If the mile were a person, it would probably be the coolest in class. Non-conformist, plays by its own rules. Basically the type of person labels, and in the case of this article definitions, hate to see coming. Nowadays being called basic is about as bad an insult as you can get, but by its very nature the mile is the complete opposite. Which is exactly what makes it popular. Because no, the mile is not like the other distances. It’s in a category of its own. One which toes the line between speed and endurance, middle and long distance, and one which makes it the only non-metric race capable of producing world records.
What is a mile?
So how to define the mile? The first step would be to look at the name itself, which derives from the Latin words ‘mille passus’, meaning ‘a thousand strides’. Although the scientific accuracy of that definition is a slight problem when it comes to the actual racing part. And the English parliament clearly wasn’t keen on the idea of the mile being a distance adaptable to your stride length either. In 1563, a statute of Parliament was passed, which standardised the mile as 1,760 yards. The equivalent today of 1,609 metres. And so originated the mile as an official distance. But when it comes to its history as a race, that didn’t begin until much later.
Several hundreds of years later, in fact, was when it was properly treated as a competitive distance. As a way to earn money, and a lot of it at that. Run a mile, win a cash prize. When you consider events like the Diamond League, it doesn’t sound too different from how the mile is raced today. And it’s true: the basic principles are the same. Let’s just say it’s more the way they were exercised.
When was the mile first raced?
The mile in the 18th and 19th century played a big role in the gambling scene, with spectators paying large amounts of money on the basis of how fast runners could go (or not go, in some cases). Name your time, and name your price. For those who were genuinely talented over the distance, taking part in these contests would end up being their way of making a living. The nature of the race itself might seem laughable, but there was no joking about when it came to the running. In order to earn money, you had to train for it. In order to earn the most money, you had to be the best in the field. And despite what you might think, that field wasn’t exactly weak.
Evidence exists that as early as 1770, that 4 minute mile barrier we still rave about today, was broken. A man called James Parrott reportedly did so that May in return for a 15 guinea wager. Now, given the year and the lack of reliable reporting around at the time, the likelihood of James Parrott actually having run a mile in under 4 minutes is pretty low. But whether he did or not is not entirely relevant. Because what it does still demonstrate is that the level of running those 200 years ago was very high. And that May is most definitely the month of the mile.
Professional runners vs amateur runners
This form of gambling they called professional racing was rife. But the mile wasn’t the only discipline to take centre stage in these competitions. Distances could vary, and they weren’t just run, they were walked too. The overall sport was known as pedestrianism, which later developed into what we know today as race-walking, and the mile went its separate way. Because not every runner was interested in trading their talent for money. And as it generally does, that difference in belief created a divide. On one side were the professional athletes, those who competed for money, and on the other side were the amateurs.
Read from a modern-day perspective, those names might cause some confusion, so allow me to clarify. The names ‘professional’ and ‘amateur’ have nothing to do with talent. The fact that in the 18th and early 19th century professional times were generally faster is actually more related to how the name came about. You were either competing for money, as a career professional, or not. Back then, the popular choice was money, and not the more middle-class, regulated system of the amateurs. Separate world records were maintained for both categories, and while they didn’t compete directly against each other, the awareness was there. And so was the rivalry.
The top milers of the 19th century
The main portrayers of this rivalry were two British men called William Cummings and Walter George. William Cummings was a professional, and Walter George was an amateur. Both held the world records in their respective categories at the exact same time. In 1882, Walter George’s best was 4:19⅖, and William Cummings’ was 4:16⅕. Cummings, along with a few other professionals, was the only athlete to run faster than Walter George. And that 3 second difference would not let him rest. By this point, the Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) had just been created in England, which established a set of rules for the sport and, most notably, excluded professional runners. Eager to transfer this rivalry to the track, Walter George pleaded with the AAA to let him race Cummings, but was told no. That left him with only one option. To turn professional himself.
Walter George became a professional runner in 1885, and with that move came another change. If his times were lagging behind William Cummings before, on the track he was anything but. In both the 1885 and 1886 mile challenge races, Walter George emerged as victor. The ultimate victory, though, was won when in 1886 he crossed the line in a time of 4:12.75. An overall world record and one that would remain unbeaten for almost 30 years.
Walter George’s move from amateur to professional can be seen as blurring the lines between the two categories, and in some ways rendering their distinction useless. It was clear they were now in agreement on one main priority: racing. And for those who did want to take racing seriously, the amateur side was the way to go. With that came a gradual decline in professional running and a corresponding rise in amateurism. Until, eventually, separation was no longer necessary.
Why isn’t the mile in the Olympic Games?
