Distance persistence

Two weeks before the ChicagoOne of the biggest cities in the USA. marathonA very long running race, lasting for 26.2 miles., Kelvin Kiptum fell ill. It left his body weak - but his coach said that was no excuse to miss the 26.2-mile race.

So Kiptum ran - and set a new world record of 2 hours 35 seconds. It was a whole 34 seconds faster than the record set by Eliud Kipchoge the previous year.

He and Kipchoge both come from poor backgrounds in Kenya. Kiptum herded his family's cattle as a young boy and started racing his friends barefoot along forest trails.

Kipchoge ran two miles to school every day. When he met his coach at 16, he was delivering milk on a bicycle.

People have always wondered how much humans are capable of. Until Roger BannisterAn English neurologist and athlete. He died in 2018. ran a mile in under four minutes, some believed it was physically impossible.

The record for the marathon has been cut by almost a third since 1908. In that year Johnny Haynes ran it in 2 hours 55 minutes 18.4 seconds. Now beating the 2-hour mark is the greatest goal in athletics.

Several things have contributed to faster times. Today's athletes are better trained than in Haynes's day. They have better equipment and better nutritional advice.

Data scientistA new type of data expert. Data scientists work with businesses to understand data and help to convert it into action that will improve a business or organisation's performance. Simon Angus has created a graph showing changes to the marathon record over the past 65 years. He estimates that the 2-hour barrier will be broken in March 2027. But he says no one will ever run faster than 1 hour 55 minutes and 40 seconds.

In an article for Sports Brief, Martin Moses lists five existing records that may never be broken. One is Uwe Hohn's 104.8m javelin throw in 1984. No one else has ever reached the 100m mark.

Moses reckons that Usain Bolt's 100m record (9.58 seconds) is safe. So is Florence Griffith-Joyner's (10.49 seconds). He also lists Jarmila Kratochvilova's 800m record (1 minute 53.28 seconds) and Marita Koch's 400m record (47.6 seconds).

But are some records unbeatable?

Yes: Logic tells us that there are limits to what the human body can manage. No on will ever run 100m in five seconds, so there must be a point at which nothing more can be shaved off the fastest time.  

No: Existing records have been set by extraordinary athletes - but it is possible that even more extraordinary ones will emerge in the future. And they will be helped by ever-improving sports science.

Or... Record-breaking requires perfect conditions - Kiptum's run in Chicago was helped by cool temperatures and dry, cloudy weather. Climate change means they will become much harder to find in future.