Leading up to the Ineos 1:59 there was so much data collected over the years that there was little doubt that Kipchoge would not break 2:00. Nike was able to predict with hyper accuracy what Kipchoge was going to run at Berlin based on the models they were able to create from the data collected win training. Alex mentioned a key note address at a conference he had attended in the area detailing the extensive data collection Nike had been doing to inform shoe design. In episode 4 with Alex Leuchanka, the Senior Applied Innovation Officer for VF Corp we discussed some of the work he and others are doing in the field of data collection in biomechanics. After running and winning the London Marathon in 2019 the best option to try to break 2 hours in a controlled setting would be the Fall of 2019 before focussing on the 2020 Olympics. Ultimately Kipchoge ran 2:00:25.Īlex Hutchinson was there and wrote about the experiment in Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance.Īfter coming within 25 seconds of the 2 hour barrier in Breaking 2, Kipchoge broke the world record in Berlin in 2018 in 2:01:39. Ultimately, it was not Bekele, but rather Kipchoge of Kenya and two others, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, and Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia.īreaking 2 was truly scientifically motivated.

After his marathon debut in 2014, Kenenisa Bekele was headhunted to be one of the athletes to prepare to break 2 hours. Pitsiladis approached the 2 hour barrier through a collaborative effort at various universities, but his project ultimately stalled and stopped growing.

Yanis Pitsiladis, the foremost expert in genetics in East Africa based at the University of Brighton formulated the sub 2:00 concept. It all started at the 2013 Great North Run (Half Marathon) between the all-time greats, Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele, and Mo Farah. In this episode of the Art and Science of Running Podcast, we discuss the history of the Breaking 2 project, the Ineos 1:59 Challenge, collaborative coaching, the evolution of footwear, fuelling, pacer formations, world marathon records, doping, mechanical doping, and more.

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