Is one reason today's runners are fast because fast runners getting together and having kids is more common?

Sumners dad ran the 800, so did brazier's, centros dad was a miler, robby andrews parents ran, kesslers dad ran, etc. And now look at all the current pros dating other pros. Ive been saying this for a while so yea lol. I'm sure if you did a deep dive into most pro runners you'd find this to be the case

This is 100% true, just look at this incoming class of Oregon recruits and let's name names.

Connor Burns - both parents track stars. marc burns all-american, alana burns (maiden name, Crisman) state champion in XC and track

Simeon Birnbaum - I read both of his parents were state champions, his mom in the 800m, and I'm not sure which event(s) his dad won.

Dan Watcke - his dad was a state champion in Indiana (correct me if I'm wrong) in the 3200m, I believe, and maybe more events. His mom (Molly??? maiden name) was a stand-out for University of Michigan.

It could also be argued: they know how to train and that gives their offspring an advantage.

Dathan Ritzenhein, his daughter's a stand out now, too. In Colorado, I believe she won the 1600m indoors this past year.

I'm being facetious, a person could still be fast even if their parents weren't track stars. Maybe your parents played another sport, or had untapped potential. I don't mean to discourage anyone, LOL.

Of course, any kid could wind up with great talent for distance running, regardless of whether their parents ever pursued the sport. But I do think you may be on to something in the fact that Title 9 allowed more women the opportunity to compete in more sports, which probably led athletically gifted women to meet athletic men at a greater rate than they otherwise would have. Shalane Flanagan is an example of a child who came from an early pairing of two elite distance runners, even though her mother had to compete as an "amateur" for part of her career.

It's certainly not uncommon to see pros and top collegiates these days with at least one, if not two, elite runners for parents. Joe Klecker, Elly Henes, Cruz Culpepper, and Natalie Cook have two. Emily Sisson's dad was a standout runner, and her mom was an all-American gymnast. I'm sure there are loads of other examples that aren't coming to mind right now.

With it being extremely common now with elite and sub-elite runners dating, we can expect to see some really fast kids in another 15 years

Interesting theory. I saw some ted talk where a guy was saying the improvements we've made in athletics lately comes down to technology/training improvements, not humans just getting better. That makes sense because evolution is slow. Still, it makes logical sense that 2 good runners having a kid would have better running genetics than 0-1 good runners having a kid.

Even if the genetics didn't play a huge role, I'd have to imagine that the environmental factors that come from having 2 running parents would be huge. 2 runners are just gonna raise a much healthier kid than 2 average people. Someone who's been going on jogs with their parents since they were a kid is gonna have a huge head start on the average kid today. Rheinhardt Harrison holds the half marathon WR for 10 year olds or something, the Youngs were running youth track before middle school, and of course Jakob is practically a science experiment on training someone to run from day 1. As good as genetics can make you, they need an environment to express themselves in. If your environment from age 5 is pushing you to be a good runner, you'll adapt to it.

You mean you guys weren't invited to all the coed slumber parties after every track meet???

Maybe this is a happy accident of Title IX.

Take talented, motivated individuals and put them in a setting of prime shared interest during their prime years for meeting life partners and….voila!

My first good girl athlete went to a big D1 school, where she met and married a steepler. Their daughter just got 3rd at NON as a sophomore

Along those same lines, I’ve seen a number of examples where a family has more than one kid who runs and one of the youngest winds up with the most running success. The family figures out how to train and support a runner with older siblings and the youngest benefits.

We like to think it is a simple sport to figure out, but if you look for patterns in who is the most successful you can see that a disproportionate number of the elites have experienced mentors.

The next generation of super athletes will be a result of breeding athletes the same way we breed thoroughbred horses and genetic engineering via Crispr. And I'm not being facetious.

Like Gjert?

Ask Jimmy the Greek.

I am currently in the middle of doing a statistical study about running times on all levels over the past 10 years, and have found that the amount of confounding variables surrounding the faster youth is astounding. We could chalk it up to the shoe technology, but the reality is that it's only one facet of many surrounding the explosion of talent over these past few years.

I would wager it's likely this factor along with

1) Increase in shoe technology on a national level.

2) The pandemic allowed for the sport to gain more participants/popularity

3) Which, in turn, allowed for those in the sport, to specialize more and train on a more dedicated level at a younger age.

I'm sure there are more, but that likely is the largest three, along with increases in technology/training/and knowledge availability with the exponential growth of the internet and more advanced development of training.

Sophia Kennedy

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USATF - Indiana | GETTING TO KNOW......Sophia Kennedy

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It is 'natural selection' for athletes of similar abilities to be dating/marrying other athletes, mostly within sports or even across sports. This is and will be increased as the healthiness/activity/lifestyles of the population diverges. We are getting increasing obesity not only long post marriage, but now 'acceptably so' at very young ages. So natuarally even more athletes are steered away from those groups.

You could have two sub elite or club athletes now producing some elite athletes as the chances of the best attributes from either side get enhanced.

Younger coaches with a better understanding of modern training methods have taken over. Middle school and high school athletes are benefiting from coaches focused on long term development. Subsequently, kids are choosing to be year round runners instead of dabbling in multiple sports or taking huge chunks of the year off.

I have a 14 year old athlete who is coming off a season where he ran 56 in the open 4, 2:02 in 8 and threw the 800g jav 41meters. He looks and acts like a typical 80s nerd. Both parents have low key, unassuming personalities. Dad is a robotics engineer. I asked about their sports background and dad was a sub 5 miler in middle school , but he didn't like running or any sports and he spent all his time building things. Mom was a gymnast in school and later a professional ballerina.