by The triple Olympic champion Faith Kipyegon of Kenya will try to make the story by becoming the first woman to run a mile of less than four minutes on Thursday, but to do it, she must shave almost eight seconds from her world record.
Already the world record holder in this non -Olympic distance equivalent to 1.6 km, Kipyegon will nevertheless have to break his own reference by 4min 07.64 second by winning almost two seconds per 400m.
Advertisement
No woman has ever tried the feat, which was achieved for the first time in 1954 by Roger Bannister – in 3 minutes 59.4sec – in what was one of the most important achievements of Track Running.
When Bannister ran a mile of less than four minutes 71 years ago, the race conditions were very different. The Briton did it after a morning of work in a hospital during a competition on an ash track in Oxford and with heavy tips.
In the Paris unofficial race organized by Nike, Kipyegon, 31, will benefit from the wealth of technological support from his sponsor.
The “Breaking 4” project follows six years after the “Breaking 2” by Eliud Kipchoge – when the Kenyan became the first man to run a marathon in less than two hours.
Advertisement
For the attempt, Kipyegon will wear a tailor -made costume as well as new FK Elite Victory shoes. It would also be accompanied by a team of male stimulators around the Stade Charlete track.
Despite all this, some believe that the task of cutting almost eight seconds from its world record will be beyond the triple Olympic gold medalist in the 1500m.
“Spoiler alert. She’s not going to break 4:00. And it will not be particularly close,” said Robert Johnson, co-founder of the specialized letsrun.com site.
He underlined Kipyegon’s return race, when she ran 1,000 m in China at the end of April at 2 minutes 29.21 seconds.
Advertisement
“She was fantastic … To almost beat a world record in your first season game is incredible and shows you why Kipyegon is one of the great time of athletics,” said Johnson.
“If you execute 2: 29.21 1000m Rhythm for 1609 meters – otherwise known as a mile – you get 4: 00.08 .. To break 4:00, Kipyegon should execute 609 meters additional faster than it ran (this) day.”
Kipyegon, nevertheless, has the support of certain Olympian colleagues at long distance, with the double Norwegian champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen by saying to AFP: “I am really intrigued to see if it is possible.
“It seems completely crazy.”
VG / NG / OLE / NF / BSP
