The 2016 outdoor track & field season is coming to a close and it has been outstanding. Olympic season is always a time when athletes want to be at their best, so it’s not surprising that we’ve seen countless exceptional performances and a total of 6 new outdoor world records in 5 events (4 women’s and 1 men’s).
Women seem to finally be catching up to some of the highly suspicious and most likely heavily testosterone and steroid fueled records of the 1980s and early 1990s. Whether this can be attributed only to improved training methods and nutrition is another matter that I don’t want to get into right now. That’s a job for the anti-doping agencies.
Here’s a quick look at the new world records:
1) Women’s 100m Hurdles
- New world record mark: 12.20
- Competitor: Kendra Harrison (United States)
- Venue and date: London, 22 July (Diamond League)
- Date of birth: 18 September 1992
- Age at the time of setting a new WR: 23 years, 10 months, 5 days
- Previous world record: 12.21
- Competitor: Yordanka Donkova (Bulgaria)
- Venue and date: Stara Zagora, 20 August 1988
- Duration of previous world record: 27 years, 11 months, 3 days
WR improvement: -0.01 seconds or -0.082%.
2) Women’s 10,000m
- New world record mark: 29:17.45
- Competitor: Almaz Ayana (Ethiopia)
- Venue and date: Rio de Janeiro, 12 August (Olympic Games – Final)
- Date of birth: 21 November 1991
- Age at the time of setting a new WR: 24 years, 8 months, 23 days
- Previous world record: 29:31.78
- Competitor: Junxia Wang (China)
- Venue and date: Beijing, 8 September 1993
- Duration of previous world record: 22 years, 11 months, 5 days
WR improvement: -14.33 seconds or -0.809%.
3) Men’s 400m
- New world record mark: 43.03
- Competitor: Wayde van Niekerk (South Africa)
- Venue and date: Rio de Janeiro, 14 August (Olympic Games – Final)
- Date of birth: 15 July 1992
- Age at the time of setting a new WR: 24 years, 1 month
Read more about it: my initial reaction & stride analysis.
- Previous world record: 43.18
- Competitor: Michael Johnson (United States)
- Venue and date: Sevilla, 26 August 1999
- Duration of previous world record: 16 years, 11 months, 20 days
WR improvement: -0.15 seconds or -0.347%.
4) Women’s 3,000m Steeplechase
- New world record mark: 8:52.78
- Competitor: Ruth Jebet (Bahrain)
- Venue and date: Paris, 27 August (Diamond League)
- Date of birth: 17 November 1996
- Age at the time of setting a new WR: 19 years, 9 months, 11 days
- Previous world record: 8:58.81
- Competitor: Gulnara Galkina (Russia)
- Venue and date: Beijing, 17 August 2008
- Duration of previous world record: 8 years, 11 days
WR improvement: -6.03 seconds or -1.119%.
5) Women’s Hammer Throw
- *New world record mark: 82.98 m
- Competitor: Anita Włodarczyk (Poland)
- Venue and date: Warsaw, 28 August (Kamila Skolimowska Memorial)
- Date of birth: 8 August 1985
- Age at the time of setting a new WR: 31 years, 21 days
- Previous world record: 82.29 m
- Competitor: Anita Włodarczyk (Poland)
- Venue and date: Rio de Janeiro, 15 August 2016
- Duration of previous world record: 14 days
WR improvement: +0.69 m or +0.838%.
*Note: She improved her own WR twice this year. First from 81.08 to 82.29 at the Rio Olympics and then to 82.98 m.
Žiga P. Škraba
Žiga P. Škraba 