Runners with artificial legs could start setting 100-meter sprint world records in some 50 years' time, a Japanese researcher has claimed.
Given the advances being made in running-specific artificial limbs and sports conditioning, sprinters with prosthetic legs are poised to set records that eclipse those of able-bodied runners around 2068, according to Hiroaki Hobara, a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
Hobara said there is a high chance that the participation of athletes with artificial legs will become an issue even in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and called for holding multifaceted discussions rather than just focusing on whether prostheses provide an unfair edge.