The 1000m Olympic record

Zuppy

Where would you stand?? (posted on the GIKR and CI marathon facebook page)

Here is a little graphic showing a comparison of sprinters and their times over the years. This shows what would have happened if all the Olympic Champions lined up in a race, based on their then average speed. By comparison I included the current world record holders and ME (Lawrence not zuppy)!

As an example take a look at the mens 1000m. In this race Max Hoff set a world record of 3 min 22.48 in 2011. His closest rival was E Larssen in London. Eirik was 12 meters behind when Max crossed the line. Go back as far as Atlanta in 1996 and K Holmann was only a further 5 meters behind Larrsen. Pretty amazing.

Kayaking is a difficult sport to compare times at different events due to a number external factors. However, with a couple of exceptions all three graphs show a similar result. Slow and consistent improvements in time over the decades.

I added the times of the most recent Junior and U23 paddlers, showing them to be close behind our three World Record holders.

It would be great to pass this around the canoeing world to get more times.

So if you want to enter this race, just send me your times and dates achieved and we can see where you were when Max, Adam or Bridgette crossed the line.

Ive entered myself in the mens and womens races!!

In the mens 1000m I was at 779m when Max crossed but was ahead of G Fredriksson in 1948. (Fredriksson came back and whipped me in 1952)
In the mens 500m I was at 382m when Adam crossed the line.
In the womens 500m I was at 430 when Bridgette crossed the line.

For me to win a gold medal I would need a gender change and time machine to take me back before I was born.

Please share this, don’t be shy, send on your times.

OldmanMondeo

Well if it was me, I would need to start in 1948 to finish near the WRH.

I would like to see the top Irish times compared if these where available.

Zuppy

OldmanMondeo wrote: »

Well if it was me, I would need to start in 1948 to finish near the WRH.

I would like to see the top Irish times compared if these where available.

Not sure how easy it would be to find that data. Will be chatting to the man tomorrow who may know

leftism

I'm open to correction, but i believe the top 3 Irish performances for 1000m are the following:

Barry Watkins: 3:31.8 (Racice 2013)
Neil Fleming: 3:32.2 (Plovdiv 2005)
Pat Holmes: 3:35.5 (Barcelona 1992)

Bar and myself have paddled several 33's, 34's and 35's over the years at different competitions. Pat Holmes' time from 92 Olympics was absolutely outstanding, considering the record held for 13 years. I believe the 500m time of 1.39 set by Alan Carey in 1992 may actually still be the National record, although it is possible that Barry has gone quicker than that in competition. My fastest in 500 was a 1.40.8 and to this day i'm still gutted i never broke the 1.40 barrier in competition. I have massive respect for Alan and Pat because those guys were paddling truly world class times with inferior equipment and next to no funding or support.

The future of Irish sprinting looks bright though, and i think Barry has it in him to crack the infamous 3.30 barrier at some point in the future. I also think that young Mickie Fitzsimons can get down to 3.30 in the next 2 years, based on his age and the remarkable improvements he showed last season. Add into the mix that you now have 2 Irish girls paddling sub 1.58 500m times, a C1 200m athlete that is one of the best in the World, and the national team is probably the strongest it has ever been. That may or may not qualify an Irish boat for Rio, but whatever the outcome, they are mixing it with the best in the world. The problem with Olympic qualifying in Sprint is that you have 20 to 30 athletes in each class, all paddling world class times but only the top 8 will directly secure a spot.

leftism

It is also important to reiterate out how misleading it can be to compare times and records. Water temperature and wind speed play a massive role in how fast you'll cover 1000m. I recall a race in Poznan (2007 i think) when Ben Fouhy and Adam Vankouverden both paddled 3.24. But it was blowing a massive tailwind that day and Poznan is a notoriously fast course when the wind blows and the water is hot.

For me, the most impressive performance in history is Eirik Larsen's victory in Athens 2004 for the simple reason that conditions that day were absolutely flat calm and he was still able to get down in 3:25.9.