Allen Webb holds the American national record in the mile, On July 21, 2007, at a meet in Brasschaat, Belgium, Webb broke the American record in the mile. His time of 3:46.91 bested the 25-year-old record of 3:47.69 run by Steve Scott.

Mary Slaney Hold the Americans record. As she Set the World record when she ran a 4:16.71 mile in Zurich in 1985, which held for almost four years. As of 2014, Slaney’s ultimate performance is still the United States record,

and she remains the only woman to run four sub-4:20 times.

As the mile record was being re-written throughout the ‘70s, a future star was rising in the U.S. Mark Decker – later Mary Slaney – first drew international attention by winning the 800 meters in a USA vs. USSR dual meet in 1972, at age 14. She won the first of her six Millrose Games titles the following year, and went on to own the mile world record on three different occasions. She first broke the mark in 1980 with a time of 4:21.68, run at Auckland, at the same meet in which Marasescu had lowered the mark one year earlier.

Lyudmila Veselkova of the former Soviet Union beat Slaney’s mark, running 4:20.89 in 1981, but Slaney took the record back, briefly, the next year, with a time of 4:18.08, becoming the first woman to beat the 4:20 mark. Exactly two months later, however, Maricica Puica ran 4:17.44 to set a record that stood, officially, for almost three years. In 1984, the Soviet Union’s Natalia Artymova was hand-timed in 4:15.8, but her performance wasn’t ratified by the IAAF.

Mile Trivia

Test your knowledge of the mile race.

Mile Trivia

• • The word "mile" comes from the Latin "mille," meaning thousand. A mile was 1,000 Roman strides, a stride being two paces.

  • The current world record in the mile is 3:43.13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco on July 7, 1999. The current women’s record is 4:12.56 by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, set on August 14, 1996.

  • Roger Bannister averaged 15.037 miles per hour when he first broke four minutes. El Guerrouj averaged 16.134 mph during his WR.

  • The longest-standing world record in the mile was 4:01.4, set by Gunder Haegg of Sweden on July 17, 1945. It stood for eight years, 293 days before Bannister broke it.

  • The shortest period between world records is two days. Steve Ovett of England lowered the WR to 3:48.40 on August 26, 1981. Sebastian Coe, also of England, broke that record on August 28 with a 3:47.33

  • The first American to break four minutes was the University of California’s Don Bowden, who ran 3:58.7 on June 1, 1957.

  • The oldest person to go under four minutes was Eamonn Coghlan of Ireland, who was 41 when he ran 3:58.15. The oldest person to break five minutes was Derek Turnbull of New Zealand, clocking 4:56.4 at age 65. The oldest under six minutes was Scotty Carter of Massachusetts with a 5:57.2 at 75. The oldest under seven minutes was Harold Chapson of Hawaii with a 6:43.3 at age 80.

  • The fastest mile by a high school runner is 3:53.43, by Alan Webb of Virginia on May 27, 2001.

  • A two-year study of more than four million high school students during the early 1980s found that the average boy took 7:40 to run a mile. The average girl took 9:51.

  • The so-called "metric mile" of 1500 meters is 119 yards, 21 inches short of a Roman mile.

  • A 3:42.43 at 1500 meters is the equivalent of a 4:00.00 mile.

  • The current 1500m record of 3:26.00 by El Guerrouj equates to a 3:42.27 mile. Qu Yunxia’s women’s 1500m world record of 3:50.46 equates to a 4:08.66 mile.

  • Daniel Komen’s 7:20.67 world record at 3,000m is equal to 7:56 for two miles.

  • On a scientifically-based table of comparative performance, a 4:00.00 mile is equal in effort to a 2:12:30 marathon. The current WR of 3:43.13 equates to a 2:03:10 marathon.

  • The fastest mile by a racewalker is 5:38.2, on an indoor track.

  • The record for running a mile backward is 6:02.35, by D. Joseph James of India on August 10, 2002.

  • Based on the world 1500m record of 1:46.43, a world champion speedskater can cover a mile in about 1:55, a champion rollerskater in about 2:25.

  • Based on the world 1500m record of 14:34.56, a freestyle swimmer should be able to complete a mile in about 15:44, about the same time as a fitness walker.

  • The world record for a mile by a race horse is 1:32.1.

  • If world-class sprinters were able to maintain top speed for a full mile, they would cover a mile in 2:16 to 2:17.

  • The fastest any human has covered a mile without mechanical aid is 19.45 seconds. That is based on the 185 miles-per-hour reached in a free fall from a plane. At the other extreme, the last mile up Mt. Everest has been known to take a week or longer.

  • A "country mile" is a distance that seems a lot longer than a Roman mile. No one has yet broken four minutes for a country mile.

  • Roger Bannister did not run the first four-minute mile. An exact 4:00.00 was first achieved on September 3, 1958 by England's Derek Ibbotson in a fourth-place finish behind Herb Elliott at White City.

Mile run world record progression