WMM Reacts to New Rule on Women’s World Records
Boston, September 20, 2011— The IAAF World Championships ended on Sept. 4, but at least one bit of action appears to be just heating up. In Daegu, South Korea, the IAAF Congress held in conjunction with the championships passed a motion to change the standard by which women athletes achieve world record performances in road races. The new criterion states that only times earned in all-women competitions would be classified as world records, and that performances in mixed conditions would now be called world bests. In a mixed-gender race, it is possible for men to pace women to quicker times.
The decision is retroactive, meaning that the women's marathon world record just got more than two minutes slower as Paula Radcliffe's record of 2:15:25 set at the Virgin London Marathon in 2003 has now been downgraded to a world best, while her time of 2:17:42 set in London in 2005—in a women-only start—becomes the new record.
Yesterday, the
"AIMS and WMM will continue to acknowledge both types of performances as world records and will discuss this matter further with the IAAF, recognizing that: a) The vast majority of women‘s road races throughout the world are held in mixed conditions. b) The current situation where the fastest time is not now recognized as a record is confusing and unfair and does not respect the history of our sport."
The WMM is made up of the Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago, and New York marathons; AIMS represents more than 300 races around the world.
Radcliffe, who is set to begin her marathon comeback from childbirth last year at Sunday's BMW Berlin Marathon, says she believes it's unfair to make the decision retroactive.
"I think it is a decision that is going to be hard to fully enforce," she told Jim Ferstle in a Runner's World Brief Chat. "Look at how many national and area records are set in mixed races. I also think it is a little unfair to set it like that retroactively. If they were going to make that rule, it should have been so from the beginning when world records came in on the roads. Now it is messy.
"In my two mixed races it was not my decision, rather the race organizers', to have male runners with me, and in each case I very consciously ran alongside them rather than ever behind. Indeed, in London, I was actively racing the two guys. Furthermore, I fully believe that I would have run pretty much the same time that day alone with the crowds and motorbikes. However, rules are rules and I am not stressing about things that are out of my control."
Under the new rule, Grete Waitz's three world records set at the New York City Marathon (1978, 1979, 1980) as well as Allison Roe's world record in 1981 would become world bests, as would any women's world record set in a mixed-gender race.
According to a Reuters story published in London's Guardian newspaper, an IAAF spokesman recognized the difference of opinion and said it was now up to the marathon bodies to argue their case formally.
