Vas-y, Ja-zy! And He Went

"The Mile has been my ambition. All the really great names are there: Bannister, Landy, Elliott, Snell. These men are idols to me. Now the ambition is realized. I've done what I set out to do."

By Edwin Shrake, Sports Illustrated

At Courtemanche Stadium in the market town of Rennes near the...

Fast Teenagers in Grown-Up Time

With tactical cunning and a brilliant burst of speed, 18-year-old Jim Ryun beat the great Peter Snell in a U.S. record 3:55.3 Mile

By Gwilym S. Brown, Sports Illustrated

In San Diego one day last week an 18-year-old boy and a former football linebacker sat down to map out the strategy the boy...

Snell’s Tortured Race to a Record Mile

Although he was, in his own words, 'desperate and struggling,' New Zealand's three-gold-medal Olympian beat his own mark and completely routed the world's second and third best Milers

By Sports Illustrated

"The first half Mile was, I felt, too fast," said Peter Snell, "but I was carried along...

A Kansas Boy with a Man-Size Task

This week in Los Angeles, 135 athletes will be competing for 60 positions on the U.S. Olympic track & field team. Some of them—such as Dyrol Burleson, Bob Schul and Henry Carr—have already clinched a spot on the team, provided they are still in good shape, by virtue of their victories in the...