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.Published May 1, 2004 Mile Trivia
Mile run world record progressionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The world record in the mile run is the best mark set by a male or female runner in the middle-distance track and field event. The IAAF is the official body which oversees the records. Hicham El Guerrouj is the current men's record holder with his time of 3:43.13, while Svetlana Masterkova has the women's record of 4:12.56.[1] Since 1976, the mile is the only non-metric distance recognized by the IAAF for record purposes. Accurate times for the mile run (1.609344 km) were not recorded until after 1850, when the first precisely measured running tracks were built. Foot racing had become popular in England by the 17th century, when footmen would race and their masters would wager on the result. By the 19th century "pedestrianism", as it was called, had become extremely popular and the best times recorded in the period were by professionals. Even after professional foot racing died out, it was not until 1915 that the professional record of 4:12¾ (set by Walter George in 1886) was surpassed by an amateur. Progression of the mile record accelerated in the 1930s as newsreel coverage greatly popularized the sport, making stars out of milers such as Jules Ladoumègue, Jack Lovelock, and Glenn Cunningham. In the 1940s, Swedes Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg lowered the record to just over four minutes (4:01.4) while racing was curtailed during World War II in the combatant countries. After the war, John Landy of Australia and Britain's Roger Bannister vied to be the first to break the fabled four-minute mile barrier. Roger Bannister did it first on May 6, 1954, and John Landy followed 46 days later. By the end of the 20th century, the record had been lowered to the time of 3:43.13 run by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999.[2] On the women's side, the first sub-5:00 mile was achieved by Britain's Diane Leather 23 days after Bannister's first sub-4:00 mile. But the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) did not recognize women's records for the distance until 1967, when Anne Rosemary Smith of Britain ran 4:37.0. The current women's world record is 4:12.56 by Svetlana Masterkova of Russia, set on August 14, 1996. Contents[hide]Men[edit]Professionals[edit]
Amateurs[edit]
As there was no recognized official sanctioning body until 1912, there are several versions of the mile progression before that year. One version starts with Richard Webster (GBR) who ran 4:36.5 in 1865, surpassed by Chinnery in 1868.[3] Another variation of the amateur record progression pre-1862 is as follows:[4]
IAAF era[edit]The first world record in the mile for men (athletics) was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 1913. To June 21, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 32 world records in the event.[5]
Auto times to the hundredth of a second were accepted by the IAAF for events up to and including 10,000 m from 1981.[5] Women[edit]Pre-IAAF[edit]
IAAF era[edit]The first world record in the mile for women (athletics) was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 1967. To June 21, 2009, the IAAF has ratified 13 world records in the event.[6]
The IAAF recognized times to the hundredth of a second starting in 1981.[6] Slaney ran 4:17.55 in Houston on 16 February 1980, and Natalya Artyomova (Soviet Union) ran 4:15.8 in Leningrad on 6 August 1984, but neither time was ratified by the IAAF. |
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