term elite potential
Also, many of the best adult runners were not dominant at age 10–13!!
Was that Decker's last record? wrote:
Since 1973, Mary Decker has held the world mile record for 14 year old girls. Decker's time was 4:40.1.
Today Angie Alder, who just turned 13 a few weeks ago, ran 4:38.25, breaking the world records for 13 year olds and 14 year olds.
Next on the list is the world record for 15 year old girls, set last year by Paige Sheppard who ran 4:33.67.
With Sheppard and Lincoln still in high school, and Alder still in middle school, Jane Hedengren's high school record of 4:23.50 doesn't look very safe.
The record needs to be sub-4:20 in order for it to “look very safe”.
I can’t believe I’m saying (or rather, typing) this…but I think we’ll see a high school girl go sub-4:20 before we see another high school boy go sub-3:55.