Minecraft speedruns have different categories, but the one of the main ones are Pre 1.8 and 1.16+. Pre 1.8 is Minecraft speedrun category, the reason it’s divided by versions is simple, in June of 2020 the Nether update was published, which changed speedrunning completly. So because of that, all minecraft speedruns before this version are just called “Pre 1.8”, those speedruns are usualy much longer than 1.16+, because features monumental to a fast speedrun were not added yet. For example before 1.16 speedrunners had to kill Endermen maually to obtain Enderpearls which are cruisal to complete a speedrun. That is the main reason why speedruns were much slower before 1.16. Another reason was that people didn’t know much about speedruns and strategies in general, right now people know about Ender Dragon AI and can do a lot om complicated techs, for example “One Shot“. That’s why it’s important to differentiate those categories. In my opinion, speedruns to shine only after 1.16, but pre 1.8 is still important. Pre 1.8 also has its own legendary speedrunners/Minecraft YouTubers, Illlumina is one of them. Illumina probably deserves his own page on this blog, he is higly respected in speedrun/Minecraft community in general.
Here is a bunch of Pre 1.8 speedruns:
Illuminas former 11:26 WR
16:38 WR
In this video, around 11:45, the speedrunner is using a strategy to obtain Ender Pearls faster. He is using a tech to spawn more Endermen, basically how this works is he is going really high up(far) to increase mob spawns, Minecraft uses simulation distance, so mobs cannot spawn close to a player(or in the same chunk as them), so by making distance between him and mobs, he increases their spawn.
Infumes 16:09 WR