It is an obstacle that women have never broken. Can the Kipyegon faith make the history of the Mile?

Last winter, a study surprised the world of running when a team of researchers concluded that, in the right circumstances, the Kenyane superstar Faith Kipyegon could break the thought of the impossible barrier – becoming the first woman to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.

In the coming days, under a world projector, this theory will be put to the test.

Thursday, Kipyegon will line up in Paris in a race sponsored by Nike called “Breaking4”, only four towers – and 1,609 meters, to be exact – in history.

If there was a runner to make such an attempt, it would be Kipyegon, 31 years old. Treo-time Olympic gold medalist in 1,500 meters, which holds the world record in 1,500 meters and also held the record at 5,000 meters, it also got closer to the 4-minute barrier than anyone. In 2023, the race in Monaco, Kipyegon broke the previous world record for the Mile by operating 4: 07.64.

“It really stretches your imagination and your acceptance of the way women can excel in sport,” said Rodger Kram, Associate Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado who co-written the study published In February in the Royal Society of Open Science.

However, speed alone will not constitute the difference of 7.64 seconds between his best staff and a barrier realization – a life in a race as short as the Mile. The great variable surrounds how exactly Kipyegon “will write” rhythms around her, thus reducing her aerodynamic trail. How many pacers Nike will use and what training they will use, remains a mystery.

Kipyegon said The Associated Press This “four four -breakers will really cement my heritage”. However, the four -minute rupture could lead to a broader effect. Half-marathons and marathons experienced a boom in post-pandemic participation, but Kram wondered if the example of Kipyegon could inspire more women to travel the intermediate distances.

“To see this, one, we actually want to go after a female record, it’s exciting,” said Shalaya Kipp, a former Olympic runner and NCAA champion who co-written the study. “It will not only attract more women in sport, but it will also draw more attention to the physiology of women and do more research on women as well.

“… It is not the runner in me, but it is the scientist in me who is really excited if we have that. Scientists will start working with more female athletes, and it is a big gap that we have at the moment.”

As experts in physiology and kinesiology, Kram, Kipp and the co-authors of their study, Edson Soares Da Silva and Wouter Hoogkamer, were already fans of running. But their pursuit of the question of whether a woman of less than 4 miles was possible to seriously started in 2023 while watching Kipyegon execute her world record 4:07 while using Pacers only for half the race.

“He really marked us that it was a very fast race – a world record, of course – but she had a terrible writing,” Kipp, postdoctoral researcher at Mayo Clinic, told. “We are Nerds, and we looked at this, and we say to ourselves:” Well, and if? ” What if? And then we were like, we could do this calculation. »»

The results below the eighty have been modeled on a scenario in which Kipyegon would write a team of entirely female pacers, in part for the revolutionary symbolism it would represent, Kipp said. In this scenario, the study revealed that if Kipyegon could remain less than 40 inches behind a rhythm in front of it, and 40 inches in front of another behind it – with a new team of rhythm exchanging halfway – it would create an aerodynamic “pocket” in which it would face the slightest wind resistance.

Under these conditions, Kipyegon could operate 3: 59.37, the newspaper concluded – the exact time managed by Roger Bannister in 1954 while, using Pacers for more than 80% of the race, became the first person to have ever broken the sub4 barrier.

Less recalled is that in 1954, Diane Leather became the first woman to break the 5 -minute barrier in the Mile. It took more than half a century at the idea of ​​a woman who runs a mile under 4 to enter the field of possibility, however, because training, times and technology have all improved.

A inflection point arrived in 2016.

That year, Nike became the first shoe company to combine an exceptionally bouncing foam with rigid “plates” in their shoes and tips. Studies have determined such “supershoes” require less effort to run at a given rate by absorbing the impact of each kick, allowing runners to bounce back more quickly. The breakthrough brought Nike to design a different race from Monshot, nicknamed “Breaking2”, in which the Kenyan superstar Eliud Kipchoge tried to become the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours. He failed at 25 seconds in his first try in 2017. In his second attempt, three years later, Kipchoge ran 1: 59.40. Times did not count as an official world record because the carefully personalized attempt did not meet the standards of the world director of sport, but it represented a seismic change in what was possible.

It was also a sign of things to come.

“We opened the 2016 valves,” said Kipp, “and we saw these times fall.”

Of the fastest 50 miles led by women all the time33 have been managed since 2016, including 10 of the first 11. The world record of 4: 12.56 had remained since 1996 until Sifan Hassan ran 0.23 seconds faster in 2019. Four years later, Kipyegon burst The Hassan world record by a superb 4.69 seconds in Monaco.

In Paris this week, Kipyegon will wear tailor-made nike supershoe tips as well as personalized combination and bra designed to reduce the trail. Kipyegon is unique in that her stride appears effortlessly, as if she floated, said Kipp. However, what matters most, said Kram and Kipp, is whether Kipyegon improved to stay hidden behind his pacers.

Nike did not consult Kram, Kipp or their research team on the technical details of the attempted Kipyegon. The way the giant of sports clothes will manage the number and sex of the Pacers has led to a significant plot. The stadiums hosting professional meetings have a metallic “rail” inside the first track, separating the track from the inner field. Because the stadium charlete in Paris has a small rubberized track surface inside the rail, it is unlikely that it has the space necessary to use the type of formation of “full arrow” He used In his attempt to help Kipchoge break two hours in the marathon. Kram wonders if Nike will use an “half-arrow-point” or perhaps even the model that the researchers have studied, with a front and a behind.

He and Kipp will also ensure how Kipyegon and his pacers line up at the beginning; As she appears relaxed while pushing an unprecedented rhythm; And, approaching the finish, when the pacers unlock to allow Kipyegon to end alone.

“I’m going to watch to make sure she’s in the pocket and that the pacers are not too excited,” said Kram. “… In the first 200 (meters), you can ruin your chances for the Mile. If she goes out and runs 27 (seconds), she is cooked. She must go out in 29, 29 high.

“If she goes through 1,200 in 3 minutes, I think she will get it. Other people say:” Oh, that’s when she’s going to die. “But I believe in our figures and our calculations.”

Kipchoge and its training partners wore t-shirts with “Breaking4” and the image of Kipyegon during the training recently.

“It is an honor for us to support (Kipyegon) while she is preparing to achieve the unthinkable and to break down the barriers of human performance,” wrote Kipchoge on Instagram. “Faith is a real inspiration for our world. If there is one person to do it, it’s you. Go for it!”

The race also arrives at an important time for Nike himself. The roots of the company are being executed – it was founded by an intermediate runner, Phil Knight, and its college trainer – and more runners finished the races at 2024 bearing the brand than any other, according to a group of industry investigation. In recent years, however, the Nike shelving space and the market share among racing shoes have been disputed by newcomers such as Hoka and ON. The attempted Kipyegon sub4 will come the same day that Nike should host A quarterly results call.

In the days preceding Kipyegon’s race, Kram admitted to having nerves on how the study results would get out of it in a real test. Many of his previous studies had received little attention from the wider public, he said. The February article, in comparison, had attracted global attention.

“Even if we do not descend below four, how far is it just to have this attempt?” Said Kipp. “Is it really going to be a failure if she runs, you know, 4:01, 4:02?” It will always be a big problem.

“This is how the first attempted sub2 (marathon) by Eliud Kipchoge was.