Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Two-Hour Marathon (Redux)

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everyone, this is Gary. As you know, I'm out of town this week, so instead of doing an encore episode, I'm doing something a little different. This week, I'll be running full encore episodes as they were originally released, and then at the end where I normally read a review, I'll be providing an update to the episode. So make sure to stay tuned all the way to the end of the episode. This episode was originally released on September 6th, 2020. You might notice that the sound is a bit different as my recording setup at the time was very different than it is today. So with that, enjoy the incredible story of the two-hour marathon. Elliot Klipchowke is unquestionably the greatest marathon runner in history.

Starting point is 00:00:39 He's won an Olympic gold medal, holds the world record, and has won 12 of the 13 marathons he has ever entered. However, there was one accomplishment that had always been out of reach for Klipchoggi and every other marathoner, the two-hour marathon. On October 12, 2019, Klipchoggi managed to break that barrier under some very special circumstances. Learn more about what went behind the breaking of the two-hour marathon on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. What if your perceptions about the past were wrong? ThruLine is a podcast that takes you back in time to uncover the parts of the story that may have gone unnoticed.

Starting point is 00:01:30 It effectively turned day into night. And how it shaped the world now. Time travel with us every week on the ThruLine podcast from NPR. There are certain milestones in running that have become famous because they correspond to nice round numbers. The four-minute mile is perhaps the most famous. It became international news in 1954 when 25-year-old Englishman Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile. Likewise, the 10-second 100-meter dash was a barrier that took decades to break until American Jim Hines did it in 1968. It still remains the level at which someone is considered a world-class sprinter. One of the last great time barriers was a the two-hour marathon. The world record time in the marathon has dropped considerably over the last

Starting point is 00:02:20 100 years, and it's one of the few events which has seen considerable world record progression in the last 20 years. In most track and field events, there has been a serious lack of advancement in world records. In the year 2000, the world record stood at two hours, five minutes, and 38 seconds. Since then, it has gone down eight times. In 2014, Kenya's Dennis Kometto set a world record at the Berlin Marathon at 2 hours, 2 minutes, and 57 seconds. This world record took 26 seconds off the world record set the previous year, which was a big leap in time. Four years later, at the 2018 Berlin Marathon, Elliot Klbchogae crushed the world record when he put up a time of two hours, one minute, and 39 seconds, taking a full minute and 18 seconds off the record. Perhaps even more

Starting point is 00:03:10 importantly, the two-hour barrier was looking to be within striking distance. Physiologists had published papers on what the fastest theoretical time could be in the marathon, and most agreed that a two-hour marathon was well within the range of possibility. Many companies and fans of running had a great deal of interest to see if this could be done. Here I should explain the difference between a world record time and a world best. The sanctioning body for track and field is world athletics, formerly the IAAF, or the International Amateur Athletic Federation. They set the rules for the sport and keep the record. For something to be considered a world record to them, it had to have occurred during a competitive

Starting point is 00:03:50 race under conditions that meet their rules. This would include most major world marathons, the Olympics, and track meets. This is very different than a Guinness Book of World Records type of record, which really doesn't care about the rules and competitive races. They just want to know if someone was able to run a distance in a particular time. That's considered a world best. In 2017, Nike launched the Breaking Two project. Their goal was to see if he was to see if he was a human could run a two-hour marathon. It would not be done under race conditions and would not be eligible for a world athletics world record. The goal was to see if it could be done at all when conditions were perfect. They recruited three world-class marathon runners for the attempt.

Starting point is 00:04:29 Elliot Clip Shogay from Kenya, Lelisa Dacisa from Ethiopia, and Zersenay Tedese from Eritrea. The event took place on May 6, 2017, on an automobile racetrack outside of Milan. For the attempt, they had a pace car that projected a green laser onto the ground for the runners, a big clock on the back of the car, and runners who would draft for them to reduce wind resistance. They also had the runners where the new ultra-engineered Nike Vaporfly Elite shoe, which was supposed to be the best long-distance running shoe in the world. The attempt didn't quite work. Clipchoga finished in two hours, 25 seconds, the best time ever at that distance, but not quite under two hours. The next attempt was in 2019.

