One month before the year’s biggest track and field event, a dizzying number of fleet-footed performances have lit up local and professional meets.
In the spring, the University of Washington track team produced eight sub-four-minute milers. In June alone, four high school runners broke that barrier in the same race. On the professional circuit, three world records were shattered within a week in Paris in June: Faith Kipyegon of Kenya set a new record in both the women’s 1,500 meters and 5,000 meters, and Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia set a new mark in the men’s 3,000-meter steeplechase.
On Friday night, Kipyegon set yet another record, smashing the women’s one-mile world record by almost five seconds when she broke the tape in 4 minutes 7.64 seconds. The performance stunned track fans accustomed to records that often improve by mere tenths of a second.
The question — why so many fast times? — has been asked and answered endlessly. Wavelight, the pace-setting technology, surely helps. So do the ever-evolving breeds of super shoes — those thick, springy kicks with a midsole plate that have revolutionized racing in recent years by giving higher rebound energy when a runner pushes off.
But many sports scientists see something else: The payoff from several years of training…
