Barriers

 In the early years of manned flight, many considered the sound barrier to be a hard barrier, until Chuck Yeager became the first man to exceed Mach 1 in 1947.  Nowadays, we routinely fly faster than that.

Likewise, in running, the 4-minute mile was considered a hard barrier until Roger Bannister crossed the line in 1954. The 4-minute mile is still a laudable goal, but not considered a hard barrier in human performance.

This past Saturday in Georgia, I watched Jiles Wright, a shooter from Arkansas, set a new worlds record in CFDA shooting. Jiles hit a standard CFDA target in 0.278/secod in sanctioned competition. The CFDA has strict rules for recoding a world's record, and Jiles met all the criteria.

The CFDA considers a worlds record to be unattainable at anything faster than 0.267. (CFDA rules, page 25).  This is based on testing done in 2021 based on human reaction time and draw speed. I understand the reasoning and the intent.

I also understand that barriers are meant to be overcome and that records are meant to be broken. The CFDA may want to reconsider a hard barrier to human performance.

Congratulations to Jiles.  I was honored to be there to watch him set a new world's record.