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Over the past century, “maximal oxygen uptake” has turned out to be a valuable marker of both endurance and health.No tidbit of physiological jargon has achieved more popular renown than VO2 max, also known as maximal oxygen uptake. And, for the past century, none has been so consistently misunderstood. A new commentary in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, led by Grégoire Millet of the University of Lausanne, marks the 100th anniversary of the landmark paper by A. V. Hill and Hartley Lupton that first described VO2 max. It’s a big milestone, and it offers a good excuse to take a closer look at what VO2 max really means and why it (sometimes) matters.

A.V. Hill was a 4:45 miler and already had a Nobel Prize for work in muscle physiology when he and Lupton began studying VO2 max. The experiments involved subjects running around Hill’s back garden in Manchester with air bags strapped to their back to measure how much oxygen they used. The faster they ran, the more oxygen they needed—but only up to a certain point. Eventually, oxygen consumption plateaued, even as they continued to accelerate.

Beyond this plateau—what’s now known as VO2 max, indicating the maximum volume per unit time of oxygen (O2)—they had to rely on anaerobic energy pathways, going into what Hill called “oxygen debt.” This debt couldn’t be sustained for long thanks to rising lactic acid, which meant that VO2 max effectively marked the limits of sustainable effort. In other words, VO2 max was an objective measure of endurance.

The current understanding of exercise metabolism has evolved in a few respects since Hill’s time. Physiologists no longer talk about oxygen debt, and lactate (not lactic acid) is considered a marker of fatigue but not its direct cause. But the basic idea remains the same: there’s a limit to the rate at which your body can take in and use oxygen, and having a higher limit augurs well for both performance and health.

The initial understanding of VO2 max was that it was a measure of cardiovascular function, limited primarily by how rapidly your heart could pump oxygen-rich blood to your muscles. For elite endurance athletes, that’s still a pretty good approximation: aerobic monsters are distinguished primarily by a large and compliant heart that can pump huge volumes of blood with each stroke.

But over time, researchers realized that the limits of oxygen uptake are best thought of as a cascade with numerous steps. You have to inhale oxygen into your lungs, diffuse it into your bloodstream, pump it to your muscles, diffuse it into your muscles, and then your mitochondria have to use it to generate ATP. Each of those steps can become a limiting bottleneck in certain conditions, so there isn’t one single path to altering VO2 max.

There are two ways of quantifying your VO2 max. The absolute value is expressed in liters of oxygen per minute: a well-trained endurance athlete, for example, might be able to consume 5 L/min of oxygen. The relative value, which is the more commonly discussed number, is simply the absolute value divided by your weight in kilograms. If that same endurance athlete weighed 70 kilograms, their relative VO2 max would be 71 ml/min/kg.

The standard method of measuring VO2 max, originally developed as an offshoot of the infamous Minnesota Starvation Study during World War II, is a treadmill test (or the equivalent with some other form of exercise like a stationary bike), lasting six to 12 minutes and getting progressively harder in stages until you max out. But what does it mean to max out? There are various criteria: oxygen consumption reaching a plateau, heart rate reaching a plateau, lactate levels exceeding 8.0 mmol/L, perceived exertion greater than 17 on a scale of 6 to 20, respiratory exchange ratio (a comparison of much carbon dioxide you exhale compared to how much oxygen you’re consuming) of greater than 1.1.

The reason for all these criteria is that the idealized picture of a steady increase in oxygen consumption followed by a plateau often doesn’t show up in real life. And even when it does, it’s not an invariant number: your VO2 max when kayaking will be smaller than when you’re running, for example, because you’re using smaller muscles that can’t gobble up as much oxygen. (That’s why rowers tend to have some of the highest absolute VO2 max values, because they’re huge and they’re using both arm and leg muscles. Cross-country skiers have some of the highest relative values, because they’re also using arms and legs but are generally much lighter than rowers.)

