Last weekend’s women’s world record at the BMW Berlin Marathon got a lot of tongues wagging, including mine. Amidst the post-race babble ran the full panoply of yeas and nays that accompany any new such record in this day and age: shock and awe; doubt and despair; elation and disconsolation.
There was plenty of pre-race conjecture about the chance for another world record in Berlin in 2023. There always is. But it wasn’t coming from the women’s side. That made Tigst Assefa’s record that much more surprising. That she broke Brigid Kosgei‘s 2019 record by 2:11 just got the chat rooms spinning that much faster.
In my latest post, I went over the progression of the women’s marathon, beginning with Beth Bonner’s first sub-3:00 mark in 1971. Included in my survey was the realization that the woman who held the record longer than anyone before or after was Paula Radcliffe. Her 2:15:25 in London 2003 lasted until Brigid Kosgei‘s 2:14:04 shocker in Chicago 2019, a term of 16 years, 6 months.
There were many who believed that Kosgei’s 2:14 would last longer than it did, given how long Paula’s mark had stood. And certainly, not many pundits were suggesting Assefa as the likely candidate to break it.
But as we saw after Roger Bannister breached the four-minute mile barrier in 1954, what was once considered impossible soon became business as usual. And with today’s new shoe technology making every race course feel more like an airport moving walkway, continuing improvement seems just around the bend in all distances.
That in mind, we’ve seen significant improvements recently on the track and along the field due, in part, to the new technology. But some records have shown surprising resilience, as well, especially in the field events. So how does Paula’s 16 yr., 6 month reign as the marathon record holder stack up with the longest lasting records ever, men or women, current or past? That is what we will focus on today.
EVENT TIME NAME PLACE
DATE RECORD SPAN
W 800 – 1:53.28* Jarmila Kratochvilova (CZE) Munich 07/27/83 40 yrs, 2 mo.
W 400 – 47.60* Marita Koch (GDR) Canberra, AUS 10/06/85 37 yrs., 11 mo.
W 100 – 10.49* Florence Griffith-Joyner Indianapolis 7/16/88 35 yrs, 3 mo.
W 200 – 21.34* Flo-Jo Seoul 9/29/88 35 yrs (today!)
M 1500 – 3:26.00* Hicham El Guerrouj (MOR) Rome 7/14/98 25 yrs., 2 mo.
W 10,000 – 29:31.78 Wang Junxia (CHN) Beijing 9/08/93 22 yrs., 11 mo.
W 1500 – 3:50.46 Qu Yunxia (CHN) Beijing 9/11/93 21 yrs., 10 mo.
M 100 – 10.2 Jesse Owens (USA) Berlin 6/20/36 20 yrs., 1 mo.
M 400 – 43.86 Lee Evans (USA) Mexico City 10/18/68 19 yrs., 9 mo.
M 400 – 43:18 Michael Johnson (USA) Seville 9/26/99 16 yrs., 11 mo.
- = still standing
- Footnote: World Athletics President, Sebastian Coe (Happy birthday, BTW), held the 800m record for 16 years, two months, and four days, from 10 June 1981 (1:41.73 in Florence, Italy) until 14 August 1997 when Wilson Kipketer sliced .49 seconds from the mark in Zurich.
FIELD EVENTS
M Disc – 74.08m* Jurgen Schult (GDR) Neubrandenburg 6/06/86 37 yrs., 3 mo.
M Hammer – 86.74m* Yuriy Sedykh (URS) Stuttgart 8/30/86 37 yrs.
W Shot – 22.63m* Natalya Lisovskaya (URS) Moscow 6/08/87 36 yrs., 3 mo.
W HJ – 2.09m* Stefka Kostadinova (BUL) Rome 8/30/77 36 yrs., 1 mo.
W LJ – 7.52m* Galina Chistyakova (URS) Leningrad 6/11/88 35 yrs., 2 mo.
W Disc – 76.80m* Gabriele Reinsch (GDR) Neubrandenburg 6/06/86 35 yrs., 1 mo.
M LJ – 8.95m* Mike Powell (USA) Tokyo 8/30/91 32 yrs.
M HJ – 2.45m* Javier Sotomayor (CUB) Salamanca, ESP 7/27/93 30 yrs., 2 mo.
M TJ – 18.29m* Jonathan Edwards (GBR) Goteborg, SWE 8/07/95 28 yrs., 1 mo.
M Jav – 98.48* Jan Zelesny (CZE) Jena, Ger. 5/25/96 27 yrs., 4 mo.
- = still standing
Which record do you believe will last longest, impervious to the new world order? Which will be next to go?
END
tonireavis.com 
Gee, I wonder why those records from the 80’s and 90’s are still standing…..are you intentionally ignoring the rather large elephants in the room?
…and Men’s shot?!
Ryan Crouser, who owns the first, second, third, fourth, sixth, equal seventh, and 10th farthest puts in history stand 6‘,7“ and weighs 320 pounds. He is by far the largest shot putter on the all-time list. He comes from family of throwers and spent his life, like Mondo Duplantis in the pole vault, refining his technique. Joe Kovacs, who has the number five all time performance is 6 feet tall and weighs 285 pounds. Randy Barnes, the former world record holder, has the equal 7th and 9th best throws in history. He was 6‘5“ tall and weighed 291 pounds. I’m not saying size is all, but it’s a lot of it. Plus, Crouser has been doing this his entire life and is somewhat of a savant, similar to Mondo Duplantis in that regard. Plus, the sample size of shot-putters is nowhere near what the sample size of runners is. So it’s harder, I should say easier, to find an outlier in these field events. I personally don’t understand why men of that size and strength dont go make millions in football rather than thousands in track and field.
I’m planning on adding carbon rods to my javelin, shot put, hammer, and discus, and setting new world records in all, posthaste. Watch out Henry Rono; I won’t need 81 days.
Interesting how the records, besides Mondo, are all on the track.