Sadly, U.S. track renaissance is leaving Alan Webb behind

"If I had anything to do with that... maybe I inspired everybody too much, maybe I created a monster...''

By Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated

EUGENE, Ore. - It has been all the talk for nearly a decade now, that middle- and long-distance running in the United States has been resurrected from...

Children of the Internet era, Webb, Ritzenhein know intense scrutiny

By Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated

EUGENE, Ore. -- They were the lab rats. Test cases for the digital world that lay ahead and now greets every runner who shows a hint of promise, subjecting them to the scrutiny that comes with being fast young. It was the spring of 2001 and two runners born 14...

Honoring the first sub-four minute mile, “My most memorable mile”

By Tim Layden, Sports Illustrated

As part of his quest to restore the mile run to its proper place in track and field, Running USA's Ryan Lamppa created the website www.bringbackthemile.com. (Described here by SI's David Epstein in January). Most recently, Lamppa has asked visitors to his...

He’ll Take a Mile

One man's quest to put running's iconic distance back on track

By David Epstein, Sports Illustrated

Two years ago Ryan Lamppa was at the Santa Barbara City College track when the idea came to him: Bring Back the Mile.

Since the early 1980s, all new tracks built in the country have been 400...

She Runs and We Are Lifted

Mary Decker is moved by a competitive yearning that rises from so deep in her character that it connects with her will to be loved.

By Kenny Moore, Sports Illustrated

What a glorious conceit it is to pick a Sportsman of the Year. Can anyone really study the ranks of different champions and...

A Dream Comes True

It was advertised as the Dream Mile, and though for the contestants it often seemed like the Nightmare Marathon the race lived up to its billing as Marty Liquori held off Jim Ryun on the last turn to win

By Pat Putnam, Sports Illustrated

For the first three-eighths of a Mile, it could have...

See You Later, Jim Ryun

Sub-54 second final lap yields Mile world record of 3:51.1 and national title for Kansas native in Bakersfield

By Pete Axthelm, Sports Illustrated

Seventeen-year-old Jerry Proctor upset six-time national champion Ralph Boston in the broad jump; Charlie Greene finished second in the 100-yard...

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...

A Time to Remember: 3:51.3

Leaving the whole world far behind him, Jim Ryun, the 19-year-old durable wonder of Kansas, smashes track's most treasured record—the Mile mark that has eluded American runners for 29 years

By Anita Verschoth, Sports Illustrated

After a few warmup sprints last Sunday on a field next to...

The Second Fastest Ever

"I'd like to see the world record come back to the U.S., but you know everything has to be just right and that doesn't happen too often."

By Gwilym S. Brown, Sports Illustrated

Setting up world record attempts in the Mile run is like handling butterflies. The slightest miscalculation, one...