There were just two unravel world records broken at the Rio Olympics in 2016 : Wayde van Niekerk , from South Africa , in the men ’s 400 m and Almaz Ayana , from Ethiopia , in the women ’s 10,000 m.
Then , at this year ’s athletic contest existence championships in London , only one jock succeeded in fall apart a world - record . That accolade went to Portugal’sInes Henriquesfor the women ’s 50 km race walk . Although an exceedingly telling personal achievement , the fact that it was a record - breaker is not exactly surprising sightedness as it was the very first class the event was contested . ( organiser introduced the event to guarantee sex equivalence . homo have been able to contend in the 50 km race walksince 1932 . )
This might not be a short - condition magnetic inclination in phonograph record - breaking moments , experts say . It could be the start of a raw , recollective - full term trend .
While improvements in breeding and sustenance in the 20th century get word athletic achievement better in leaps and saltation , many scientists believe we ’re now extremely snug to reaching the human organic structure ’s full potential for endurance sports . This means that the era of record - breakage , at least as far as professional runners are touch , could be coming to an final stage . To break the raw terminal point of human physiology and shell existing records , jock may have to twist to contrived technology and doping .
This argumentation is backed up by enquiry . In 2008 – before Usain Bolt bang up existing record for the human being ’s 100 m in 2009 – astudyfound that athletes have already accomplished 99 percentage of what is physically possible according to human biology .
Many factors are needed to make the " perfect " runner . Vincent Pialoux , deputy capitulum of Lyon ’s Inter - University Laboratory of Human Movement Biology , key out " three major physiological and biomechanical criteria ” in an clause published byAFP . These are endurance , the ability to produce energy using O , and motor efficiency ( an jock ’s power to economise vim ) .
" Of these three factors , if we take the best data measured in the research laboratory on dissimilar athletes , we go far at times well below the terminus ad quem predicted " by model base on the phylogeny of carrying out , hesaid .
No professional athlete has ticktock all the boxes so the " perfect " offset is , at least for the time being , rigorously theoretical . Still , now that we are approaching our biologic limitation , will we see more incidents ofdoping , stem turn - cellphone therapy , andgenetically engineered athlete ?
" The translation of man into an beast capable of running a endurance contest in one hour and 40 minute would take a longsighted time , if it is potential , and there are an incalculable figure of scientific limits , " added performance expert Pierre Sallet from Athletes for Transparency .
And , as he repoint out , " there will always be one limit : prevent the person alive . "
