Comment on "An analysis of world records in three types of locomotion"

A recent paper in this journal has analysed world records in three types of locomotion, making extensive use of mathematical and statistical techniques. There are a number of methodological flaws in much of the authors' use of these techniques. Some of these are fundamental and others are less serious. This paper draws the attention of readers of this journal to these flaws, with comment and suggestions. This is done in the hope that researchers using mathematical and statistical techniques will be made more aware of limitations to their methodology.