Pace lights and world record attempts - a discussion.

coter wrote:

I apologize in advance, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Huge disclaimer: I am a kenenesa bekele fan.
How do we feel about the use of pace lights for world record attempts in track? The new world record in the 10000m by Beatrice Chebet is a fantastic accomplishment, same for Joshua cheptegei’s world record in the 10000m set in 2020. However, in my personal opinion, being able to judge your pace should be a skill that is part of the sport, rather than just being able to hold on to a pace set for you. It is very difficult for me to separate the pace cars and pacers in sub 2 hour marathon events (which were not considered for an official world record) from the pacers and pace lights in these world record attempts. I think that the lights provide an unfair advantage to past record holders (hence the Bekele disclamer), and should not count as official world records, or at least have the note of pace light usage tacked on.
I’m happy to hear your thoughts and opinions as well!

coter wrote:

I apologize in advance, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Huge disclaimer: I am a kenenesa bekele fan.
How do we feel about the use of pace lights for world record attempts in track? The new world record in the 10000m by Beatrice Chebet is a fantastic accomplishment, same for Joshua cheptegei’s world record in the 10000m set in 2020. However, in my personal opinion, being able to judge your pace should be a skill that is part of the sport, rather than just being able to hold on to a pace set for you. It is very difficult for me to separate the pace cars and pacers in sub 2 hour marathon events (which were not considered for an official world record) from the pacers and pace lights in these world record attempts. I think that the lights provide an unfair advantage to past record holders (hence the Bekele disclamer), and should not count as official world records, or at least have the note of pace light usage tacked on.
I’m happy to hear your thoughts and opinions as well!

Salvitore Stitchmo wrote:

coter wrote:

I apologize in advance, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Huge disclaimer: I am a kenenesa bekele fan.
How do we feel about the use of pace lights for world record attempts in track? The new world record in the 10000m by Beatrice Chebet is a fantastic accomplishment, same for Joshua cheptegei’s world record in the 10000m set in 2020. However, in my personal opinion, being able to judge your pace should be a skill that is part of the sport, rather than just being able to hold on to a pace set for you. It is very difficult for me to separate the pace cars and pacers in sub 2 hour marathon events (which were not considered for an official world record) from the pacers and pace lights in these world record attempts. I think that the lights provide an unfair advantage to past record holders (hence the Bekele disclamer), and should not count as official world records, or at least have the note of pace light usage tacked on.
I’m happy to hear your thoughts and opinions as well!

So a couple of things can be true at once here.

Wavelight has a case to be the biggest extrinsic performance enhancement the sport has ever seen. We talk about grass/cinder tracks to PU/composites, footwear etc - it's right there with a case to be made it's even bigger.

The benefits are multi-layer deep. Not only for the athletes with no pacers out there and the constant feedback, mental and physical regulation it provides - but also for the pacers who can do their jobs so much more effectively (apart from this girl who paced the 800 in LA and Eugene recently who doesn't seem to understand the concept of them) than before. The pacemakers can actually provide their slipstream/placebo effect at the right pace and for longer.

You only need to watch these races closely to understand how important the lights are. Jakob rarely ever runs more than a few steps outside of the crossover between the blue (pace) and yellow (race) "bubbles". Neither does Kipyegon. Neither did Cheptegei or Tsegay - it's uncanny. You can visibly see the athletes looking down at the lights as they run - they are aware of them 100% of the race. The numbers back it up - as The splits from Cheptegei's WR's (as you mentioned) are absurd in how perfectly even they are. That could simply never be achieved on human judgement. When you think he ran a 10000m where almost 9400m were run with lap times that didn't vary more than 0.6 of a second? Ridiculous.

We have really seen the benefit on the womens side even more than the men. The worlds top women suffered for ever with a lack of quality pacemaking that has now been solved with wavelight. The simple lack of depth on the womens side compared to the men was the primary issue. I remember the days when the 800m was paced by David Kiptoo and Fred Onyancha - Kiptoo had run 1.43.00 and Oyancha under 1.43 and won an Olympic medal! The 1500m had an era where William Tanui was the key guy and he was a former Olympic champion over 800m and had run 3.30 himself for 1500m. Martin Keino (son of Kip) was doing the 5000m and he was a 7.35 3000m runner. These guys were never as perfect as the lights but they were pretty damn good. Any women with this level of talent was still out there competing and not pacing. So one reason why we have had massive jumps on the womens side with Kipyegon, Tsegay and now Chebet is down to them finally getting closer to their true ceilings thanks to LEDs.

