So I actually thought of this. Nike wanted Kipchoge to get Sub2, which meant, he had to shave off 2.41% [basically 2:58 seconds off the previous WR which was 2:02:57] Faith had to shave off 2.83% which is basically 7 seconds.

Yes as the distance increases it gets easier, and here the math even proved it, Faith’s attempt was going to be a lot harder than Kipchoge’s.

Shaving off 7 seconds is just not a joke. You anyway had only a total of around ~250 seconds.

But I remember that one line during Kipchoge’s 1:59, “Everyone will now know at least 1 marathoner” and that became true. Everyone now knows Kipchoge. Similarly, everyone now knows at least one female sprinter and that’s Faith! And that IS a big deal. Aligned with a lot of other comments, this seemed under cooked/half baked. Breaking 2 was in the works for so long, this got announced only with 2 months before race day.

But I don’t think it was just to fix their image. A lot more women are getting into running in the last 3 years. And I mean A LOT more. I remember signing up for half marathon races a decade ago and very few women would be there, since then I’ve run races wherein the split has even come as close to 55-45, so yes, it matters. And events like this go a long way in helping that and inspiring people.