Under Four Minutes Trivia Quiz

Answer:

The mile run is unusual in being the only non-metric track event since 1976 for which records are recognised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF). Time-keeping was accurate enough for records to be kept from the middle of the 19th century. This was the era of professional runners in the UK. When the IAAF was established in 1913, it took until 1915 before the pre-IAAF record of 1886 was beaten. During the Second World War, the neutral Swedes brought the fastest time down from 4:06.2 to 4:01.4, breaking the record six times in the process. Most other runners were in combatant countries.

Post-war, UK runner Roger Bannister set himself the goal of achieving a sub-four minute mile after he had had a relatively disappointing 1952 Olympics 1500 metres race, finishing out of the medals although setting a British record. In fact the first eight runners in that final exceeded the previous Olympic record. Bannister was not the only one aiming for the sub-4 min mile. American Wes Santee and Australian John Landy were also getting close. Bannister achieved the goal in May 1954 with Landy beating the record 46 days later. When they raced against each other in August that year, both were sub-4 minutes but it was Bannister who won the race.

The record continued to fall. New Zealander Peter Snell broke the record in 1962 and 1964, also winning the 800 metres and 1500 metres at the 1964 Olympics. US politician and middle-distance runner Jim Ryun also achieved a pair of mile world records in 1966 and 1967, having previous become the first high school student to run a sub-4 minute mile.

John Walker from New Zealand came next in 1975. He followed that up with the world record for 2000 metres in 1976, improving by 5 seconds the record set a decade earlier. In one race in 1982, the US, NZ and Irish national records were set for the mile, with Walker contributing the NZ time. All three records set in that race lasted for 25 years before the American one was broken in 2007.

The next set of mile records saw three UK runners take the record between 1979 and 1993. The runners were Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve Cram. Coe started off by setting three world records in 41 days during 1979, becoming the first person to hold the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile records at the same time. He added the 1000 metres world record in 1980, holding all four for an hour when Steve Ovett broke the mile record. Both runners reached their peak during 1981 and broke the mile record three times in the space of nine days.

Steve Cram was beginning to make his mark around this time. The year 1983 saw the 1500 metres Olympic champion, World champion and World record holder (in the form of Coe, Cram and Ovett) coming from the UK. Cram was breaking world records in 1985 with the 1500 metres, 2000 metres and mile in the space of 19 days.

The 1990s saw the rise of the African runners. Noureddine Morceli from Algeria was the winner of the 1500 metres at the 1996 Olympics. He set world records at 1500 metres, mile, 2000 metres and 3000 metres during this period. His mile record was overturned by his rival Hicham El Gerrouj from Morocco, who set a time of 3:43.13 in 1999 which has remained unbeaten for over 25 years. El Guerrouj's 1500 metres world record set in 1998 has also been unbeaten for over 25 years. He also held the 2000 metres world record for a time as well as being winner at 1500 metres at four consecutive World Championships and winning gold at the 2004 Olympics for 1500 metres and 5000 metres.

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The wrong answers are: the women Diane Leather (UK), first woman to unofficially break the 5 min mile, and Faith Kipyegon (Kenya), the 2023 record holder but still not sub-4 min; the men's 100 metres record holders Usain Bolt (Jamaica) and Carl Lewis (USA); and the men's marathon record holders Kelvin Kiptum (Kenya) and Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya).