I've seen a ton of posts about 13:34 / 13:38 5k's and 8:34 2 miles, but these are crap times compared to what younger people run internationally.
Biniam Mehary ran 12:54 at 17 this year and Kipchoge ran 12:52 at 18 to win a championship.
I've seen a ton of posts about 13:34 / 13:38 5k's and 8:34 2 miles, but these are crap times compared to what younger people run internationally.
Biniam Mehary ran 12:54 at 17 this year and Kipchoge ran 12:52 at 18 to win a championship.
US runners are slow wrote:
I've seen a ton of posts about 13:34 / 13:38 5k's and 8:34 2 miles, but these are crap times compared to what younger people run internationally.
Biniam Mehary ran 12:54 at 17 this year and Kipchoge ran 12:52 at 18 to win a championship.
First of all, the US system capitalizes much more on a steady progression to a runner's times from the time they start running around 14-15 until they go pro around ~22.
Second of all, I don't like to be that guy, but there are age cheats who are actually 19-20 year old's running these times. Age cheating in America is very very hard compared to the eastern African countries, or eastern Europe.
Third of all, while doping in the first place really isn't all that hard, it seems that doping in these countries is more common than in the US.
Fourth of all, there aren't many Americans who start training at age 8-9. Because running is much more infused in the culture in some other countries, they start running earlier on average.
If it takes 10 years (on average) from the time you start training seriously to go pro, then for Americans who almost never start running seriously until ~14 then they will go pro 10 years out from then. A Kenyen who runs to school every morning starting at age 7 can go pro by 17 because they've been training for their 10 years by then.
It's a combination of all of these things and more and I've oversimplified some.