Mile Trivia

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.