To get an idea of the challenging place athletics finds itself in right now, the media centre at Chicago’s Hilton hotel immediately after the city’s marathon on Sunday was an instructive place to be.
On a platform sat Brigid Kosgei, just minutes after running into the history books by becoming the fastest female over 26.2 miles the world has ever seen.
The Kenyan’s astonishing performance completed a momentous weekend for distance running, coming just 24 hours after compatriot Eliud Kipchoge’s historic sub two-hour effort over the same distance in Vienna.
On paper at least, both feats breathe new life into the sport, generating front-page coverage, lighting up social media, capturing the imagination and inspiring genuine awe among the general public, at a time when athletics is crying out for positive stories and new stars after the retirement of Usain Bolt.
Kipchoge’s achievement was not without controversy of course, with many seeing it partly as a marketing stunt for the benefit of Nike, whose prototype shoes the Kenyan legend wore, and a publicity coup for petrochemicals giant Ineos.
Its logo was prominent throughout, the company’s lavish funding ensuring nothing was left to chance, from the rotating pacemakers and laser-beaming support vehicle to the perfectly flat running surface.
Such artificial advantages meant Kipchoge’s milestone did not count as an official world record. Kosgei’s, meanwhile, most certainly did. Paula Radcliffe, the British woman whose 16-year-old record she obliterated, was at the finish line to congratulate her.
But on Sunday in Chicago, Kosgei could not escape questions from journalists about precisely which running shoes she had been wearing, and if they were the same as Kipchoge’s. Her performance, coming so soon after his, intensifying the mounting controversy over whether the latest technology results in too great a marginal gain, and makes comparisons with previous eras of running unfair.
And she had to reassure those present that such a performance could be trusted, given the recent spate of doping scandals involving high-profile Kenyan runners.
