Sebastian Coe - 1979 Oslo 1 mile WR

Sebastian Coe sets his first World Record in the Mile Run on July 13, 1979 - 3:48.95. Steve Scott of the US finishes 2nd in 3:51.11, missing Jim Ryun's 12 year old American Record by .01. This was the start of a string of record performances by British runners in the mile throughout the 1980's.

[@watchinginawe]

an absolute god of an athlete.

[@MD-zo7cl]

I was HAPPY to break 5 min. 4:56. 1978. JUNIOR YEAR. My coach WAS IMPRESSED. 😁. MY FRIENDS ON THE TRACK TEAM, ALONG WITH ME. MANAGED TO HOLD THE RECORD FOR 2 MILE RELAY ....11 YEARS. 😁DONT RECALL THE TIME... BUT OBVIOUSLY IT WAS FAST . 11 YEAR RECORD. ❤

[@SirPeter6464]

Thoughts for commentator Adrian Metcalfe who I saw recently. Still has his Olympic medal and wears it at his care home. Sadly his memories have now gone... 😔

[@deano27671]

SirPeter6464 oh, that’s very sad. Sorry to hear that.

[@musik102]

Adrian was a fabulous runner and but for illness/injury would have won the 1964 Olympics AND he was the best ever TV athletics - track - commentator. Sorry to here the latest news.

[@charactersontv]

awesome

[@markgregamy]

absolutely magical run.

[@andrewdeacon8315]

Re the timing debate According to the U.K. all time 1500m list coes 1500m split was 3.32.8 (you can see the official stop his watch as Coe comes around the last bend) which gives 16.15 for the last 109m. His split in Brussels 2 years later was 3.32.94 giving a last 109m of 14.39 . Coe does appear to have more of a sprint finish in the 81 race rather than holding on but seems a big difference. Just by observing the time shown on the video from the guy with the stopwatch at 1500m to the finish line is approx 16 seconds so it would appear the time credited is correct.

[@deano27671]

@777jco I am aware of the difference between 400 and 440yd splits thank you. It's nothing to do withy that. The on screen clock is not the official clock, of course, but in the vast majority of cases it's only out by about 0.1/0.2. This one is out by a second! According to the on screen clock here, Coe passes the start line (which is the 1600m line) on the last lap in 3:46.4. NOT 3:47.9. Coe does slow up towards the end, but it is the finish line of the mile (1609.344m) that he crosses in 3:47.9

[@deano27671]

@jmoleary Yes, it seems inconceivable that there was anything wrong with the time keeping, but what is shown on the video is still very odd! He actually crosses the line with the on screen clock showing 3:47.9, it then continues moving (very rapidly!) to 3:48.9 after he has crossed the line!? The splits are strange too. The official 3/4 split for Coe was 2:53.4, meaning his last 440 was 55.5 (55.2 last 400m). His official 1500m time was 3:32.80, meaning he clocked 16.15 for the last 109m.

[@deano27671]

@rafael21196 Yes, that's what I found on my copy of the race too!? I've contacted a few statisticians, but they can't explain the anomaly either. Also, as he crosses the line it shows 3:47.9 on the screen, but then ticks forward a whole second in the blink of an eye after he finishes. All very strange! It's possible that there is a second of the race somehow missing, so would be interesting to know if other people's copies of the race are same. But that still doesn't explain the extra sec at end

[@deano27671]

@carlfromhastings The main intro is by Adrian Metcalfe, who used to run 400m for Britain in the 60's. The other voice is that of Alan Pascoe, who was a 400 hurdler for Britain in the 70's.

[@SirPeter6464]

Selling the guy short. Won Olympic silver. Still around but sadly not very well nowadays. Say no more than that.

[@deano27671]

He said himself in his first book, Running Free, that he would have run 3:30 that day in Zurich, had he been paced to the bell. He was solo with 800 to go, and the first 2 laps had been very uneven (54.3, 58.9). He was certainly in sub 3:30 shape in 79.

[@soulyrasheed]

yes, he was... as for '81 Stockholm 1500m... even 1:49.1 was not so bad (he was 1:41 man over 800m, but didn't have the luxury to have Oly champ at 800m, such as William Tanui to dig him in the third lap... he could run same times as Jacob today

[@LPCLASSICAL]

You are right about the clock stopping after he crosses the line - how odd. Is the clock displayed for tv viewers linked directly to the official clock? Perhaps the automatic timekeeping failed to stop the clock and somebody manually stopped it when they realised - half a second later - there had been a fault. I would expect a 1.42 800M form coe to run 3.47/48 mile - also he had drafting from Scott. What was Scott's time? He looks like he is 2.00 seconds behind.

[@5kdamian]

Yes, I have him crossing at 3:47.9 as well...

[@LPCLASSICAL]

He looked over his shoulder 50M from the line, realised he had won - and eased up. Yes that should have been a 3.47 that day - or 3.46 if it is true that the clock was stopped late. In this form he ought to have run 3.30 in Zurich. He said the 3rd lap in Oslo did not hurt at all.

[@LPCLASSICAL]

At the start of the race, on the video - the clock time is not displayed - could it be that there is some delay or lag in the timing? Surely this is eomthing Coe's father would have raised at the time. Also - I think they have people hand timing the race too in case the elec timing fails - as it did iduring Coe's 800M WR. The time must be correct and there must be an explanation.

