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> All elite athletes have biological advantages not afforded to ordinary humans like us. Sure. Meanwhile there's no athletic record of anyone identified as a w

> All elite athletes have biological advantages not afforded to ordinary humans like us. Sure. Meanwhile there's no athletic record of anyone identified as a woman cracking the four minute mile. Not long after Roger Bannister, teenage boys started doing it. It's not unusual for sub 4 miles to be run by boys at high school track meets. Elite capability does not erase or conceal sex-related gaps. We have male and female divisions at all levels of sport for a reason.

jfengel 1y ago
It's kinda unusual, but only because they don't run the mile event very often. Most track events have a 1,500 meters, 109m short of a mile. But they're definitely running them at a sub-4 pace -- the high school record is something like 3:34 for the 1,500. Most tracks aren't set up to properly measure the mile. It's easier to measure the 1,600 meters, still 9 meters short of a mile. It's not a standard track event but it does give a good estimate of the mile time.
- kazinator 1y ago
  What is kinda unusual? I don't understand your comment. The USA high school record for the female 1500 m event 4:04.62, set on May 17, 2013, by one Mary Cain of Bronxville, NY, in an event at Eagle Rock, CA. It would take something like another 18 seconds to get to 1609 meters at that pace. That's just the USA. Let's look at the World Under-18 records: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_under-18_bests_in_athletics#Girls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_under-18_bests_i... 3:54.52, by a Ling Zhang in China, in 1997. Not sub-4 pace. She was 16 + 188 days old. Not sure where you got 3:34 from; maybe you are looking at a boys' table? A 17-year-old Australian named Cameron Myers hit 3:33.26 in 2023, in Poland. We saw a new women's 1500 m record just this month. 31-year-old Kenyan Faith Kipyegon ran it 3:48.68 on July 5, in Eugene, OR. Note that it it was still 15 seconds slower than the boy. It's about a 4:05 mile pace.
  - jfengel 1y ago
    Yeah, sorry about that. I should have quoted the specific bit I was replying to: "It's not unusual for sub 4 miles to be run by boys at high school track meets." Most boys won't run the actual mile in a track meet, just because they don't run that event. I hadn't meant to address women at all.

jfengel 1y ago

It's kinda unusual, but only because they don't run the mile event very often. Most track events have a 1,500 meters, 109m short of a mile. But they're definitely running them at a sub-4 pace -- the high school record is something like 3:34 for the 1,500. Most tracks aren't set up to properly measure the mile. It's easier to measure the 1,600 meters, still 9 meters short of a mile. It's not a standard track event but it does give a good estimate of the mile time.

kazinator 1y ago
What is kinda unusual? I don't understand your comment. The USA high school record for the female 1500 m event 4:04.62, set on May 17, 2013, by one Mary Cain of Bronxville, NY, in an event at Eagle Rock, CA. It would take something like another 18 seconds to get to 1609 meters at that pace. That's just the USA. Let's look at the World Under-18 records: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_under-18_bests_in_athletics#Girls https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_under-18_bests_i... 3:54.52, by a Ling Zhang in China, in 1997. Not sub-4 pace. She was 16 + 188 days old. Not sure where you got 3:34 from; maybe you are looking at a boys' table? A 17-year-old Australian named Cameron Myers hit 3:33.26 in 2023, in Poland. We saw a new women's 1500 m record just this month. 31-year-old Kenyan Faith Kipyegon ran it 3:48.68 on July 5, in Eugene, OR. Note that it it was still 15 seconds slower than the boy. It's about a 4:05 mile pace.
- jfengel 1y ago
  Yeah, sorry about that. I should have quoted the specific bit I was replying to: "It's not unusual for sub 4 miles to be run by boys at high school track meets." Most boys won't run the actual mile in a track meet, just because they don't run that event. I hadn't meant to address women at all.