On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister pushed the final tape in Iffley Road Track in Oxford, England, and collapsed in the arms of friends after becoming the first human to run a mile in less than four minutes.
“It was the equivalent of the top of Mount Everest for the first time,” said Professor of Integrative Physiology at Colorado Boulder, Rodger Kram. “Before Bannister, it was considered impossible, beyond the limits of human physiology.”
Seven decades later, a broker has not yet followed in Bannister’s footsteps, and some have questioned whether possible. A new study published this week by Kram and his colleagues suggests that with the pacemaker strategically timed and placed, the answer is yes, and the Olympic faith of Kenia Kipyegon is about to do so.
“We discovered that if everything went well, under a couple of different writing scenarios, it could break the 4 -minute barrier,” said Shalaya Kipp co -author, an Olympic broker of medium distance that obtained its master’s degree in the KRAM laboratory. “It is extremely exciting that we are now talking and also studying the limits of female human performance.”
Of ‘Breaking 2’ A ‘Breaking 4’
In 2016, the KRAM laboratory calculated what was required for a man to break the legendary two -hour marathon barrier.
He and his students determined that, together with intense training, avant -garde shoes and an ideal course and climatic conditions, the writing was key, behind or in front of another corridor to reduce air resistance.
Informed in part by his investigation, Nike organized the Breaking2 project in May 2017 to create those conditions for Kenya Eliud Kipchoge’s marathon. Kipchoge lost his goal that day, but nailed him in a similar staging race in Vienna in 2019.
Four years later, Kram observed with interest how Kenya Faith Kipyegon crushed the 1,500 meters of women, 5,000 meters and mile, all in less than two months, while breeding to her daughter.
When Kipyegon broke the world mile record for women with a time of four minutes, 7.64 seconds, it was just over 3% of breaking the 4 minutes, Kram said. Coincidentally, when his team began to investigate, the marathon world record holder was approximately 3% less than a two -hour marathon.
Kram and his former students, now extended in research institutions around the world, met again, this time to explore the limits of female human performance.
THE POWER OF THE DRAFTING
Run alone, even on a still day, and the air molecules run into you while moving through them, stopping it. It runs in the shadow of a pacemaker or, better yet, with runners in the front and rear, and uses less energy.
“The corridor on the front is literally pushing the air molecules outside the road,” Kram said.
At a four -minute pace, a Kipyegon size corridor must exceed a surprisingly large air resistance force, approximately 2% of its body weight. The team previously determined to completely eliminate that force would reduce the required energy by approximately 12%, which allowed it to run even faster.
“Anyone, from the best elite runners to the lower levels, can benefit from the adoption of optimal writing formation during most of his career,” said Edson Soares Da Silva, first author in the new article.
For example, Da Silva estimated that a 125 -pound and 5 -inch broker that usually runs around a 3: 35 minutes marathon could improve their time up to five minutes.
A magic number
For the new study, the team shouted on the video of the record of 1 mile of Kipyegon in Monaco.
The conditions were ideal, but their pacemaker ran too fast at the beginning, Kram said, letting the gap between them and their widened. On the last lap, her pacemaker had abandoned and she was alone.
Ideally, he said, a pacemaker would be perfectly spaced in the front, another on the back, during the first half mile; Then, another pair of fresh legs would intervene to take its place at the point of half mile. Collectively, it suggests previous investigations, they could reduce air resistance by 76%. Using that value, the team calculated its projected completion time: remarkably, 3: 59.37, while Bannister hit in 1954.
Inspiring scientists and runners
Kipp, now postdoctoral researcher at the Mayo Clinic, emphasizes that his study, like many in the field, was based on previous studies that excluded women.
The authors expect their article to help arouse more interest in studying the physiology of female athletes and inspiring interest in female athletics.
Recently they sent a copy of the newspaper to Kipyegon, their coaches and their sponsors in Nike, floating the idea of another staged race, similar to Breaking2.
“Hopefully,” says the last line of the newspaper, “Kipyegon can try our prediction on the track.”