– why aren’t all middle/long distance athletics track events in multiples of 400? Why the 1500 metres and not 1600 metres so that the race is an exact number of laps.
In: 61
Because the track isn’t 40m long. When you run the 400 metres you all start in different positions since you have to run in your lane and this how you make sure everyone runs the same distance. Hence the track isn’t actually 400m long.
In the 1500m you don’t have to stay in lane (everyone moves to the inside of the curves) and so the races reflect the true length of the lap.
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