There are even a few studies that have found different VO2 max values depending on the details of the treadmill protocol. How can it be the ultimate objective measure of endurance if its value depends on how you test it? Is the apparent plateau just your brain deciding that you’ve had enough and should step off the treadmill? These and other controversies persist. My take: the VO2 max plateau is real and dictated by physiology, but it’s not as clear-cut a threshold as once thought.

If you tested all the runners on the start line of an Olympic distance race, their VO2 max values wouldn’t tell you much about how they’d place. They all have high values, and the race won’t necessarily be won by the runner with the highest value. Eliud Kipchoge, for example, reportedly has a relatively unexceptional value for an elite marathoner. In that sense, VO2 max isn’t a great predictor of running performance. And the cyclist with the highest ever reported VO2 max, Oskar Svendsen, didn’t end up setting the world alight, as I recounted a few years ago.

On the other hand, if I had to predict the race finishing order of 100 people randomly picked from the street, and I was allowed one physiological test, I’d opt for VO2 max. In that diverse population, VO2 max values would be all over the map, and those with the highest values would likely finish at or near the front. So in that sense, VO2 max is a great predictor. To put it another way, a high VO2 max is a necessary but not sufficient condition for endurance success. It’s your ticket into the game.

You could argue that VO2 max has greater value as a predictor of health and longevity than of athletic success. While the relationship between exercise habits and longevity remains a little hazy, with some people arguing that too much is bad for you, the link between VO2 max and longevity is unambiguous: higher is better. In fact, the American Heart Association has argued the VO2 max should be considered a “vital sign” and be regularly measured or estimated by doctors.

Back in the 1990s, the Heritage Family Study trained about 500 people from 100 different families for 20 weeks. On average, they were able to boost their VO2 max by about 20 percent. But they saw a wide range in responses: some people saw more than twice as big an increase, while others basically didn’t increase at all. And that variation seemed to cluster within families. The researchers estimated that about half the VO2 max training response was dictated by genetics.

The idea that some people don’t improve their VO2 max at all even with regular training remains controversial. A few different studies have taken aim at this idea, and shown that if you take non-responders from a study and have them either train more or train harder, everyone will eventually respond. Still, it’s clear that some people can increase their VO2 max more easily than others.

Trained athletes eventually hit a point of diminishing returns, although long-term structural adaptations like the size of your heart and the density of capillaries distributing blood can continue to improve. A meta-analysis a decade ago found that interval training can produce substantial improvements, with the biggest bang from intervals lasting three to five minutes per rep. The highest recorded values tend to be around 90 ml/kg/min in men and 80 ml/kg/min in women, with the sex differences attributable to higher body fat and lower hemoglobin levels in women.

As important as increasing your VO2 max is, the bigger challenge for many of us is slowing its decline. After age 25, it typically drops about ten percent a decade. According to a recent analysis, athletes who keep training can slow that decline to about 5 percent a decade, but those who fall off the wagon might see even steeper declines.

Overall, Millet and his colleagues conclude that VO2 max is “a healthy and active centenarian” that remains important in both endurance sports and as a measure of cardiovascular health. It’s not the ultimate barometer of fitness, but neither is it a meaningless detail. If you get a chance to have yours tested, for example by volunteering for a study at a local university, I highly recommend it. It can be fun to learn about your own physiology—and, during the final stage of the test where you keep pushing until you’re on the verge of being thrown off the back of the treadmill, your psychology.

The future of American distance running may have just announced itself.

Luke Surface, an 8th-grade student-athlete from North Raleigh Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina, delivered a performance that stunned the track and field community after taking on some of the nation’s best high school runners at Nike Outdoor Nationals.

Competing at the legendary Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon — one of the most iconic venues in American distance running — Surface lined up in the boys championship 5,000 meters against a field dominated by high school seniors, including several athletes preparing to compete at the NCAA Division I level.

Despite being one of the youngest runners in the race, the 14-year-old held his own against the elite competition, finishing eighth in an incredible 14:25.88. The performance set a new national middle school record, averaging approximately 4:39 per mile for more than three miles.

