1965 Jim Ryun breaks 4:00 at the Kansas State Meet

Ryun runs 3:58.3 to become the first and only runner to break 4:00 in all high school competition

[alessandrodelmonte]

A very idol.
In the story of running FOR EVER 😊

[rickramirez]

Memphis Applegate, I believe the runner in 2nd was JR teammate according to a YouTube commentary by JR on this race. His teammate was a rabbit from behind which apparently helped JR because he could hear his footsteps and probably figured at a certain point they should fade or he needed to pick up the pace. If his teammate was a 4:10 miler, my rough calculations have him clock in at 4:19.87. He hung with and helped JR for quite a while but that took a toll as evidenced by his finishing time. Great job teammate.

[simonsedwards]

only 9 years before they were saying it was humanly impossible to run under 4 minutes for the mile then this teenager comes along??? Not only Beats Peter snell then runs 3:51:1 "a year

[rycooder]

All alone last 2 laps...his teammate was a 4:10 miler...got 2nd.
Notice in still shot..his thigh muscles and huge extensors...tendons...thats why he was so great.
And GREAT guitar n drums

[MemphisApplegate]

Verzbicas broke 4:00 in a high school competition, becoming the second to do it. But Ryun did it on a cinder track, with no competition. Verzbicas was running against a whole field of sub-4:10 guys, with a couple at about 4:02.

[CptMickey]

Is there a copy of this race on Youtube without such garbage music?

[tosius]

The electric guitars and drums are offensive...

[muddobber]

Weird the Kansas State wet record for the 1600 meters isn't pulled from this race. He ran 9 meters extra.

[lindadelisle]

Does anyone know if the two runners behind him were racing with him (inadvisable to run a 2:02 split when ones best is over 4:10) or actually sacrificing themselves to help pace this effort to break four minutes. They appear to finish between 4:20 and 4:30, not bad at all given the pacing, and I was mildly surprised given their reckless early pace, holding on to Ryun well past the 880 point, that no one passed them from back in the field running a more sensible pace.

[MemphisApplegate]

I don't know for sure, but I think the guy in second was Ryun's teammate. I guessing however, based on the fact that they had similar uniforms, and both had that strange head bobbing habit. I figure the teammate unconsciously got that bad habit from Jim.
It's always stupid to speculate about such things, but I sure wonder how fast Ryun would have gone with modern training, and better equipment. Maybe worse.

[johnraymond-pzbo]

Damn. Under 4:20 is good. And that's late 70s on better track.
I remember1968.

[gordonpobar-gkkz]

Could do without the musical soundtrack

[richardmilliken]

This video would've been perfect with Hans Zimmer Song- "Now We Are Free"