In an unofficial race in Vienna in 2019, Kenyan long-distance runner Eliud Kipchoge became the first person ever to run a marathon in under two hours. A new study shows how teamwork made that feat possible.
Kipchoge ran with a rotating posse of pacers, other runners who deflected some of his air resistance in a process known as drafting. Now, wind tunnel tests with action-figure manikins suggest that those pacers saved him 3 minutes and 33 seconds — dropping him below the two-hour mark to 1:59:40 — researchers report August 16 in Proceedings of the Royal Society A. An alternative configuration of pacers could have given Kipchoge an even bigger boost, cutting an additional 49 seconds, the team proposes.
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