One record chases the next. The running scene is experiencing an unprecedented record. What is behind it? DLV national coach Heinz Klein speaks about the most plausible reasons and the consequences for the youngsters.
Welcome to the new world record world. A first taste, a kind of sneak preview, for the record -strong year 2025 there was already an admission on New Year’s Eve 2024.
Kenyan Beatrice Chebet was the first woman to stay over five kilometers on the street under the 14 minutes brand and set up a world record in 13:54 minutes. The sound was set.
February developed really wild. Boiled: Six world records were set up in the shortest month of the year. From the 1500 m in the hall to the half marathon on the street and the 20 km while walking.
Two world records in one run: the wild February
Sometimes two records even fell in one run. This is what happens to superstar Jakob.
On February 13th, the Norwegian in Liévin in French ran the mile, i.e. 1609 meters, in the hall in 3: 45.14 minutes (more than a second faster than the old record) and in this run almost set a record as a by -catch 1500 m in 3: 29.63 minutes. The American Yared Nuguse had only set up the record five days earlier. It works so quickly.
| Date | athlete | nationality | discipline | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31.12.2024 | Beatrice Chebet | Kenya | 5 km (street) | 13:54 min |
| 08.02.2025 | Yared Nuguse | USA | 1 mile (hall) | 3: 46.63 min |
| 08.02.2025 | Grant Fisher | USA | 3,000 m (hall) | 7: 22.91 min |
| 13.02.2025 | Jakob Ingigtsenen | Norway | 1,500 m (hall) | 3: 29.63 min |
| 13.02.2025 | Jakob Ingigtsenen | Norway | 1 mile (hall) | 3: 45.14 min |
| 14.02.2025 | Grant Fisher | USA | 5,000 m (hall) | 12: 44.09 min |
| 16.02.2025 | Jacob Kiplimo | Uganda | Half marathon | 56:42 min |
| 16.02.2025 | Toshiku Yamanishi | Japan | Go 20 km | 1:16:10 h |
A month full of records. The times just continue to tumble. This flood of records leads to a question: What is happening there? What is it all about? Coincidence?
The German running national coach Heinz Klein sees several factors as reasons for the accumulation. “On the one hand, training methods have developed in recent years, which enables increasingly targeted performance and competition control. On the other hand, technological development, especially in the field of competition shoes, also plays a role,” he said sport.de.
In recent years, since around 2017, the so-called carbon shoes in the professional sector have ensured that the times tumble.
High-tech shoes probably play the greatest role
The carbon plates integrated in the shoe ensure stiffening of the toe joint. This leads to an energy saving when running. In addition, special damping foams in the shoes enable energy recovery. Running has also become a struggle for the shoe industry. They should make athletes up to four percent faster. Valuable seconds, even minutes at long distances.
In addition, competitions “are often optimally geared towards world records today, which favors a record hunting,” explains the national coach. Many times of the recent past also amazed experts and the fans, sometimes it also led to shaking the head in the running scene. With all the presumption of innocence, a little question mark.
Especially with immense jumps like the record of Jacob Kiplimo, who took a whopping 48 seconds from the old half marathon record in Barcelona a week ago. Half an eternity over the 21.1 kilometers.
Everything just thanks to shoes and competition optimization?
In addition to the aspects mentioned, DLV coach Klein sees the increasing professionalization of sport as a decisive factor. “Athletes benefit from optimized training concepts, improved sports science and a sophisticated race strategy,” he says. At the same time, the high performance density in international comparison leads to “athletes push each other to ever better performance”.
True to the motto: if someone suddenly cracks times that you would not have dared to do in the past, other athletes also dare to run more quickly. The mental aspect could also play a crucial role in the record flood.
In fact, training theory has developed again in recent years. Athletes are increasingly running on their anaerobic threshold in training, making several fast units a day and thus increasing their achievements.
“Athletics don’t just live from numbers”
Competition nutrition has also played a more important role over the longer distances. The targeted absorption of perfect mixtures of carbohydrates during the run has reached a climax. Due to their chemical nature, the gels and drinks are partly directed directly into the intestine for better recording.
In the German team and environment, the records and developments are also talked about, says Klein. “Our focus is on how we can use the knowledge from these achievements for our own athletes. It is important that despite all progress, the basic principles of sustainable and targeted performance are kept,” said the national coach.
One thing is clear: athletics always lives from records and the eternal hunt for it. However, it is questionable what such sudden accumulation of blatant fable records such as in the marathon or half marathon or the middle distances can trigger the offspring. Do you motivate or ensure the hardly tangible, sometimes inhumane times more demotivation? The cadres are also tough in times,
“Records are an essential part of sport and always have a great radiance – both for the athletes themselves and for the public perception of athletics,” says Klein. He believes that they can “have an inspiring effect and motivate the offspring”. At the same time, it is important to “show realistic development steps and not to rely on records as a yardstick,” continues Klein. “Ultimately, athletics lives from the variety of services and stories that the sport writes – and not just from numbers.”
Marathon: When does the two-hour brand fall?
Nevertheless, the records will naturally write the biggest headlines.
The running world experienced the craziest last autumn when Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich pressed the women’s marathon record by almost two minutes in 2:09:56. A gigantic jump in which even experts lacked the words.
And actually it is just a matter of time until the most elemented limit is. The men’s marathon record is 2:00:35 am. Established by Kelvin Kiptum 2023, shortly afterwards the steep running star died steeply in a traffic accident in Kenya.
35 seconds are only missing to this barrier, which it once said: it will never be cracked. “Today it is possible to run under 2 hours, which I would not have said a few years ago,” said running trainer and customer author Herbert Steffny to sports.de.
The scene looks all the more exciting for the marathon debut from the new half marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo. In April he started in London for the first time over 42.195 kilometers.
The record hunt continues. Always further.
