Q&A with rising Irish Mile star Sean Tobin
The general public has a much better understanding of a Mile time compared to the 1500 meters, and I would love to see the Mile replace the 1500 at the Olympics and World Championships.
By Niall Hugh, Fast Running
Sean Tobin, Ireland’s youngest ever sub-4 minute Miler got back to doing what he loves best this summer over the historic distance following a three-year wait.
Within weeks of starting an athletics scholarship at the University of Mississippi in 2014, Tobin, only 19 years of age at the time, clocked 3:59.91 to become the first person in the college’s history to break 4 minutes for the Mile and the youngest ever Irish athlete to achieve the highly sought after accolade.
That first year as an Ole Miss Rebel, saw the Clonmel native break the school 1500m record and impressing across indoors, outdoors and cross country. Three years on and back in Ireland for the summer, the 23-year-old broke the 4 minute barrier again, not once but twice, before winning a first senior national 1500m title. And all within the space of two weeks.
Tobin chats with Fast Running about the Mile, life as a Rebel, a full Irish breakfast and lessons universities in Ireland and the UK can learn from their U.S. counterparts.
What was it like breaking the 4 minute barrier for the first time?
My coach and I joked about going sub-4 before the race but I never thought it would actually happen. It was an amazing feeling. I wanted to break the 4-minute barrier as a junior and be the youngest Irish man to run sub-4.
Unfortunately, I didn’t break it as a junior [just over a month outside], but to become the youngest Irishman to go sub-4 was fantastic and even to this day that stays with me.
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