Did you dare watch Alex Honnold on his free solo climb of the Taipei 101 last Sunday? Could you stomach the risks involved as he scaled the 508 metres of a building that was once the tallest in the world, without a rope or any safety gear, each death-defying moment captured live on Netflix?
Everyone has their own definition of being on top of the world. It took Honnold just over 90 minutes to complete the first ever free solo climb of Taipei 101 (named for its number of floors) after which he celebrated his world record feat – the highest building climbed with no safety equipment – with one word: “Sick.” Weren’t we all.
The crazy thing is the 40-year-old from California won’t even make the Guinness World Records. Published annually since 1955, it has stopped recognising any record which poses a threat to health or the environment. Honnold might disagree: a scan of his brain revealed a muted amygdala response, suggesting he doesn’t fear things like normal people. Honnold saw no barrier or risk.
There are no such fears when it comes to the track and field world records recognised by World Athletics (previously the IAAF), since the governing body was established in 1912. The breaking of world records began long before that. The first world record in the 100 yards, for example, dates back to 1855, when Britain’s Thomas Bury ran 10.0 seconds to win the Emmanuel College Sports at Cambridge.
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Soon plenty of Irish athletes got in on the act, though most are probably long forgotten. Remember Tommy Conneff from Kildare? After emigrating to the US, he ran 4:15 3/5 at Travers Island in New York in 1895, and that stood as the world mile record for 16 years.
Peter O’Connor, of Wicklow stock, broke the long jump world record on four different occasions, pushing it out to 7.61m in 1901. Though it pained him to represent Great Britain, O’Connor’s mark stood for 20 years – a long jump longevity only surpassed by Jesse Owens’s 25-year record, Bob Beamon’s 23-year record, and by current world record holder Mike Powell, whose mark has now stood for 35 years.
The IAAF were slower to recognise world indoor records, but between them Ronnie Delany and Eamonn Coghlan broke the world indoor mile record six times. Marcus O’Sullivan also broke the world indoor 1,500m record in 1989.
The most recent Irish athlete to break a world record in track and field? That should be an easy one, even if it means taking your pick of the many world records broken by Sonia O’Sullivan over the years.
O’Sullivan’s first step into the record books was in January 1991, when she broke the world indoor record for 5,000m, running 15:17.28 at the Terrier Classic in Boston. Sadly, it didn’t last long, as just two weeks later Uta Pippig from Germany ran 15:13.72 in Stuttgart.
Three years later, in Edinburgh in 1994, O’Sullivan ran 5:25.36 to break the world record over 2,000m. A rarely raced distance, but recognised nonetheless by World Athletics, that mark stood for 23 years, before Genzebe Dibaba from Ethiopia ran 5:23.75, indoors, in 2017.
Over another rarely raced distance, O’Sullivan broke the two-mile record at the Cork City Sports in 1998, her 9:19:58 taking nine seconds off the previous mark. She also set world best marks on the road over five miles (in Loughrea) and 10-miles (in Portsmouth), although they didn’t last long.
This is all part of the curious psychology behind breaking a world record. While some records repeatedly fall in quick succession, others can go unbroken for many years. It depends in part on how these records are perceived in the first place.
Before Roger Bannister broke the world mile record in 1954, famously running 3:59.4, some people thought breaking the four-minute barrier was simply beyond human possibilities. It turns out it was as much in the head as it was the heart, lungs and legs. Just 46 days later, John Landy from Australia broke Bannister’s world record, running 3:58.0, and a year later, three men ran under four minutes in the same race.
Sometimes the longer a world record stands, the harder it becomes to break, when if anything the advances in training, technology and recovery should make it easier. Then once the record goes the floodgates open.
There is clearly a bit of that going on with US distance running right now. In Boston last Saturday night, at the first of eight World Indoor Tour Gold meetings, two US athletes broke the world indoor 800m and 2,000m records which between them had a combined age of 48 years.
Firstly, Hobbs Kessler ran 4:49.48 in the 2,000m, under Kenenisa Bekele’s world record of 4:49.99, which had stood to the Ethiopian since 2007. It was also the last of Bekele’s five world records to fall, which included the 5,000m mark he broke outdoors, and his former 10,000m mark of 26:17.53, which stood for 15 years.
Just 23 minutes later, Josh Hoey won the 800m in 1:42.50, breaking the record of 1:42.67 which had stood since 1997 to Wilson Kipketer, the Kenyan-born athlete running for Denmark. That also made it six world indoor records set by four different US athletes within the last year, including Grant Fisher over 3,000m, and Yared Nuguse over the indoor mile.
That’s helped create inevitable talk of more world record attempts at this Sunday’s Millrose Games in New York. Hoey has pulled out, but the men’s 800m is still loaded, with Ireland’s Cian McPhillips one of five sub-1:43 men in the field, including two former world 800m champions from the US, Donovan Brazier and Bryce Hoppel.
McPhillips ran 1:42.15 when finishing fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo last September, capping off a stunning breakthrough season for the 23-year-old from Longford. He already looks to have found another gear, cruising to victory over 600m in Boston last Saturday night.
For now, McPhillips is entirely focused on winning at Millrose. Besides, all records are there to be broken, while medals last forever. Just ask any of Ireland’s world record breakers over the years which they would prefer, and what they will ultimately be remembered for.
