One of the reasons that Eliud Kipchoge's "Breaking 2" marathon wasn't a legal world record was that teams of pacers would rotate in, take a break, then rotate in again. This way he could have pacers with him almost the entire way. But in a real world record attempt, the winner is always running by themselves in the last part of the race because all of the pacers have been left behind or dropped out -- by definition of a world record, they can't keep up to the end.
What about slip streaming? Should we regard records differently where the winner stayed with the pack until a final sprint as opposed to front running the whole race?
It's annoying watching the guy in first just stop running after 2 minutes.
Perhaps, but in terms of the runner following the pacer there is no advantage vs them following someone in same class as themselves that can sustain that pace to the end of the race.
It's certainly interesting to question how much modern gear has advanced records in some sports, but there are so many other variables too, some that change over time such as nutrition and training methods, and then factors such as individual genetics or even country/altitude of origin that mean records can never be exactly compared.