Professional running wasn’t the only thing experiencing decline though. In 1896 the first Olympic Games arrived, and among the list of the distances to be run, the mile was nowhere to be found. What happened to the mile in 1896 was everyone’s worst nightmare: it had been replaced. By the new, and the Olympic founders would say improved, metric mile. Not 1609m, but 1500m.
Pierre de Coubertin was one of those founders, and as a European, a big supporter of the metric system. 1500 is a round number. Exactly 3 ¾ laps around a track, and in Europe at that time they were already designed to be 400m loops, unlike in America were many were still measured in quarter miles. In other words, it made life a lot easier for organisers, and spectators too, to run the 1500m instead. The mile was just too awkward a distance. And while the Americans and the British were desperately clinging on to their imperial systems, the European influence was just too strong.
Who was the first official mile world record holder?
1896 didn’t mark the end of the road for the mile though: far from it. It was still a popular distance, only by the 20th century, most runners were happy to live by the rules. The rules of athletics, that is, and not gambling. Which is lucky, because in 1912, they were about to get a whole new set of them. The International Amateur Athletics Federation was formed in 1912, and the next year, the first official mile word record was recognised. It belonged to John Paul Jones, and the time was 4:14.40.
Now, you may have noticed, and you would be correct in doing so, that in 1913, 4:14.40 wasn’t the fastest mile ever to be run. It may have had the official status of a world record, but what it lacked was the shock factor. Most notably, because someone had already beaten him to it. Walter George’s 4:12.75 from 1886 was almost 2 seconds faster. But as it was set before the IAAF came into existence, the time was never ratified.
Women and the mile
Another thing you might have noticed is that all this discussion, right up until now, has been about men. It wasn’t as if women weren’t running the mile. The problem was they might as well have been running it underwater. Either way, no one was keeping watch. When the 1500m entered the Olympics in 1896 it was only men who were racing, and if you thought 1912 was a long time to wait for official world records, try adding 50 years on to that. Up until 1967, the mile wasn’t even recognised as a distance for women, and the fastest times were nothing more than world bests.
Meanwhile, the spotlight couldn’t have been more on the men if they tried. In the early 1900s the mile was rapidly gaining in speed and in popularity, and with that came increased media coverage. The world record was constantly changing hands, with Paavo Nurmi of Finland in 1923 becoming the only person to ever hold world records in the mile, the 5000m and the 10,000m simultaneously. Then along came a new rivalry, one which echoed that of Walter George and William Cummings from the late 1800s. Only this time, instead of two British runners, it was two Swedish runners. Gunder Hagg and Arne Andersson.
The chase for the sub-4 minute mile
Across the 3 years from 1942 to 1945, 6 world records were set in the mile. 3 by Gunder Hagg, and 3 by Arne Andersson. They each got their turn, and in equal measure, but it was Hagg who got the final say. His world record of 4:01.40 from 1945 was the last from the Swedish pair, but not because of their actions on the track, so much as off the track. Gunder Hagg and Arne Andersson were banned from competition in 1946 for receiving payments for running. That record streak, alongside their careers, was cut short.
In those days, the problem with crossing the finish line so fast was how easy it then became to cross the line into professional running, and by the 1940s any sympathy for that fact was nowhere be found. The move was frowned upon, but Gunder Hagg’s world record survived the transition. In fact it made it 9 whole years, before the very foundation it was built upon was sent crashing down. That foundation being, the 4 minute barrier.
Everybody loves a challenge. Something to chase, a target to aim for. Something difficult enough that it can’t be achieved in one day, or by many, but not so much that it lacks any realistic prospect. Nowadays the equivalent would be 2 minutes in the women’s 800m, or 4 minutes in the 1500m, but back then, no one was close. The closest anyone had got to a round number, was Gunder Hagg. His 4:01.40 had set the challenge up perfectly, and by the 1950s, the hunt was on like never before. The 4 minute mile barrier was bound to break soon. It was just a question of who would be the one to deliver the crucial blow.
Who was the first to break the 4 minute mile barrier?
The answer, along with the history of the mile itself, lies in England. And in the month of May. On the 6th May 1954, Roger Bannister, a medical student at the University of Oxford, ran a mile in 3:59.40. At the age of 25, he’d become the first person to ever run a sub-4 minute mile. Just like that, the barrier was broken. His time took exactly 2 seconds off Gunder Hagg’s previous world record, but they may as well have been 50. When it comes to athletics, breaking a metaphorical barrier is often more highly praised than the physical barrier of time itself. What’s more impressive- to lower a world record by 5 seconds from 4:06 to 4:01, or by 2 from 4:01 to 3:59? It’s a question of perspective.
