Men's High Jump Favourite To Be Next World Record Broken

After Eliud Kipchoge ran mankind's first sub-two hour marathon, and Brigid Kosgei smashed the official women's marathon world record, it got us thinking about what athletics world record will be broken next.

Reigning Olympic champion Kipchoge ran 1:59:40 in Vienna on Saturday, proving his No Human Is Limited mantra and bettering his world record of 2:01:39. The highly-controlled circumstances in which the time was run, means it does not count as an official world record, but it does show that the 34-year-old can do it, and perhaps Berlin 2020 will be when he runs that time officially.

Incredibly, one day later, fellow Kenyan Kosgei smashed the women's marathon world record at the Chicago Marathon, running 2:14:04 to beat the record Paula Radcliffe set 16 years ago by 81 seconds! And all this came after a raft of new world records at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, so, what next?

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Next Major World Record to be Broken Odds

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Were New Records Set at World Athletics Championships?

Despite intense heat and humidity in Doha for the 2019 World Athletics Championships, the air-conditioning provided almost perfect conditions for big performances inside the Khalifa International Stadium.

In the final major world event before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics next summer, the Women's 400m Hurdles world record was broken by new World Champion Dalilah Muhammad.

Running 52.16s, the American beat her own record set in July, second-placed Sydney McLaughlin also running the 400m hurdles faster than any other woman in the past nine years.

The US also set a new record for the Mixed 4x400m relay, running first 3:12.42 in the heats, and then 3:09.34 in the final to take the world title.

There was an U20 World Record of 2.04m from Ukranian Yaraslava Mahuchikh in the Women's High Jump, and six Championship Records, including in the Men's 800m (1:42.34) and in the Men's Shot Put (22.91m), a competition which produced three of the top five longest throws in history.

What Other World Athletics Records Were Set in 2019?

Outside the Women's Marathon and the World Athletics Championships, five athletics world records were broken in 2019, though none came in Olympic events.

In June, Olympic 400m champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo took the Women's 300m world record at the 58th edition of the Golden Spike in the Czech Republic. She ran 34.41s and went on to take silver in the 400m at the World Championships.

The same month, Klavdiya Afanasyeva produced 3:57:08 to become the second ever woman to walk under four hours in the Women's 50km Race Walk and the following month Sifan Hassan broke the Women's Mile record at the Diamond League meeting in Monaco, running 4:12.56 to beat a record that had stood since 1996.

The 1500m and 10,000m World Champion also ran the fourth fastest time in 3000m history in June.

September then saw Geoffrey Kamworor set a new fastest Men's Half Marathon time of 58:01 in Copenhagen, besting the time of 58:18 set by fellow Kenyan Abraham Kiptum in Valencia in 2018.

Finally, Gesa Felicitas Krause smashed the record in the rarely-run Women's 2000m Steeplechase at the ISTAF Berlin meeting in September, just three days after breaking the German record in the 3000m chase. The 27-year-old ran 5:52.80, the second and third finishers also filling those places in the world's fastest times for the event.

So What Will Be The Next Athletics World Record Broken?

Looking at the betting for which major world record will be broken next, the Men's High Jump, Triple Jump, and Long Jump take the top three spots in the odds, and for good reason.

Men's High Jump World Record - 2/1 favourite

Javier Sotomayor was 25 when setting the Men's High Jump record of 2.45m in 1993, and though nobody jumped higher than 2.37m in 2019, former U20 World Champion Mikhail Akimenko did continue his steady progression.

The 24-year-old finished second to a resurgent Mutaz Barshim (pictured above) at the World Championships, jumping a personal best of 2.35m to Barshim's 2.37m - the highest jump of the year so far.

He is a candidate to take Sotomayor's record, though the older Barshim needs to find only 3cm to beat him to it.

The Qatari athlete was returning from a serious ankle injury in Doha, and had previously jumped 2.40m or higher an impressive 11 times, boasting a PB of 2.43m. With two jumpers so close to that world record, it's little wonder it's the favourite to go next.

