Elite Young Runners Are Becoming Freakishly Fast. Welcome to ‘Trackflation’
High school track and field athletes are recording significantly faster times than in previous decades, a trend dubbed 'trackflation.' Experts and observers attribute this to a combination of improved training, technology, and social media-driven competition.
Why it matters
The rapid improvement in youth athletic performance challenges historical benchmarks and changes the landscape of collegiate recruitment and sports culture.
My son had the race of his life at sectionals, shaving several seconds off his personal best. He also got absolutely smoked. The top three boys all finished in well under 4 minutes and 30 seconds. The next six broke 4:38. By the time my son collapsed across the finish line in second-to-last place, the winner was deep into his post-race stretching routine.
Had teenage runners at mid-tier meets always been that absurdly fast? Based on my limited knowledge of track, I suspected not, so I looked up the 1,600-meter results from the 2015 sectionals. Back then, only three boys broke 4:40, and my son would have finished in the middle of the pack. I was now curious whether kids beyond my provincial corner of New York were getting a lot faster too.
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