- It is a journey which involves documentation to international scrutiny.
- The late Kelvin Kiptum had his Chicago marathon record winning time of 2:00:35 ratified on February 6.
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In the riveting world of athletics, the road to record books is not just about breaking barriers.
It is an intricate and meticulous journey that involves documentation to international scrutiny.
The process is done in line with the world athletics rules and takes several months.
Late Kelvin Kiptum, for instance, had his Chicago marathon record winning time of 2:00:35 ratified on February 6. This was four months after the event.
Eliud Kipchoge's 2:01:09 record in the Berlin Marathon was ratified on January 17, 2023, almost four months after the race. This means their records are officially valid.
How it is done
The process involves verifying that the performance meets all the required criteria and adheres to the rules and regulations of the governing body which is the World Athletics.
But, before this, an athlete has to be tested and the results have to be negative to move on to the next step.
The athlete must also have been eligible to compete under the World Records Athletics Competition Rules and must have been under the jurisdiction of a member of the WA.
To be officially recognised by the World Athletics, the results must be achieved in competitions conducted according to WA Rules and Regulations in force.
Stadium events
Performances achieved in mixed competitions in track events are not accepted.
According to WA Rule 147, performances achieved in events of 5000m and 10,000m may be accepted in circumstances where there were insufficient athletes of one or both genders competing to justify the conduct of separate races and there was no pacing or assistance given by an athlete(s) of one gender to an athlete (s) of the other gender.
Road races
All performances in marathons and half marathons must be achieved on a course that holds a valid International Course Measurement Certificate established no more than five years before the date of the race.
WA rules state that the marathon course on which the performance occurred must be 42.195 km (26.219 miles) long.
The distance is measured in a defined manner using the calibrated bicycle method (the distance in kilometers being the official distance, the distance in miles is an approximation).
The athletes should also meet other criteria that rule out artificially fast times produced on courses aided by downhill slopes or tailwinds.
The criteria include the start and finish of a course measured along a theoretical straight line between them, are further apart than 50 percent of the race distance are valid for legal top list, entry standards and world rankings but not valid for world records.
Performances achieved on courses with a drop in elevation between the start and the finish which exceeds 1:1000, i.e. 1m per km, are valid for world rankings (where a correction is made to the result score from which points are deducted depending on the drop but not valid for legal top lists, entry standards and world records.