Last Word: Technology enhancing performance

For a while in Oxford, my son lived in rooms overlooking the Iffley Road track where Roger Banister broke the four-minute barrier for the mile. The current world record of 3:43.13 is held by Morocco’sEl Guerrouj. Steve Scott of the U.S. who was born two years after Bannister’s effort, ran 136 sub-four-minute races. Is there a sub-four-minute mile on the horizon for women? Twenty three days after Bannister’s record, the lesser-known Briton Diane Leather ran the women’s first sub-five-minute mile. “Thank heavens that’s over,” she said after the race, “Now I can concentrate on my chemistry exams.” At the Olympics then, 200m was the longest distance for women. Bannister once said, “Doctors and scientists said breaking the four-minute mile was impossible, that one would die in the attempt. With the help of somewhat similar pacemakers,Eliud Kipchogebecame the first person to run the marathon in under two hours. The record, 1h:59.41, set in Vienna, is not recognised asa rotating team of pacemakers shielded Kipchoge from the wind, while he wore Nike’s specifically designed carbon fibre plated shoes.The official world record is 2h:00.35, set by the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya at the 2023 Chicago Marathon. The women’s sub-four-minute mile and the sub-two-hour marathon?