Breaking barriers: A timeline of men's and women's mile records
FILE - British athlete Roger Bannister breaks the tape to become the first man ever to break the four minute mile at Iffly Field, Oxford, England, May 6, 1954. (AP Photo, File)
PARIS (AP) — Despite not being on the Olympic program, where races follow metric measurements, the mile holds certain prestige in the world of middle-distance running.
Faith Kipyegon fell short of further cementing her place in mile-running history when she failed to become the first woman to run the distance in under 4 minutes in a Nike-sponsored event in Paris on Thursday.
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Here's a look at some of the key moments in the record progression in men's and women's mile runs:
May 6, 1954: Medical student Roger Bannister becomes the first man to run a sub-4-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, finishing in 3 minutes, 59.4 seconds.
May 29, 1954: Diane Leather becomes the first woman to run the mile in under 5 minutes, finishing in 4:59.6 during the Midland Counties Championships in Birmingham, England.
June 3, 1967: Anne Smith of Britain sets two world records in one race: 4:17.3 for the 1,500 meters and 4:37.0 for the mile (1,609 meters).
June 23, 1967: U.S. athlete Jim Ryun runs the mile in 3:51.1 His world record will hold for nearly eight years.
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Aug. 12, 1975: John Walker of New Zealand runs the mile in 3:49.4 at a race in Göteborg, Sweden, becoming the first athlete to finish the distance in under 3:50.
July 27, 1985: Steve Cram sets a new world record at 3:46.32. It was the last of three mile records at Bislett Stadium in Oslo by Cram and fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett during a span of six years.
Aug. 14, 1996: Svetlana Masterkova of Russia sets a new women's record of 4:12.56. She will hold it for nearly 23 years.
July 7, 1999: Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco smashes the world record in the mile at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome with a time of 3:43.13. The record still stands.
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July 21, 2023: Faith Kipyegon breaks the women's mile record at a Diamond League event in Monaco, clocking 4:07.64 in the Herculis Meeting at Stade Louis II to shatter the 4:12.33 set by long-time rival Sifan Hassan, on the same track in 2019.
June 26, 2025: Kipyegon fails in her bid to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes. She clocks 4 minutes, 06.42 seconds, surpassing her world record of 4:07.64. However, the time won't be officially recognized as the event was unofficial.
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