Starting point is 00:05:13 A U.K. chemical company sponsored the attempt called the Ineos 159 Challenge. This time, the only competitor would be Clipchoga. The attempt was similar to what was attempted two years earlier in Milan, but with some changes. There was again a pace car with a projected laser behind it. This was to ensure that there was no unnecessary acceleration and that Clipchuge was on time. There were 41 pace-setters that swapped in and out. They would run in a V-shaped formation ahead of him to reduce drag. All of the pace-setters were accomplished long or middle-distance runners.

Starting point is 00:05:47 A track was set up in Vienna's Prater Park. A full lap of the track was 4.3 kilometers or 2.7 miles. The track was surrounded by trees to minimize wind. His shoes were a newer Nike Vaporfly next percent, which was supposed to increase performance by 4%. Hydration during the race was done by people on bicycles who delivered water to him instead of a normal hydration table. Finally, the temperature at the start was a perfect 9.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Celsius or 48 Fahrenheit, which is exactly what you want for a heat-producing marathon runner. This was several degrees cooler than the 2017 attempt. Also, for this attempt, the public was allowed to attend, whereas in Milan, the course was closed. Elliot said he missed having spectators. On October 12, 2019, at 8.15 a.m. local time in Vienna, the attempt began. One hour, 59 minutes, 40.2 seconds later, Elliot Klip Choghay crossed the finish line. becoming the first person ever to run the distance of a marathon in under two hours. As noted above, this is not an official World Athletics record, but he was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records

Starting point is 00:06:55 as being the first person ever to run a marathon distance in less than two hours. There is a lot about this attempt which cannot be replicated in an actual competition, but that wasn't the point. The point was to show that it could be done. Just weeks after Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, other people began running sub four-minute miles. Once it became known that it was possible, more people began doing it. It is possible we might see this too at the marathon. Unfortunately, since Clipchogay's run, most major marathons have been canceled due to COVID-19, so we'll have to wait until

Starting point is 00:07:27 2021 to see if official records are broken. Clipchoway's average speed during the record attempt was 13.16 miles per hour, or 21.18 kilometers per hour. To put this into perspective, the next time you are at a gym with a treadmill, try running at this speed for any length of time. The vast majority of people listening to this will not be able to run at that speed for one minute, and most probably might not even be able to do it for 10 seconds. Klipchowgay ran the equivalent of a 17-second 100-meter dash 422 times in a row without resting. He would have won most high school 1600-meter races with just his average speed. Even though it wasn't done under competitive conditions,

Starting point is 00:08:14 Klipchoga's accomplishment of running a two-hour marathon has to go down as one of the greatest physical feats in human history. The update for this episode, believe it or not, has nothing to do with Elliot Klipchoggi. It has to do with the fact that both the men's and women's official world record in the marathon were recently set, and in fact, they were both smashed. On October 8, 2023, Kenyan runner Kelvin Kippem

Starting point is 00:08:43 set the men's world record at the Chicago Marathon by running in two hours and 35 seconds. This took a full 34 seconds off of Elliot Klipchoway's previous world record time and now appears to be in striking distance of the two-hour marathon mark under normal race conditions. On September 24, 2023, Tegas Afa of Ethiopia won the Berlin Marathon in two hours, 11 minutes, and 53 seconds. She beat the previous women's world record by two minutes, and 11 seconds. What do both of these records have in common? Shoes.

Starting point is 00:09:19 Keptim set his world record wearing the new Nike Alpha Fly 3, which coincidentally sold out just two minutes after he set the record. Acefa set her record wearing the Adidas, Adiso, Adios, Pro Evo 1, which has a similar design to the Nike shoes. The 4% increase in performance appears to be quite real, and 4% of 2 hours is pretty close to five minutes. It appears we're only just at the beginning of this revolution in long-distance running shoes, and a real competitive two-hour marathon might occur at any time.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The Two-Hour Marathon (Redux)

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