The weight to height ratio of a female sub 4:00 runner from 2009-2019

1) You need to make sure that the height and weight are accurate for the time of the sub 4 performance, which is very unlikely. Picking a random number from Wikipedia or somewhere on their internet, from a random date (could be off-season, etc) is not precise enough, especially since it could be from off-season where all athletes weigh significantly more.

For example, what weight did you give Hassan when she ran a sub 4 1500? There is probably a big range from pre-NOP to current weight.

2) The calculation needs to be BMI-based (kg/m^2), because tall people are not just scaled-up short people. As you get taller, it gets harder to reach a low BMI.

According to your calculation, Kipyegon is smaller/skinnier than Koko which is obviously not true.

Yeah except she wasn't able to run at that weight, so clearly she would have run faster had she been able to weigh whatever it is she normally weighed. We have no idea how fast girls/women could run weighing more because they have never been allowed to weigh more- which is exactly the problem with the system she is trying to illustrate. Look at Katelyn Tuohy, is she the slimmest? No.

FirstName LastName height weight BMI

Konstanze Klosterhalfen 174 48 15.9

Maryam Jamal 165 44 16.2

Hind Dehiba 162 43 16.4

Gelete Burka 160 43 16.8

Sifan Hassan 170 49 17.0

Winny Chebet 170 49 17.0

Faith Kipyegon 157 42 17.0

Viola Jelagat 165 48 17.6

Winnie Nanyondo 164 48 17.8

Abeba Aregawi 170 52 18.0

Maureen Koster 176 57 18.4

Genzebe Dibaba 168 52 18.4

Laura Muir 163 49 18.4

Btissam Lakhouad 172 55 18.6

Rababe Arafi 167 52 18.6

Gudaf Tsegay 163 50 18.8

Dawit Seyaum 161 49 18.9

Besu Sado 172 56 18.9

Shannon Rowbury 165 52 19.1

Tatyana Tomashova 165 52 19.1

Lisa Dobriskey 171 56 19.2

Hellen Obiri 160 50 19.5

Axumawit Embaye 160 50 19.5

Jenny Simpson 165 54 19.8

Christin Wurth-Thomas 165 54 19.8

Gabriela Stafford 163 53 19.9

Anna Willard 163 54 20.3

Shelby Houlihan 160 53 20.7

Caster Semenya 178 73 23.0

Avg: 18.4

Median: 18.6

At 114lbs Alberto was shooting for Cain to have a BMI of 17.9. Based on a BMI range of 10% on either side of the mean, any weight between 106lbs and 129lbs should have been acceptable. [Not too far off from the 105lbs and 123lbs shown earlier]

Clinically underweight is

Clinically underweight is

SureBuddy wrote:

Clinically underweight is

PSA:

letsrun breaks when you try to use less than symbols. Just say "less than".

SureBuddy wrote:

Clinically underweight is

Not really, you need to be strong and fast in the sprints as a female to run sub 4. Being underweight seems like a good way to hit 4:20-30 timings for a season or two, then burn out big time and never run under 5 again. Sub 4 is an elite middle distance time. Being physically fast over shorter distances is hard if your central nervous system, muscles and blood cells are malnourished. Maybe you can starve your way to a good 10k time but that approach won’t work for 100m-3k.

A BMI less than 18.5 is considered underweight by the clinical definition.

BMI isn't the ONLY factor, but it is a common factor and discussion topic of Mary's story.

There are tons of NCAA women who meet the requirement of a BMI that is between 16 and 21. The top 50 women at NCAA XC will certainly have a BMI in that range. But how many of those women can run or have the potential to run 400m in 56 sec or less? A sub- 4 runner needs to be able to do both sub 56 and sub 16 for 5k... at a bare minimum. If you are a female that is 20 years old and you cannot do either, breaking 4min is not for you.

A female runner with the talent and work ethic to break 4min for 1500m is a exceptionally rarefied combination. If you really look at it, the NCAA will graduate one woman who can do it every 3 or 4 years. You have much better luck breaking 2min for 800m, probably 4 times the chance.

JakkiO wrote:

SureBuddy wrote:

Clinically underweight is

Not really, you need to be strong and fast in the sprints as a female to run sub 4. Being underweight seems like a good way to hit 4:20-30 timings for a season or two, then burn out big time and never run under 5 again. Sub 4 is an elite middle distance time. Being physically fast over shorter distances is hard if your central nervous system, muscles and blood cells are malnourished. Maybe you can starve your way to a good 10k time but that approach won’t work for 100m-3k.

Koko

3000 Metres 8:20.07 Palo Alto, CA (USA) 30 JUN 2019 NR