The ‘nonsense’ Chepngetich: men’s national marathon record for 168 national federations, as valuable as Duplantis’ 6.26…

After 24 hours, the world of athletics is still in awe. When Ethiopian Tigst Assefa set a new world record last year in Berlin (2h11:53) which improved by more than two minutes the previous mark (2h14:04), held by the Kenyan Brigid Kosgei Since 2019, all experts agreed that the new record was going to last a good handful of years.

A forecast that was blown up this Sunday in Chicago with the enormous exhibition of Ruth Chepngetich. The Kenyan not only improved Assefa’s time but also went below two hours and 10 minutes (2h09:56), something simply unthinkable for a woman no matter how much the ‘magic’ shoes have helped in this constant revolution of the tests. background.

And all this while athletics fans were still lamenting about what could have been and was not after the sad death of Kelvin Kiptum, the man who was called to break the mythical two-hour barrier in a comparable marathon after being only 36 seconds behind last year on the same streets of the Windy City.

Chepngetich’s feat is so extraordinary that we are talking about a brand with which he would have won marathons in the men’s category not so many years ago. To be understood, Only 22 Spaniards have run the famous 42 kilometers and 195 meters faster than her. The twenty-third, Camilo Santiagohas the same time as the Kenyan one.

Today’s successful coach Antonio Serrano achieved a mark of 2h09:13 in the 1994 Berlin Marathon and became the first Spaniard to break the barrier of two hours and ten minutes. That is, until that date, no Spaniard had run faster than Chepngetich.

But there is more, because Of the 214 federations attached to World Athletics, the body that governs the sport of the Olympic Games, 168 have a men’s national record worse than that of the African one..

We are talking about countries like Austria, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland -yes, the land of Paavo Nurmi and Lasse Viren-Greece, Hungary, India, Jamaica, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Uruguay or Venezuela, in which no man has yet broken the barrier of two hours and ten minutes. Amazing, right?

The Hungarian table

Despite everything, there is another fact that even better exemplifies the value of the brand achieved by Chepngetich. We are talking about the famous ‘Hungarian table’, which we will explain for laymen in the field.

The Hungarian table is a scoring system recognized by World Athletics according to which each athletic mark is assigned a certain numerical value. This value is based on exact statistical data applied to a mathematical formula. It sounds complicated but it is quite simple.

A mark is taken and the Hungarian table is compared, which assigns a numerical value. Let’s take an example. An athlete runs the 800 meters in 1:45.12. That, according to the Hungarian table, is equivalent to 1,170 points. If I had run in 1:45.09 I would have achieved 1,171 points and if I had done 1:45.10 or 1:45.11, it would also be 1,170 points. That is, every three hundredths you achieve one more point on this scale. That in the men’s 800 meters. Each test logically has its own scoring table.

The Kenyan’s record, without going any further, is valued at 1,339 pointsexactly the same as the 6.26 meters that Armand Duplantis achieved at the meeting on August 25 in Chorzów (Poland), a new world record.

The king is not Usain Bolt but Jan Zelezný

You, who are an experienced reader, will wonder if there are world records more valuable than the one achieved by Chepngetich according to the Hungarian table and the answer is yes. For a start, Usain Bolt’s 9.58 in Berlin 2009. The world record for the 100 meters is worth no less than 1,356 points and the Jamaican’s 19.19 in the double hectometer are not far behind with 1,352.

But there is an even more valuable men’s record according to the Hungarian table. We talk about the 98.48 meters that the Czech Jan Zelezný has held as the world record in the javelin since 1996. That’s worth 1,365 points. Other records more valuable than the Kenyan’s 2h09:56 are the 45.94 of Karsten Warholm in the 400 hurdles (1,341) and the 8.95 of Mike Powell in length (1.346).

Better than almost all the ‘suspects’

If we move on to the women’s category, the most valuable world record according to the Hungarian table is that of discus thrower of the extinct East German Gabriele Reinsch, who reached 76.80 meters in 1988, which is equivalent to 1,382 points.

Another launcher from the East, the Soviet one Natalya Lisovskayahas 1,372 points for the 22.63 meters he achieved a year before with the weight. We do not need to talk about the doping suspicions that overshadow these records, which today are unimaginable in women’s athletics.

Finally, if we compare Chepngetich’s 1,339 points with other iconic athletics events, the result leaves no doubt that we are talking about a mark, in theory, ‘impossible’.

In the 100 meters, it is equivalent to 10.38, 11 hundredths better than the world record of the deceased – and also dubious – Florence Griffith Joyner. The American also has the 200m record of 21.34, but if a woman wants to emulate the Kenyan in this event she should run in 21.06…

McLaughlin’s Challenge

In the 400, it is almost a second better than the 47.60 that the East German Marita Koch It has been the world’s highest since 1985. Specifically, 46.77. The same thing happens with the 800, where the 1:53.28 of the Czechoslovakian and ‘unfeminine’ Jarmila Kratochvílova They have reigned since 1983. In their case, Chepngetich’s 1,339 is equivalent to 1:50.49.

Is there therefore any woman who can match the Kenyan in current athletics? To be optimistic, yes. The chosen one is the American Sydney McLaughlinwhich this same year, in the Olympic final, established a world record in the 400 hurdles with 50.37 seconds (1,322 points).

If the queen of low hurdles wants to reach those 1,339 points of the African should finally break the mythical 50-second barrier. Specifically, 49.87 seconds. Impossible? Don’t use that word anymore…