[@deano27671]

No it isn't. That is the finish line. You can see from the beginning of the race that the curved start line was behind the finish line by some way. The IAAF records book has his 440 yds splits, not his 400 ones. The 3/4 split not 1200m, is given as 2:53.4. Btw, if you time this race yourself using a stopwatch, you will get something around 3:46.7! Either there is some missing footage, which isn't noticeable, or the clock was wrong, or a mixture of the two.

[@777jco]

The track @ Oslo was 400 meters... mile is 1609.344 meters... 4 laps plus 9.344 meters... Seb made the mistake of failing to run through the finish line where the clock did stop at the correct time.

[@TheSecondWitness]

No, he ran through the line. It's clear in the video. We see that the line is well beyond the 400m line. He did slow slightly, but he obviously ran through the finish line.

[@jeremyhomewood9573]

Seb sauntered that last 109 yards in 16*1 literally cruised in !!!!!! He just missed the world 1500 world record And his Time of 3:32'8 was a MASSIVE TEN seconds personal best !!!!!!!!! In Brussels two years later after going through 1500m in 3:32,93 he got it right SPRINTING the last 109 yards in 14*40 !!!!!!!!! (3:47'33) I AM convinced seb could have run 3:47 in 1979,,,, and 3:28/ 1500 m 3:45/3:46 mile 1981 and had he not got ill in 1982/83 that 3:29*77 he ran in 1986 well past his best means COE definitely was capable of 3:27/ 1500 3:44 mile !!!!!! He only ran 14:06 5000 metres and 7:54 3000 metres !!!!!! OVETT ⭐ ran 13:20 5000m 7:41 3000m (1977!!!!!!!!!) OVETT was capable of 1:42 '8 800 m which is exactly what Peter Elliott did in 1990 1:42'9/ CRAM 1:42,85 1985 !!!!!!!!!! On today's tracks being paced up to 600 metres COE would Definitely run 1:40'5!!!!!!!!))))) AT LEAST !!!!!!!!!!!! YES !!!!!!!!!!

[@deano27671]

Scott just missed the US record that day with 3:51.13. If Coe hadn't eased in the last 50 he'd probably have broken 3:48. The clock issue still baffles me. If you hand time the whole race you get 3:47 something! Very bizarre!

[@deano27671]

He was actually slowing down all along the homestraight. Could have run 3:47 had he pushed the last lap that day, and a good bit faster still had the pacing been faster and the opposition in closer contention.

[@jonathanhockey9943]

Yes the time at the end seemed a bit off, Coe ran the first few laps almost in lane 2, just cruising alongside the others, so he must have lost some time there also. Who knows just what he may have been capable of at that time.

[@PeschkeXD]

why did the guy in the red who was leading run out?

[@MyRetardProductions]

theres something called a rabbit where they set the pace to make every one go after him basically someone who specializes in a shorter event to get them chasing him

[@5kdamian]

@rafael21196 I time it at 3:47 as well...

[@deano27671]

That's 14.8 for the last 100. If we take that from 55.2, we get 40.4 for the 300m from the bell to 100m to go. That's averaging 13.45 for each 100m. He then slows to 14.8 for the last 100! He looks easy in the straight, not in any stress at all. Perhaps he slowed down a bit, knowing he'd won the race, but 14.8 seems v slow. Likewise behind him, Scott (3:34.6 at 1500 & 3:51.11 Mile) ran the last lap in 57.0 but the last 100 in 15.1. So he ran the first 300m of last lap in 41.9 (13.96 per 100m).

[@georgesmyth6577]

A rare talent thought he edged ovett.

[@TheSecondWitness]

Coe ran 3:46.97 this day, but horrendous timing errors gave him credit only for a 3:48.95 mile. So in reality, he beat the previous World Record by nearly 2.5 seconds. Notice that the time clock does not appear on screen until the 400 meter mark, yet by the time it finally shows, it is already over a second over the actual time. When Coe finishes, the clock shows 3:47.90, yet continues running until it stops at 3:48.95. How could this have happened, and at Oslo of all places? This was a monumental failure by the timekeeping crew! I demand that the IAAF look into this, and that it corrects the mile time for Coe, and possibly others as well.

[@gowers1972]

The time clock is accurate. You timed the 3:46.97 by watching the 1979 (close to 40 years old) footage, which has been copied through different forms of media on its way to KZbin. The actual time was a shade under 3:49, but they were still timing to the tenths, and Coe's official time was set at 3:49.0.

[@TheSecondWitness]

Nice theory, but not accurate. From moment official time appears in upper right of screen, it is precise through the end of the race. The differential comes from the time added after Coe breaks line, when clocks jumps forward a full second. Their mistake was in adding a second, versus removing, as they were already off a full second when official time appears. But during the video, the time on screen perfectly matches a stopwatch - so your theory of multiple video saves distorting time is absolutely false and poorly researched. Do you even take a stopwatch against the time onscreen before coming up with that conclusion? Obviously not.

[@bear1568]

+James Twining Agreed.

[@bear1568]

I timed this race, with this video using my stopwatch. I got 3:46.9. I stopped watch at last line and each 1/4 mile split a little earlier than the one before. Unable to determine if it was in sync with the timekeeper as they did not show from an above view so we can see where the lines were. They only did so at the finish. So either this was in fact timed wrong or all these years NBC video was sped up. I'm old enough to remember seeing this race live and seeing the final time they gave him of 3:49.0. I remember thinking WTF! How did they come up with that time?

[@francishooton3933]

how do you figure 3:46? it was 3:48:95

[@bestkidguy96]

GO ME! 5:25 seconds wooooo (lol)

[@owenthackeray4195]

Could have had a faster time had he not looked round