That being said, while I agree that being to judge pace is an fascinating part of running at the highest level, the sport did need to move forwards. And we have precedent of technology impacting and improving performance within the sport (tracks, footwear etc) over the course of the last 70-80 years - there wasn't really a justification to stop wavelight being deemed okay for record breaking purposes. I also think nobody really knew how powerful and how much of a difference it was going to make. I watched Pre yesterday from the stands sitting next to my buddy who has been to every Pre for the last 25 years and we were reminiscing/laughing about the days when a sub 3.50 mile was a big performance at Hayward. The concept of a 3.45 mile at the end of May was basically incomprehensible but here we are - we had 7 guys running 3.48.X or better! A 17 year old ran 3.50 flat and finished 11th!

It is fun though to think about what the likes of El G, Bekele, Komen etc etc etc could have done with this. But no more fun to think about what Snell or Elliot could have done on a super fast Mondo track on a perfect night in Monaco back in their eras.

Hicham never was able to nail his pace perfectly in his 1500m tilts. 2.46.34 at 1200m when he was easily capable of high 2.44 and a 40 point final 300. Bekele who even in his 5000m record had lap times that varied by as much as 1-1.5 seconds (think about this compared to say 0.2/0.3 seconds in terms of physical distance) and had nothing but himself to regulate pace after 2k. The metronome Komen who with an extra few strides per lap to chase could have probably pushed the 3000m well under 7.20 and even how about Steve Cram who was commentating on Kerrs new British mile record - ran 3.46.32 with a 53.13 last lap when an even 2.50.5 would have been a walk in the park for him and probably a time in the 3.44.8-3.45.3 range left on the table.

We just have to embrace the new era my dude - we aren't winding this one back.

coter wrote:

I apologize in advance, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Huge disclaimer: I am a kenenesa bekele fan.
How do we feel about the use of pace lights for world record attempts in track? The new world record in the 10000m by Beatrice Chebet is a fantastic accomplishment, same for Joshua cheptegei’s world record in the 10000m set in 2020. However, in my personal opinion, being able to judge your pace should be a skill that is part of the sport, rather than just being able to hold on to a pace set for you. It is very difficult for me to separate the pace cars and pacers in sub 2 hour marathon events (which were not considered for an official world record) from the pacers and pace lights in these world record attempts. I think that the lights provide an unfair advantage to past record holders (hence the Bekele disclamer), and should not count as official world records, or at least have the note of pace light usage tacked on.
I’m happy to hear your thoughts and opinions as well!

THOUGHTSLEADER wrote:

coter wrote:

I apologize in advance, this is going to be a bit of a rant. Huge disclaimer: I am a kenenesa bekele fan.
How do we feel about the use of pace lights for world record attempts in track? The new world record in the 10000m by Beatrice Chebet is a fantastic accomplishment, same for Joshua cheptegei’s world record in the 10000m set in 2020. However, in my personal opinion, being able to judge your pace should be a skill that is part of the sport, rather than just being able to hold on to a pace set for you. It is very difficult for me to separate the pace cars and pacers in sub 2 hour marathon events (which were not considered for an official world record) from the pacers and pace lights in these world record attempts. I think that the lights provide an unfair advantage to past record holders (hence the Bekele disclamer), and should not count as official world records, or at least have the note of pace light usage tacked on.
I’m happy to hear your thoughts and opinions as well!

You did make me think of one thing.

Pacing lights maybe should be turned off after the pacer steps off UNLESS they are chasing a notable record (World, Global, National) and in select instances for hitting standards. But chasing standards should not be a thing at Diamond League races. Right now, they keep them on at Diamond Leagues for World Leads or semi-arbitrary times. As a result, a good race can be reduced to: "they just missed the World Lead" with a sense of disappointment. World leads are often set in perfect conditions or in obscure meets. The marks are long-forgotten as soon as they get crushed later in the season. I don't think the lights are additive to the closing stages in many races. But at their best they are used as an aid for pacers to set up the race and then in select cases chase down a monster time. It's an advancement for the sport, but along with superspikes means you have to put in records in context. As Salvatore said, obviously if Steve Cram were running today and chasing an out-there British record the wavelight would go a long way in helping him run closer to his maximal level.