That kind of time is fast enough to win many high school state championships across the United States and meets qualifying standards for several major NCAA Division I conference competitions — a remarkable achievement for a runner who has not yet entered high school.

But Surface’s historic 5,000m performance was only the latest chapter in a season filled with record-breaking moments.

Earlier in May, he clocked 8:52.03 for 3,200 meters at the NCISAA Division I State Championships in North Carolina, breaking another national middle school record. His converted two-mile time of 8:55.12 surpassed the previous world-best mark for a 14-year-old age group, previously held by Vincent Recupero.

During the previous cross-country season, Surface also made headlines when he ran 15:12 at the adidas XC Challenge, finishing second while competing against runners who were several years older.

Across cross country, two miles, and the 5,000 meters, Surface has continued to prove that his talent is far beyond his age group. While he still has four years of high school competition ahead before reaching the college level, his performances have already placed him among the most exciting young distance runners to watch.

The American high school 5,000-meter record currently stands at 13:32, set by Lex Young in 2023 — a mark Surface is not yet close to challenging. However, his remarkable progression at such a young age has caught the attention of the running world, with many eager to follow how far his extraordinary journey can go.

For now, Luke Surface remains an eighth grader rewriting the record books — and his story is only beginning.

DOHA, Qatar – Ethiopian distance running is once again making a powerful statement on the global stage. Following the Doha Diamond League meeting, Ethiopia has achieved a remarkable clean sweep of the women's 3000m/5000m standings, occupying all eight leading positions in one of the most competitive disciplines in world athletics.

Leading the charge is Likina Amebaw, who sits comfortably at the top of the rankings with 22 points. Close behind is fellow Ethiopian star Freweyni Hailu on 14 points, while Medina Eisa occupies third place with 12 points. The dominance continues through the rest of the leaderboard, with Senayet Getachew, Hawi Abera, Aleshign Baweke, Marta Alemayo, and Bernesh Dessie completing an extraordinary Ethiopian monopoly of the standings.

The achievement highlights Ethiopia's exceptional depth in women's distance running, where a new generation of athletes continues to emerge and challenge for global honours. Rather than relying on a single standout performer, Ethiopia has assembled a formidable squad capable of controlling races and collecting points across multiple Diamond League meetings.

While the current standings paint a picture of complete Ethiopian supremacy, the battle for the Diamond League title is far from over. Several meetings remain on the road to the season finale, leaving plenty of opportunities for rivals to close the gap and for positions within the Ethiopian contingent to shift dramatically.

For now, however, the spotlight belongs firmly to Ethiopia. The East African powerhouse has transformed the women's 3000m/5000m standings into an all-Ethiopian affair, sending a clear message to the rest of the world that the race for Diamond League glory will likely run through Addis Ababa.

The question now is whether Likina Amebaw can maintain her advantage and finish the season as the overall leader, whether Freweyni Hailu or Medina Eisa can mount a successful challenge, or whether another athlete will produce a late-season surge to rewrite the script.

One thing is certain: the road to the Diamond League Final promises a fascinating battle among some of the finest distance runners on the planet.

Kenyan athletics superstar and world champion Beatrice Chebet has officially entered a beautiful new chapter in her life after welcoming a baby boy.

The 26-year-old track sensation, born on 5 March 2000, has built a remarkable legacy as one of the greatest distance runners of her generation. Chebet is a world record holder in the 5000m, 10,000m and road 5km, with a career decorated by historic victories on the biggest stages.

She made history at the 2024 Summer Olympics by winning gold medals in both the 5000m and 10,000m, before achieving the same remarkable double at the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Her medal collection also includes a 5000m silver medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and bronze at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.

Beyond the track, Chebet has also dominated cross country, becoming a three-time world champion after winning the junior title in 2019 and senior titles in 2023 and 2024. She has also claimed major 5000m victories at the 2018 World U20 Championships, 2022 Commonwealth Games and the 2022 African Championships in Athletics.

Now, the Kenyan star is celebrating a different kind of milestone — becoming a mother.

