Charilaos Vasilakos had won the very first modern marathon in 1896. It was on the qualifying race for the Olympic Team in Greece in less than 198 minutes. These days, that wouldn’t even made him through with Boston Marathon.
Improvement and Innovation will be Permanent
From the start of modern Olympic Games, World Records are still prevalent and has significantly made advancements, that are driven by a number of factors like:
- Global conflicts
- Technological innovation
- Social change and;
- Rules modification
In relation to the athlete’s performance, there’s a general trend towards it and it is mainly brought by our knowledge of fitness, nutrition, diet and conditioning.
This is as per Mark Williams, who is a sport, health and exercise science professor at the Brunel University in London.
Changing Times
As per social changes, it may drive performance too because it seems to have contributed in women’s marathon. Women back then were excluded from participating in these types of events including the Boston Marathon. It was believed that their physique wouldn’t be able to take the toll of long races.
But this changed when Robert Gibb hid in bushes beside the Marathon’s starting line and became the very first woman to ever complete the course in 1966.