In 2019, Eliud Kipchoge became the first non-disabled runner to complete a marathon in under two hours. But wheelchair racers have been beating that barrier for decades: The fastest official time in a wheelchair was set in 1999 by Switzerland’s Heinz Frei. How many minutes did he beat the barrier by? Almost 40. Frei clocked […]
Men’s Olympic sprints traffic heavily in machismo and self-assurance, so an incredulous victor is a rarity on the track. Rarer still is the bewildered champion who hails from a country with no record of producing an event finalist. But there was Italy’s Lamont Marcell Jacobs on Sunday night, telling reporters, “I think I need four […]
When the coronavirus pandemic delayed the Tokyo Olympics until 2021, it disrupted every athlete training for the Games, but one group in particular. For athletes whose window of elite performance was closing, the extra year made qualifying that much more difficult — at least in theory. A few American athletes seem poised to defy that […]
Welcome to this week’s episode of Hot Takedown, our podcast where the hot sports takes of the week meet the numbers that prove them right or tear them down. On this week’s show (July 28, 2015), we discuss a ruling by an athletic court that makes the distinction between male and female athletes harder to […]
Welcome to this week’s episode of Hot Takedown, our podcast where the hot sports takes of the week meet the numbers that prove them right or tear them down. On this week’s show (July 28, 2015), we discuss a ruling by an athletic court that makes the distinction between male and female athletes harder to […]