Sharing the joyful news, Chebet introduced her newborn son with a heartfelt message filled with love and excitement:

“Tiny hands, tiny feet, and a love so big! A beautiful new chapter begins. Welcome to our world our sweet little baby boy!”

The arrival of her son marks a special moment away from competition, as the world champion embraces motherhood while carrying the pride of a nation that has watched her achieve greatness.

Messages of congratulations have poured in from fans and the athletics community, celebrating the new chapter for one of Kenya’s most successful athletes.

As Beatrice Chebet adds motherhood to her list of remarkable achievements, the champion now begins a new journey filled with love, joy, and unforgettable moments with her baby boy. 

Jake Wightman delivered a masterclass in championship racing as he surged to the men's 800m title at the UK Athletics Championships, holding off a determined challenge from Ben Pattison in a thrilling finish.

In a race defined by patience, positioning, and precise execution, Wightman waited for the perfect moment to strike before unleashing his finishing kick down the home straight. The former world champion crossed the line in 1:45.40, just doing enough to edge Pattison and secure the national crown.

The contest lived up to expectations, bringing together two of Britain's finest middle-distance talents in a tactical battle where every move carried significance. With the pace controlled through the early stages, the field remained tightly packed, setting the stage for a dramatic final lap.

As the bell rang, the intensity immediately rose. Pattison looked poised to seize control and pushed hard in the closing metres, but Wightman's experience and race awareness proved decisive. Drawing on years of competing at the highest level, he maintained his composure under pressure and found the extra gear required to stay ahead when it mattered most.

The victory marks another significant chapter in Wightman's decorated career and serves as a timely statement of intent as the international season gathers momentum. More importantly, it showcased the qualities that have made him one of Britain's most respected middle-distance athletes — tactical intelligence, resilience, and an ability to deliver in the biggest moments.

For Pattison, the narrow defeat will provide encouragement rather than disappointment. His performance confirmed his growing status among Britain's elite 800m runners and highlighted the depth of talent currently thriving in the event.

But on this occasion, the spotlight belonged to Wightman. In a race where the margins were razor-thin, he executed his plan to perfection and walked away with the UK Athletics Championship title.

Remember the name Gout Gout.

At just 18 years old, the Australian sprint prodigy is already commanding global attention and fueling conversations about the future of track and field. In a sport constantly searching for its next superstar, Gout is rapidly emerging as one of the brightest talents the world has seen in years.

His latest statement came at the prestigious Ostrava Golden Spike meeting, where he stepped onto the track alongside some of sprinting's biggest names, including reigning world champion Noah Lyles. Far from being overwhelmed by the occasion, the teenager delivered a composed and confident performance, finishing third in the 150m in 14.96 seconds against two of the fastest athletes on the planet.

Yet impressive as that performance was, it is not the result that has the athletics community buzzing most.

Earlier this year, Gout stunned the sprinting world by clocking an astonishing 19.67 seconds for 200m, setting a new world Under-20 record. The performance instantly elevated him from promising prospect to genuine phenomenon.

What makes the achievement even more remarkable is the historical context. At the same age, Gout was faster than sprint legend Usain Bolt. Comparisons to the Jamaican icon are inevitable, not because records demand them, but because the raw numbers are impossible to ignore.

Of course, Gout's journey is only beginning. Like any young athlete, he still has room to grow, refine his craft, and gain valuable experience at the highest level. The road from teenage sensation to global champion is rarely straightforward.

But there is no denying the extraordinary potential that lies within him.

His speed, composure, and ability to perform under pressure have already marked him out as one of athletics' most exciting young stars. More importantly, he possesses the kind of talent that inspires belief that a new era of sprinting may be on the horizon.

The sport has always thrived on rivalries that capture the imagination of fans across the globe. With established champions such as Noah Lyles currently leading the way, the emergence of Gout Gout adds an intriguing new chapter to sprinting's future.

The next great rivalry may already be taking shape.

And one of its leading figures is still only a teenager.

For now, the message is simple: remember the name Gout Gout. The future is arriving faster than anyone expected.