News Finding: One factor in leading 50K times getting faster is that younger runners have increasingly turned to the event.
Paper Finding: In the 50 km ( Figure 7A ) and the 100 km events ( Figure 7B ), running speed increased significantly in the annual fastest women and men.
News Context: In contrast, the top runners' speed at 200K and 1,000K, which are contested less frequently, didn't change during the study period. One factor in leading 50K times getting faster is that younger runners have increasingly turned to the event. In 1988, the average age of the year's 10 fastest women was 39, while in 2012 it was 32.
Paper Context: There were not enough data available for an analysis of age of peak running speed in the 200 km and the 1,000 km events. In the 50 km ( Figure 7A ) and the 100 km events ( Figure 7B ), running speed increased significantly in the annual fastest women and men. There were no significant changes in running speed in 1,000 km events ( Figure 7D ) where peak running speed remained unchanged at 4.6 ± 0.6 km/h for women and at 5.5 ± 0.6 km/h for men.