World Record Progression: The Mile

The Mile is the catch-all distance of how a lot of people understand distance running, metric or imperial. While the former is ran much more often nowadays (1500m), the original Mile race laid out the groundwork for distance running as a sport, and thanks to the international breakthrough of the sport later on, many would fiend for a spot in the record books as a result.

[RunnerBoi]

Since this video is taking off now, yes, I know I accidentally called Pavvo Nurmi Swedish lmao. This was my first genuine running docu, so there may be some small errors sprawled out. Apologies if people were annoyed.

[TechnoColoredMuffins]

i usually watch video game speedrunning videos, but real world speed running is surprisingly engaging, great work my dude

[nathanjohnson]

I’ve ran 2 sub 5 minute miles. So some of these records are just absolutely insane to me

[spacelemur]

While hitchhiking through Europe in 1975, I made sure I got to the track where Bannister set the mile, and of course, I ran a mile (considerably slower).

[judahweesner]

I love how the the start of the video shows pictures of beefy dudes in suits and top hats and says they ran 4 minute miles

[PineappleSquuid]

How is this only at 3k views this is an actual masterpiece

[pingusdingus]

The amount of research put into this video is amazing man!

[Thaddeus]

These videos inspire me to add more speed to my runs. Gotta practice for CC season hard.

[quintonworthams]

I’m a 78 year old D-1 Track and Cross Country runner. I ran 4:15 Mile; 14:30 @ 3 miles; 49.5 @ 440…and a host of other NCAA level races and times…after watching this documentary, I realize how mediocre I was. I was enlightened by the chronological tracing of the world record. My love for the Sport will never be diminished. My appreciation for guys like Nurmi, Cunningham, Bannister, Ryan, Coe; Ovett et al will be forever an inspiration. Thank you for a marvelous job of research and presentation.

[maxwang]

Incredible documentary.
Incredible topic as well.
But most incredible is how underrated this channel is.

[simosuurkuukka]

How did you manage to call Paavo Nurmi "the flying finn" (finn as in person from Finland) and then call him the most decorated athlete in swedish history is beyond me😂

[stephenlee]

Chapter One should also include the first recorded sub-4 minute mile, by a native American known as Black Hawk Chief. As a scout employed by the Army he was known to be a very fast runner (scouts ran everywhere), so a group of officers laid out a half-mile track using the steel measuring rods the Army used in the surveying work they carried out as part of their duties.. Black Hawk Chief ran two laps in 3.58 according to their stopwatches. My information comes from a book on native american sports which I sadly no longer have in my possesion. It was recorded in the local press at the time. My opinion is that 4 minutes has always been within the reach of a few talented men throughout human history, when people lived on their feet and many would spend a lot of time running. This would not have been systematic training, but would be similar in its effects.

[geirstianaaslund]

Fantastic documentary. Still remember being at Bislett watching the wr in 1980.
A pity that you could not extend the documentary with the Ingebrigtsen/Nuguse Bowerman mile that was almost a repeat of the el guerrouj/ngeny world record run from 1999.
I am really looking forward to 2024 Bislett Games when I hope a new chapter in this amazing story will be written.

[Dojocartwheel]

Here after Jakob Ingebrigsten and Yared Nuguse got close last year. They ran 3:43.73 and 3:43.97. Breaking the World Record in the mile is very much back in the conversation.

Side note….I often marvel at what athletes like Roger Bannister, herb Elliott or Jim Ryun could do if they were running on modern track surfaces and in Nike vaporflys as opposed to grass tracks and cinder.

[stormcat]

Massively underrated. This video was incredibly done

[bluntandy]

Quick note. Paavo Nurmi was Finnish not Swedish. Round here it's a bit like calling a Canadian an American

[JTA]

Looking at the horrible blurry footage reminded me of how spoiled we are in 2023 with every single person today having 10 times better capability to record than then

[moneyandtimefreedom]

As the runners got faster the video became worse. Footage was clearer in 1950’s than the 80-90’s

[PrentisHancock]

Excellent video. You put a lot of work into this.

[jean-pierredeclemy]

How about doing a video on Emil Zatopek? I was born in 1952 and I was given the middle name Emile because of his fame running in the Olympics that year.