Men's Triple Jump World Record - 7/2 second-favourite

World indoor Triple Jump champion Will Claye jumped 18.14m at the Jim Bush meeting in Long Beach, California in June. It put him third on the all-time list, 0.15m shy of Jonathan Edwards' long-standing triple jump world record.

He went on to jump 18.06m again in Paris, but took silver at the World Championships with 17.74m, being beaten by one of only five other men who have jumped more than 18m in the triple jump - Christian Taylor, the two-time Olympic Champion, who has jumped 18.21m.

Needing only 9cm to take the world record, Taylor will surely be pushing the boundaries in presumably his final Olympics at Tokyo 2020.

Men's Long Jump World Record - 11/2 third-favourite

Cuba's 21-year-old world indoor Men's Long Jump champion Juan Miguel Echevarria is edging ever closer to Mike Powell's world record of 8.95m, which just so happens to have been set in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo in 1991.

The third longest jump of 8.87m was set at the same Games, and Echevarria's personal best of 8.68m ranks at number 11, 1cm behind 2019's world leading distance of 8.69m, jumped by 23-year-old Tajay Gayle to win the world title in Doha.

With two improving young talents both headed for Tokyo 2020, albeit to a new, improved Olympic stadium, there is definitely a possibility of a new Men's Long Jump world record soon, though it's a big ask to find more than 27cm in less than 12 months.

What about the other records in the betting?

Well, the Men's Indoor Shot Put record is absolutely ripe for the plucking, America's Ryan Crouser going to 22.33m in February, just 33cm off team mate Randy Barnes's world record of 22.66m - set way back in 1989.

Crouser hasn't done much indoor competition, but seeing how much he has improved outdoors since that throw, should motivate him to go for that world record soon.

The Olympic champion annihilated his own outdoor personal best at the World Championships with 22.90m earning him silver behind team mate Joe Kovacs, who also obliterated his PB to throw 22.91cm, the joint third furthest throw of all-time.

Florence Griffith-Joyner might not hold on to the Women's 100m record much longer either, as 19-year-old Sha'Carri Richardson has been ripping up the US 100m circuit.

She finally ran under 11s in March and in June set a world-leading time of 10.75s for 2019. It was 0.53s faster than her 2018 previous season's best, and she now only needs 0.27s to take the world record.

In Women's Long Jump, Germany's new world champion Malaika Mihambo now needs to find only 23cm to take Galina Chistyakova's 31-year-old record! The 25-year-old European champion finished 2018 with a PB of 6.99m, but has been smashing 7m all year, and set a new life-time best of 7.30m to win in Doha.

More Athletics World Records About To Fall (That You Can't Bet On, Yet)

With the Women's Marathon and Men's Half-Marathon records falling, and Kipchoge proving men can run the marathon under 2hrs, 2019 was a breakthrough year for long distance running.

In addition to those landmark runs, Kenenisa Bekele, favourite for the Tokyo 2020 Marathon with athletics bookmakers, ran only two seconds slower than Kipchoge's world record at Berlin in September. That record of 2:01:39s was set on the same course in 2018.

Sheila Cepkirui and Dorcas Kimeli jointly ran the second fastest Women's 10km Road Race time at the notoriously quick Birelli Prague 10km in September - putting them 14s off the World Record, set in 2017 at the same race by Joyciline Jepkosgei.

Inside the stadium, Venezualan Yulimar Rojas produced the second-fastest Women's Triple Jump of all-time in September, when going to 15.41m to win at Andujar in Spain. Having jumped 9cm less than Inessa Kravets's 1995 World Record, she went on to retain her world title in Doha.

In Women's Pole Vault, the Russian Anzhelika Sidorova went to 4.95m to clinch the world title at the World Athletics Championships. The height put her in third position in the overall standings, 11cm behind record-holder Yelena Isinbayeva, who jumped 5.06m in 2009.

And another subsequent world champion, Norway's Karsten Warholm, ran 0.14s slower than Kevin Young's Men's 400m Hurdles World Record when winning at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich in August.