Mrr82 wrote:
I think one thing most people are ignoring, is the fact that distance running is something that compared to sprinting, way more people never give up...or many pick up later in life. Sprinting? How many elite sprinters do you still see competing when they are older? How many people do you see picking up sprinting as a sport when they get older? Compared to guys who get into distance running and start being competitive in their 30's, 40's. How is it possibly even fair to compare the two....
Actually skuj, mrr82 is correct, and it is a point I was trying to (or thought about) making also. And skuj, it SUPPORTS (whether he meant to or not) your hypothesis that "Masters DON'T Lose Top End (100m-400m) Speed At A Greater Proportion Than Longer Distance Ability." So, geez man, stop always looking for a fight ! (:-) ok, that charge can be leveled at me, but I usually don't fight with people who agree with me).
In case you are confused, the REASON his comment agrees with your hypothesis is: IF master's sprint WR's are as close to the open WR's as the master's distance records are to the open WR's (as I have shown that they are), AND there are less serious master's sprinters around as mrr82 contends, that likely suggests that the master's sprint WR's could be even faster if they had more quality athletes attacking those marks. See?? I think it is true. There are so many more opportunities (local road races) for master's distance runners than there are for master's sprinters that it makes sense that there would be many more master's distance runners than sprinters.
In sum, there is a much bigger pool of master's distance runners, making those WR's more likely a reflection of what the best master's can do in comparison to the all time best in those events, than there are master's sprinters. The sprint records are likely softer in that regard (smaller pool of master's sprinters from which the best will emerge), yet they are still at least as good (%-wise comparison) as the distance WR's.
Your theory is a good one skuj, it's just that I came out with it on letsrun last year!