AW Magazine

5 June 2025

The latest issue of AW (out on June 5) delves into Faith Kipyegon’s upcoming attempt at becoming the first woman to break the four-minute mile. We look at the bid from every angle – with top coaches providing their thoughts on what will be involved in trying to pull off the feat, there’s insight from the University of Exeter team involved in the project, Olympic 1500m silver medallist Jessica Hull outlines why Kipyegon is creating a “special time” in women’s middle distance running and AW columnist Katharine Merry recalls a very famous brush with technology when it came to another revered female athlete. Ben Bloom also puts forward the argument around why the staging of manufactured events such as this Breaking Four idea and Eliud Kipchoge’s sub two-hour marathon has an important role to play in athletics. Elsewhere in the issue, there’s an exclusive interview with on-form American sprinter Kenny Bednarek, who has his sights set on world 200m gold in 2025, after becoming “Mr Silver” at major championships. Hurdler Karsten Warholm also didn’t have the outcome he was looking for at the Paris Olympics. The Norwegian and his coach, Lief Olav Alnes, discuss how they set about helping the world 400m hurdles champion to fire on all cylinders once again after some difficult injury struggles. We hear, too, about the Scottish coach who helped set Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe on the path to marathon glory, while British athlete Jake Smith talks about how he has found happiness again after his struggles with RED-S. In our performance section, Allie Outram writes about the difficult topic of disordered eating, while sprinter Amy Hunt talks about her Italian training regime, Scott Simpson gives his thoughts on the art of coaching and running shoe guru Paul Freary tests the latest trail footwear.