Mile News Tagged World Record


Putting It All Up Front

January 23, 1978

When Dick Buerkle quit teaching to sell contact lenses he also discarded come-from-behind race tactics, and after a jackrabbit start he broke the indoor Mile record

By Anita Verschoth, Sports Illustrated

It was Friday the 13th and, naturally, Dick Buerkle's flight out of Buffalo at 12:30pm...

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The 3:49.4 Special

August 25, 1975

He had promised to go for the Mile record, and New Zealand's John Walker delivered, smashing the old mark by 1.6 seconds!

By Kenny Moore, Sports Illustrated

As Roger Bannister had 21 years earlier, John Walker worried about the wind. He had talked the officials at the meet in Goteborg, Sweden...

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A Record Goes Bust

May 26, 1975

Sprinting away from a classy field in Kingston, Jamaica's Dream Mile, 21-year-old Filbert Bayi of Tanzania broke Jim Ryun's 8-year-old world record to clearly establish that he is the King of the Milers

By Ron Reid, Sports Illustrated

It was a world record performance that defied logic, a set...

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My First Sub-4

April 25, 1975

I remember being on fire crossing the finish line, as if I didn’t want to stop running.

By Eamonn Coghlan

I was barely 18 months old when Roger Bannister became the first person in the world to run a sub-4 minute Mile on May 6, 1954. This historic achievement still resonates 64 years on....

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Maverick Francie Larrieu Reigns as the Superwoman of Track

April 21, 1975

“I’m not one of their favorites. They [AAU] have a lot of Mickey Mouse rules that sometimes are a pain in the rear."

By People magazine

Sprawled across the overstuffed couch in her two-bedroom apartment near the UCLA campus, her stringy wet hair wrapped in a towel, Francie Larrieu doesn’t...

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Miles Run, Promises Unkept

August 02, 1971

"What if we had been 2 minutes flat at the half-way? It would surely have been a 4 minute Mile. But we wanted to win, only to win." - Arne Andersson

By Norman Harris, Sports Illustrated

No objective in sport seemed more unattainable for a longer period of time than track's 4 minute Mile. It...

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See You Later, Jim Ryun

July 03, 1967

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...

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A Special Brand of Fame

August 01, 1966

In the week following his record race young Jim Ryun discovers the joys—and hazards—of owning the most treasured mark in all of sport

By Gwilym S. Brown, Sports Illustrated

Young Jim Ryun's hectic life as the world record holder in track's most glamorous event began even while he was spinning...

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A Time to Remember: 3:51.3

July 25, 1966

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...

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Vas-y, Ja-zy! And He Went

August 30, 1965

"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...

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