Thoughts & analysis
Which athletics world records are really under threat?
Some world records have stood for decades despite numerous near misses. Others have been pushed to their limits by a new generation of athletes. But can the numbers really tell us which records might fall next?
My spectator PBs
Some athletics fans collect programmes. Some collect autographs. Apparently I collect the best performances I’ve happened to be sitting in a stadium for.
10 things in athletics writing that make me twitch
After more than 20 years of writing and editing athletics copy, I’ve developed opinions about things that no well-adjusted person should have opinions about.
Chronological list of the sub-11 club
A chronological list of every sprinter in history – all 182 of them – who has broken 11 seconds for the women’s 100m, from 1977 to 2026.
Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 and the marathon’s changing landscape
A statistical analysis of Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 world marathon record from 2003.
The statistical value of a sub-four-minute mile
What is a sub-four-minute mile really ‘worth’, and how does it compare to other disciplines in athletics?
Chronological list of the sub-10 club
A chronological list of every sprinter in history – all 232 of them – who has broken 10 seconds for the men’s 100m, from 1968 to 2026.
A governing body’s event coverage isn’t independent journalism. Nor is it supposed to be.
The real job of governing-body media – and why stronger official coverage need not come at the expense of independent journalism.
The mile, the myth and the men who made it
Why does athletics treat a 3:59 mile as though it bestows some kind of sporting immortality? Where does that reverence came from, who built the mythology around it, and whose version of athletics history does it reflect?
When race becomes the achievement
When Christophe Lemaître became the first white man to legally break 10 seconds for 100m in 2010, I was fascinated by it. It was unusual. It was historically noteworthy. Inevitably, it became the story. But even at the time, I remember thinking: hopefully this is where that story ends.