An Open Love Letter to the Mile

Dear Mile:

You were our First Love from the first time that we set eyes on your classic beauty & rich history; it's been a wonderful 140-plus years together. From the time Edward Merritt (USA) ran 4:43.8 in 1877 to Great Britian's Sir Roger Bannister's ground breaking, and now iconic, first...

Peter Snell: Gentleman, Athlete, Scholar

Renowned coach Arthur Lydiard's formula for distance running success: preparation, patience and performance

By Jim Ferstle for Running Times

To track fans, Peter Snell is a legendary triple Olympic gold medalist, who set the Mile world record twice. To his native New Zealanders, he's Sir...

Peter Snell: Run of a lifetime 50 years on

"The crowd started singing 'For he's a jolly good fellow' and the place was in chaos, with people running all over the show."

By Grant Chapman, New Zealand Herald

For Sir Murray Halberg, it was a night tinged with death and sadness. For Peter Snell, it was the moment he realized he wasn't...

Peter Snell Interview

There were other very nice moments such as when I was trying to run a sub-4 minute Mile and ended up breaking the World Record!

By Gary Cohen

Peter Snell of New Zealand won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympic 800 meter run in Rome, Italy by 0.07 seconds, clockng 1:46.48. Four years later in...

An Exclusive Club

Forty years after Roger Bannister broke four minutes, the brotherhood of Mile record holders gathered to honor their grand obsession

By Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated

Never join someone who eclipses you. Align yourself with one who increases your luster. The man who puts you in the shade...

Where Have All Our Milers Gone?

To early burnout as a result of the U.S. system, says the author, and ''the lack of long-term coaching relationships is really hurtful." - Peter Snell

By Kenny Moore, Sports Illustrated

Here's a mystifying bit of track lore you could probably massage into a killer bet in one of those...

Sportsman of the Year: 1966

Mile star Jim Ryun, 19, the youngest person ever selected as SI's Sportsman

By Sports Illustrated

In its first issue, in August 1954, Sports Illustrated reported the duel of the original 4 minute Milers, Roger Bannister and John Landy, at the British Empire Games in Vancouver. Bannister won...

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...