In the 1940s a well known track coach predicted a set of ultimate times and distances for several events. He declared that these standards were the best performances for those events that could ever be achieved. The only one I can remember is 4:01 for the mile. All of the marks have long since been surpassed. Does anyone remember any other information about this?
I’m going to shoot this over to the Games (and sports) forum for ya. You’ll probably have better luck getting an answer to your question there.
I’ve also edited the title, just a bit, to show what you’re specifically asking for.
Welcome to the boards, by the way.
Might have beenBrutus Hamilton.
Here he predicts no one will run 100 yards in under 9.0 seconds. Scroll to page 17, right hand column.
Found it, sorta.
It’s called The Ultimate in Human Effort by Brutus Hamilton but I haven’t found a copy online.
Here’s a cached copyof an article about it.