The real question I think is why the 1600 meter run isn’t the standard. It’s four laps of a 400 meter track, and is 9 meters shy of a mile. Which is a lot more comparable than 1500 meters.
The 1500 has been the world standard since at least 1896(first Olympics).
Many of the tracks in those days were 500 meters so three laps came close to the mile hence the designation of “metric mile”.
To put it into context,
Josh Kerr ran the first 1500m in 3:27.62 the 7th fastest time ever and while the 6 guys faster than him stopped to recover Kerr ran another 109m at a pace faster than he had averaged for the previous 1500m.
You can argue whether a 3:42.66 mile is a better time than El Guerrouj’s 3:26:00 for 1500m but it is definitely up there as one of the fastest middle distance runs of all time.
World Athletics scoring calculator.
1500 3:26.00 = 1303
Mile 3:42:66 = 1298
There are some other ‘non-metric’ events in athletics.
A men’s shotput weighs 7.26 kg - which is exactly 16 lbs. Women only started doing shot put at the olympics after WW2, and they use a 4kg weight - they started with metric weights. Both men and women use the same throwing circle which is 7ft in diameter (or 2.14 m). All junior weight classes are metric.
Hammer throwing uses the same throwing circle and the same weights.
Interestingly, discus and javelin regulations have has always been metric - both weights and throwing circle. Similarly, Javelin regulations are all metric.
These are throwing events, they would have to start a whole new list of records with the new weights and no one would have the opportunity to break the previous records.
That wouldn’t be unprecedented. In 1986 the centre of gravity of the Javelin was moved forward and all records were reset.
There were two reasons this was done:
- The longest throws were getting to the point where it distances continued to improve they would start throwing the javelin onto the running track at the opposite end of the stadium.
- The Javelin would move into a point down attitude sooner resulting in far fewer no throws due to the back of the Javelin landing first.
2nd fastest 1500m ever
Bernard Legat 3:26:34 21st Aug 2001 = 1297
So by that reckoning, Josh Kerr’s mile is the second “fastest” 1500m/mile of all time and the “fastest” for 25 years.
I forgot about that. In my defense, that was “field”, I do “track”.
The points do not really work that way to enable any direct comparisons, as I have suggested. He was deliberately attempting to run a record mile, not 1500m.
I wasn’t sure if that was the case but I was responding to @running_coach 's comment where he directly compared Kerr’s performance with the 1500m WR and I thought I running coach should know.
My understanding is that the points are supposed to be equal across events. The whole idea is to compare the relative performance across different events.
I sorta remember that, although banister broke the barrier in 1954, when I was still in short pants. When I was in high school, there was a kid who ran it in 4:11. Everyone was in awe of him. Don’t know whatever became of him.
Drifting away from track and field - shooting competitions are in yards. Golf. American football. Don’t EVEN think about using meters for the NFL. I don’t think anyone has ever heard an announcer ask, “A first down is about 9.14 meters, right?”
That points calculator is interesting. It allows direct comparisons between running and throwing events. In the end, it’s just a scoring mechanism. I haven’t looked at the formulae, but it seems to be based on percentage of the standing world record plus other metrics.
Interestingly, a men’s outdoor shot put equaling the current world record (23.56m / 77’ 3.5") is worth 1334 points. I assume that can be applied to a team score, perhaps to rank international athletics programs against each other.
The men’s outdoor shot put scoring ends at an even 1400 points (24.66M, a hair under 80’ 11"). Needless to say, besting the shot put record by a meter would be an incredible feat.
Sure; I just meant that, had it been a 1500m race, he would have (tried to!) run the first 1500m at a faster pace, and therefore gotten more points.
Essentially all the dimensions for a soccer / Association Football pitch are in yards & feet. E.g. the size of the goal (outside youth soccer) is 8 x 24 ft.
If you play golf outside of the US they will do meters. I played once in Ireland and had a hard time figuring out what club to use. I was also using rental clubs so that made it difficult as well.
Swimming does yards and meters, and there are short course meters, 25 meters, and long course, 50 meters. They do 50, 100, 200 in both. 500, 1000, 1650 yards. 400, 800, 1500 in meters. I’m pretty sure all open water events are in meters, though some are still stated in miles.
Never saw that distance in swimming, at least not in the Olympics or WCs. 1500 meters is the longest pool swimming distance.