OT: athletics sprint hurdles: as fast as it can get?

greg66_tri_v2.0
greg66_tri_v2.0 Posts: 7,172
edited August 2012 in Commuting chat
There's a perennial question in athletics: how fast can you go? Just how low will the 100m record be in 30 years?

Flat event world records have seen appreciable drops in time over the last 30 years (a notable exception being the women's 800m set by a she-man product of the Soviet bloc's steroid programme - my personal view).

The sprint hurdles bucks this trend. The men's WR has reduced by 0.06 seconds in 30 years. Ennis divides her time between 100m hurdles and six other events, but her hep time would have placed her top of the round 1 qualifiers and fourth in the final.

I suspect this is because it is a highly technical event, with a "sweet spot" that balances flat speed and hurlding speed.

If, therefore, we end up at a point where the then current WR becomes the best that any human is ever likely to be able to achieve, is it time to mothball the event completely?
Swim. Bike. Run. Yeah. That's what I used to do.

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Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    It's not as fast as it can get (probably) and even if so, why would that be grounds to ditch it?
    _
  • sadlybiggins
    sadlybiggins Posts: 158
    When I saw the subject, I thought you were going to mention the German discus thrower who as part of his lap of honour ended up hurdling with his shirt off :shock:
  • greg66_tri_v2.0
    greg66_tri_v2.0 Posts: 7,172
    SadlyBiggins wrote:
    When I saw the subject, I thought you were going to mention the German discus thrower who as part of his lap of honour ended up hurdling with his shirt off :shock:

    :D iPhone and old eyes. Now corrected.
    Swim. Bike. Run. Yeah. That's what I used to do.

    Bike 1
    Bike 2-A
  • SteppenHerring
    SteppenHerring Posts: 720
    A suspicious person might point out that pro cycling is far slower than it was 10 years ago. Running is still getting faster ...
  • bobtbuilder
    bobtbuilder Posts: 1,537
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    It's not as fast as it can get (probably) and even if so, why would that be grounds to ditch it?

    ^ Exactly. The Olympics is about pitting the world's best athletes against each other. As a result some records are likely to be broken, but it's the competition that makes the event, not the times.

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