{"id":1505,"date":"2025-02-26T13:49:37","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/scientists-women-can-break-the-4-minute-mile-too-a-challenge-set-by-men-70-years-ago\/"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:49:37","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:49:37","slug":"scientists-women-can-break-the-4-minute-mile-too-a-challenge-set-by-men-70-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/scientists-women-can-break-the-4-minute-mile-too-a-challenge-set-by-men-70-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists: Women Can Break the 4-Minute Mile Too \u2014 A Challenge Set by Men 70 Years Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"mol-bullets-with-font\">\n<li class=\"\">\n<strong><br \/>\n   EXPLORE FURTHER: Scientists share the simple path to becoming an ultramarathoner<br \/>\n  <\/strong>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister achieved something remarkable.<br \/>\n reached an objective previously considered unachievable<br \/>\n &#8211; the\u00a0four-minute mile.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n More than seven decades later, experts believe that women runners of today are prepared to tackle this challenge.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n In a recent study, researchers have disclosed that<br \/>\n Kenyan Olympian Faith Kipyegon<br \/>\n , aged 31, possesses the ability to complete a four-minute mile.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n If everything goes perfectly, they estimate Kipyegon might run a mile in 3:59:37, which would beat Bannister&#8217;s record-breaking time by 0.3 seconds.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Professor Roger Kram, who leads the research at the University of Colorado Boulder,<br \/>\n Colorado<br \/>\n Boulder suggests that running a four-minute mile was once considered the athletic equivalent of climbing Mount Everest for the first time.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n &#8220;Before Bannister, it was deemed unachievable \u2014 surpassing the boundaries of human capability,&#8221; explains Professor Kram.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n In 2023, when Kipyegon broke the women&#8217;s world record for the mile with a timing of 4:07.64, she was merely three percent away from achieving the coveted four-minute barrier.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n With proper coaching, cutting-edge footwear, and a meticulously planned group of pace setters, researchers believe Kipyegon might become the inaugural female athlete to break through what appears to be an insurmountable threshold.\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-document-id=\"cms\/api\/amp\/image\/AA1zPFug\" data-reference=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1zPFug.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Faith Kipyegon is among the top middle and long-distance runners globally.<br \/>\n and is the current world record holder for the mile and 1,500 metres.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Even though she hasn&#8217;t dismissed the idea of running a four-minute mile, reducing the remaining milliseconds will demand more than just an outstanding athletic effort.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n If she wants to push herself beyond the four-minute barrier, Kipyegon&#8217;s biggest obstacle will be wind resistance.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n The research team estimates that for an athlete with Kipyegon&#8217;s dimensions, the wind resistance they encounter would be equivalent to about two percent of their body weight when running at a four-minute mile speed.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Eliminating that force entirely would decrease the required running energy by approximately 12 percent, enabling them to achieve even higher velocities.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n When Kipyegon broke the women&#8217;s mile record at the Monaco Diamond League, the circumstances were nearly ideal.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n There was absolutely no breeze, and the moist air decreased overall drag.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Similar to how cyclists draft within a peloton, Kipyegon competed in the race alongside a pace setter who moved ahead to shield her from the wind\u2014a crucial factor for making a run at breaking records.\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-document-id=\"cms\/api\/amp\/image\/AA1zPCHO\" data-reference=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1zPCHO.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<div class=\"art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS sciencetech\">\n<h3 class=\"mol-factbox-title\">\n  One mile: The records<br \/>\n <\/h3>\n<div class=\"ins cleared mol-factbox-body\">\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n<strong><br \/>\n    Men<br \/>\n   <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n   Hicham El Guerrouj: 3:43:13\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n<strong><br \/>\n    Women<br \/>\n   <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n   Faith Kipyegon: 4:07:64\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Professor Kram states: &#8220;The athlete ahead is essentially displacing the air molecules as they move.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n After carefully reviewing the race tapes, Professor Kram observed that Kipyegon&#8217;s pace-setters moved at an excessively rapid pace, causing a widening gap between them and leaving her more exposed to air resistance.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n On the last lap, her pace car fell behind and left her to face the full brunt of the wind resistance solo.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n In an optimal scenario, she would be accompanied by pacers both ahead and behind for the initial half-mile. Then, a new set of fresher pacers would take over to lead her through the final half-mile segment.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Combined, these changes could reduce air resistance by 76 percent.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Given her 2023 performances, Kipyegon could potentially achieve a sub-four-minute mile just through optimal pacing.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Shalaya Kipp, who is both an Olympic middle-distance runner and a sports scientist, co-authored this study. She states, &#8220;Our findings indicate that with optimal conditions and various favorable drafting situations, she might be able to run sub-4 minutes.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n &#8216;It&#8217;s incredibly thrilling that we are now discussing and examining the boundaries of women\u2019s athletic capabilities as well.&#8217;\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" data-document-id=\"cms\/api\/amp\/image\/AA1zPPmE\" data-reference=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1zPPmE.jpg\"\/><br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" data-document-id=\"cms\/api\/amp\/image\/AA1zPFvt\" data-reference=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net\/tenant\/amp\/entityid\/AA1zPFvt.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n This is the identical method that enabled<br \/>\n In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge achieved the feat of running the first sub-two-hour marathon.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Prior to taking on the challenge, Kipchoge\u2019s previous best time was merely three percent away from the two-hour barrier\u2014a similar discrepancy that Kipyegon aims to overcome in the mile event.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n To achieve his remarkable time of 1:59:40, Kipchoge utilized a team of seven pace setters. This group consisted of five runners positioned ahead in a &#8216;V&#8217; shape and two more running alongside him at the back.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Kipchoge similarly laced up a pair ofNike Vaporfly prototypes for his run.<br \/>\n proved controversial<br \/>\n for their performance-boosting credentials.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n Professor Kram and his collaborators now think that Kipyegon could leverage their research to potentially execute another groundbreaking performance.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n The authors mention that they reached out to Kipyegon and her sponsor, Nike, inviting them to test their hypothesis.\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"mol-para-with-font\">\n The final sentence of their document states: &#8216;We hope that Ms Kipyegon will have the chance to prove our forecast right on the running track.&#8217;\n<\/p>\n<p>Read more<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EXPLORE FURTHER: Scientists share the simple path to becoming an ultramarathoner On May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister achieved something remarkable. reached an objective previously considered unachievable &#8211; the\u00a0four-minute mile. More than seven decades later, experts believe that women runners of today are prepared to tackle this challenge. In a recent study, researchers have disclosed that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1631,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[683,681,360,682,637],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-running","category-running-and-fitness","category-sports","category-track-and-field","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/AA1zPKjF-1.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sanggraloka.com\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}