In 1908, the fastest marathon recorded was 2:55:18 by American Johnny Hayes.
A year after that or 100 years ago, the record was lowered dramatically to 2:40:34 by Thure Johannson of Sweden.
By 1925, the first sub 2:30 marathon was run by American Albert Michelsen.
It took a while to get to sub 2:20 but it was eventually accomplished in 1953 by Jim Peters of the United Kingdom.
Derek Clayton of New Zealand broke the 2:10 barrier in 1967. Then it started to get very difficult.
Sub 2:09 accomplished by Rob de Castella of Australia in 1981.
Sub 2:08 accomplished by Carlos Lopes of Portugal in 1985.
Sub 2:07 accomplished by Belayneh Dinsamo of Ethiopia in 1988.
Sub 2:06 accomplished by Khalid Khannouchi of Morocco (at that time) in 1999.
Sub 2:05 accomplished by Paul Tergat of Kenya in 2003.
Sub 2:04 accomplished by Haile Gebrselassie in 2008.
When will sub 2:03, sub 2:02, sub 2:01 and eventually sub 2:00 happen?
I don’t know if it will happen in our lifetime but it’s a possibility. With the continuing improvement with running shoes and apparel and with training methods, it’s possible.
I could see someone like Bekele of Ethiopia as a possibility. Someone who has never raced the distance could do it.
Comment by sfrunner — November 10, 2009 @ 3:02 am
Just like Bolt’s record shattering 9.58 and earlier Olympic records, I do think a sub 2-hr would possible, and I’d like to think in our generation. That’s just a 3.3% improvement over Gebrselassie’s Berlin WR. Though the last time that 4 min increment happened spanned 23 years (from Lopes’ WR), with advancements in training, gear even nutrition, fierce competition and spiraling incentives for marathon runners, I can see this happening within our lifetime.
Or some designer drugs in the envelope of what’s legal can help provide a boost. Hopefully, the latter doesn’t happen.
Comment by Pablo — December 6, 2009 @ 3:26 am