After almost 200 years of racing, the 4 minute barrier had been broken. Roger Bannister’s run had carved an outlet. All everyone else had to do was find a way to squeeze through. The psychological element isn’t there the second time around- the barrier’s purely physical. But that wasn’t the only aspect in which Roger Bannister led the way. His record attempt involved the use of pacemakers, which wasn’t particularly common at the time, and helped ease their introduction into professional athletics.
Diane Leather and the sub-5 minute mile
When it comes to the mile and its time barriers, and the mile and the month of May, that’s usually where the story ends. But Roger Bannister wasn’t the only athlete to achieve a feat of that kind in May 1954. And men weren’t the only ones who had a round number to beat. Women did too. Instead of the sub-4 minute mile it was the sub-5 minute mile. And after there was Roger Bannister, there was Diane Leather.
Just 23 days after Roger Bannister became the first man to run a 3 minute mile, on the 29th May 1954, Diane Leather became the first woman to run a 4 minute mile. 4:59.60 to be exact. It was a result she’d been yearning for for a while, with her most recent attempt taking place just days before this race. But things turned out the way they usually do. Aim directly for it and it doesn’t come, but when you decide to race the mile on a whim only an hour after running the 800m, the record falls.
How long did Roger Bannister’s world record last?
Only of course we were still 13 years away from 1967 when the mile was first recognised as an official distance for women, so Diane Leather’s time never lived to see world record status. Its legacy lives on though, and so does the fact that unlike Roger Bannister, Diane Leather broke down that barrier all by herself. No pacemakers, just her, pushing as hard as she could from out in front. By the end of 1955, Diane Leather had taken a further 14 seconds off her world best, and 4:45 is where it stayed for the next 7 years.
On the other hand, add another 23 days on from Diane Leather’s 4 minute mile performance, and Roger Bannister’s world record was already gone. 46 days is how long it lasted, before Australian John Landy held it hostage at 3:57.90 for three years. Both Roger Bannister and Diane Leather had opened the floodgates. Over the next few decades the rate at which the male world record especially was passed around, did not slow down by any considerable margin.
When did the IAAF switch to the metric system?
What did slow down was the racing of the mile itself. In 1966 the distance was held at the Commonwealth Games for the final time, soon to be replaced by the 1500m, and 10 years later in 1976, the IAAF made the switch to the metric system official. All imperial distances were to be stripped of their world record status and no longer held in major competitions. All, that is, except one: the mile.
Since 1976, the mile is the only imperial distance capable of producing official world records. But as far as major competitions go, not so much leniency was afforded in that area. The Olympics and World Championships remain out of the question, but it will make its return to the Commonwealth Games in 2026. And while it may be true that the mile is still run in world-class events like the Eugene Diamond League for example, it will always be an outlier. A token event that everyone loves, but that everyone knows doesn’t quite fit in. Just like that one kid in class.
Why is the mile still raced today?
But what is so special about the mile? Why is it allowed to keep its world records? The Wanamaker Mile. The Bowerman Mile. The Dream Mile. Those are all namesake events where the mile takes centre stage- why? There isn’t one right answer and there isn’t just one answer either. A lot of the time, the key to being popular is to stand out from the very crowd that makes you. The mile is an unusual distance, yet one that’s equally loved by athletics fans. When you add a rich history like the one I’ve just described on top of that, the mile is the exact recipe for popularity.
The metric system isn’t the only place the mile doesn’t fit in though. It also evades the categories of both middle and long distance, and of speed and endurance. It’s all of them in one. Which makes it not only much harder to run the mile well, both physically and tactically too, but also a lot more fun. The mile is often regarded as the best distance for improving fitness, regardless of athletic ability. Like I said earlier, everybody loves a challenge. And what better challenge than a beer every 400m lap, just like they do in another namesake, yet somewhat less prestigious, event I haven’t mentioned yet. The beer mile. It just goes to show- imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery.
What does the future look like for the mile?
Unlike this article, history never stops being written, and that of the mile is no exception. Although for men and women, like they do in running, paces differ. The men’s world record progression has stalled considerably, with the current mark of 3:43.13 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj remaining unbroken for the past 27 years. For women though, if anything, it’s accelerating. The current world record was set by Faith Kipyegon in 2023, the only woman to ever go below 4:10 with 4:07.64. Only 2 of the top 10 female times in the mile were set before 2016. And that’s not all. That 4 minute barrier male runners were chasing in the 1900s? It made its way full circle, and is now a target well within Faith Kipyegon’s sights.
72 years have passed since Roger Bannister ran the first ever sub-4 minute mile. How special would it be if almost 100 years later, a woman were to join him in that feat.
Written by- Rosana Ercilla
