As the two-hour marathon barrier is breached and with records tumbling every year, we explore sport’s science, skill and sheer gutsHigher, faster, stronger, better ... is there no end to what humans can do? Dalilah Muhammad broke the 400m hurdles world record twice this year and Sifan Hassan did the same for the 5km and one mile events. And don’t forget the nine men’s swimming world records Adam Peaty and others have set this year. An amateur sprint relay team ran a marathon last year in 200m bursts, and they took 1hr 30. “I’m not convinced there is a big increase in world records,” said Gary Brickley, a sports scientist at Brighton University.

Source: The Guardian October 12, 2019 17:33 UTC