On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister Pushed Through the Finishing Tape at IFFLEY Road Track in Oxford, England, And Collapsed Into The Arms of Friends of Friends AFTER BECEMING AFTER BECT HINDE AFTER BESTON FIRS Minutes.

“It was the running equipped to summiting mountain for the first time,” said University of Colorado Boulder Integrative Physiological Physiology Professor Rodger Kram. “Prior to Bannister, it was considered impossible -beyond the limits of human physiology.”

Seven Decades Later, A Female Runner has Yet to Follow in Bannister’s footsteps, and some have questions A new study Published in Royal Society Open Science By kram and his colleagues sugges that with the right strategically timed and placed pacres, the answer is yes –nd kenyan olympian fath kipyegon is on the brink of opening it.

“We found that if everything went right, under a couple of different drafting Scenarios, She Cold Break the 4-Minute Barrier,” said co-author shalaya kipp, an olympic middle-distle-distranschera-distle-distle-dictance runner white Earned Her Master’s Degree in Kram’s Lab. “It’s extramely exciting that we are now talking about, and study, the limits of female human performance, too.”

From ‘Breaking 2’ to ‘Breaking 4’

In 2016, kram’s lab calculated was required for a man to break the fabled two-his Marathon Barrier.

He and His Students Determined That, Along With Intense Training, State-of-the -art Shoes and An Ideal Course and Weather Conditions, Drafting or in Front of Another Runner to Reduce aer Resistance – Was Key.

Informed in Part by their research, nike hosted the breaking 2 project in May 2017 to Create those conditions for Kenyan Marathoner Eliud Kipchoge. Kipchoge Narrowly Missed His Goal That Day But Nailed It In A Similar Staged Race in Vienna in 2019.

Four Years Later, Kram Watched with Interest as Kenyan Runner Faith Kipyegon Crushed Records for the Women’s 1,500 Meters, The 5,000 Meters and the Mile – All in Less Than TWO MONTHS, Who Monsings, Wholes RISING HER Daughter.

When Kipyegon Smashed The Mile World Record for Women with a Time of Four Minutes, 7.64 Seconds, She was just over 3% Away from Breaking the 4-Minute-Mile, Noted Kram. Coincidentally, when his team first started doing their research, the Marathon World Record Holder was about 3% Sy of a two-Hour Marathon.

Kram and his former students, now spread out at research institutions Around the World, Reconvenrated -This Time to Explore the Limits of Female Human Performance.

The power of drafting

Run alone, even on a stil day, and air molecules bump into you as you move through them, slowing you down. Run in the Shadow of a Pacer or, Better Yet, with Runners in Front and Back, and you use less energy.

“The runner in front is literal pushing the air molecules out of the way,” said kram.

At a 4-minute-mile pace, a runner of kipyegon’s size must overcome a surprisingly large large air resistance force-About 2% of Her Body Weight. The team Previous determined that complete eliminating that force would reduce the energy required by about 12%, allowing her to run even faster.

“Anyone from Top Elite to Lower-Level Runners Can Benefit from Adopting the optimal drafting formation for as much of their race as they can,” said edson soares da silva, first author of the new papper.

For instance, da silva calculated that a 125-speed, 5-foot-7 female runner who typical runs about a 3: 35-herour marathon could improve her time by as Much as Much as MUCH AS FIVE MINUTES.

A magic number

For the new study, the team pored over video of Kipyegon’s Record 1-Mile Finish In Monaco.

The conditions were ideal, but her parsrs ran too fast at first, said kram, letting the gap between them and her wideen. By the last lap, her parsrs had dropped out and she was on her own.

Ideally, He Said, One Female Pacer would be perfectly Spaced in front, another in back, for the first half-mile; Then Another Fresh-Legged Pair would step in to take their place at the half-mill point. Collectively, Previous Research Suggessts, they could cut air resistance by 76%. Using that value, the team called her projection Finish time: Remarkably, 3: 59.37 -the Same Time Time Bannister Hit in 1954.

Inspiring Scientists and Runners

Kipp, now a postdoctoral researcher at the mayo clinic, stresses that their study, like many in the field, was based on previous students that excluded women.

The authors hope that their paper will help spark more interest in study the Physiology of Female Athletes and Inspire Interest in Female Track and Field.

They recently sent a copy of the paper to kipyegon, her coaches and her sponsors at nike, floating the idea of ​​another staged race, Simlar to breaking 2.

“Hopefully,” The last line of the paper reads, “MS. Kipyegon can test our prediction on the track.”