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.
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/16...
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[@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.

[@kenchristie9214]

Why can't today's illiterate idiots pronounce route correctly? Also it's not Chris Bray-sher, it's Chris Brash-er.

[@tonylove4800]

You called him Finnish the first time. Great doco. Thanks.

[@RunnerBoi]

@@kenchristie9214 I guess you know how to pronounce his name better than Bannister himself, given he used the former in his Mile race voiceover.

[@carlpeterkirkebo2036]

Could also consider talking a bit slower. Sounds like the commentator is trying to break a WR in words per minute.

[@carlpeterkirkebo2036]

At 32:09 you can for instance hear how "Ovett" is properly pronounced.

[@nathanjohnson2382]

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

[@kmancometh]

As a sprinter in High School that has done 400m sprints, for those who have never competed in 400m or a mile, you have no idea what exhaustion is.

[@litterhoesin5554]

@@kmancometh 400m ain’t even exhausting jus walk it off after you finish don’t sit down

[@Regocike]

@@litterhoesin5554 like i could walk after a 400m sprint

[@greatemu6837]

Yeah 400 is death. If you could walk it off, you ain’t going hard enough.

[@Brett733]

even under 5 minutes seems crazy to me. Getting under 9 minutes for the 1.5 mile run we used to have to do as a firefighter seemed difficult to me, but that was at 220 lbs.

[@judahweesner2651]

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

[@cmur078]

Just to clarify though, the guys in the pictures are Victorian amateur gentlemen runners, and there's no way any of them got 4 minute miles. The guys with the supposed 4 minute times were 18th century working class semi-professionals, and they didn't run in suits (you can see in the screenshot it says one of them ran naked). They're a lot more interesting, as they had the time to train, and surveying and timekeeping were fairly good (and there were massive amounts of money riding on the races), so it might have happened.

[@TechnoColoredMuffins]

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

[@xyzzyx7812]

it's not decades, but centuries of history

[@nelocarbon3284]

For me it's the exact opposite. Had my mind blown by the chase to go under 60min in Super Mario Odyssey🤯

[@jamesdmack]

Video didn't start with HOME's "We're Finally Landing" and I was genuinely confused.

[@DuncanEvers]

@@jamesdmack Hahaha me too

[@grandmastermario3695]

Oh wow I speedrun video games as well, I run lots of games, although I also do real physical track and feild as well as games, I'm mainly a sprinter though in physical track.

[@spacelemur7955]

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).

[@szymon6207]

Do you road 3:42 ?

[@PineappleSquuid]

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

[@historylife4436]

It’s at 30K views and still should have more! Great video

[@ebrown112]

@@historylife4436 now we’re at 57k views and i’d say that’s an appropriate amount. people should stop watching this video immediately. too bad we can’t share it any more bc it is a pretty great vid.

[@PineappleSquuid]

@@historylife4436 oh sick

[@jessemach5817]

True

[@theMrRyder1]

Up to 83K needs more

[@pingusdingus99]

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

[@teknoaija1762]

Not so.full of errors like flying being a swede.

[@johnmc3862]

Except for the pronunciations.

[@peterbradbury784]

@@johnmc3862 And shite 720p video.

[@quintonworthams1562]

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.

[@quintonworthams1562]

Correction: “Ryun”

[@Thaddeus2007]

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

[@leonbrumett6155]

Love to see fellow cc runners!

[@exigency2231]

These videos make me thankful to be a rower

[@Thaddeus2007]

@@exigency2231 How fun is rowing, I always wanted to do it?

[@maxwang2562]

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

[@patricktflowers11317]

This deserves so much more views! Amazing video

[@stormcat3648]

Massively underrated. This video was incredibly done

[@PrentisHancock1]

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

[@luckyspurs]

This old footage and commentary is great. Really well put together video. Glued throughout.

[@blifnorf2793]

Great video! i love these types of documentary style videos

[@yawg691]

This is SO good thank you for making it

[@AdventuresWithMe00]

The amount of detail and production put into this one video blew me away.

[@bug.]

This is miles

[@milesmugleston7405]

No this is miles

[@walkerfowble1393]

You are really out here dropping bangers

[@marcchoi2765]

I usually don’t subscribe after watching the first video but I love your work! Great job

[@johnnash5118]

@23:40 Steve Prefontaine (RIP) was my hero when I was @Marshfield high school, the same school he attended and set American records. I ran the 800 and Mile there but didn't have the coaching he had and could only shave my times to 4:19.2, it served me well when I served in the US Army though.

[@davidtydeman1434]

Thank you for the research and effort to put this together

[@willclark5426]

There are very few videos I have put on to listen to and eventually put it on to watch because I get so invested. This was one of them. Great video and I wish my mile stats were close enough to give myself a good perspective.

[@szymon6207]

AREA REORD Ingebritsen at 3:43.73 PRE-NIKE Classic diamond league MEET !

[@geirstianaaslund7141]

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.

[@rallydriver5741]

This is truly a great video presentation. It's such a shame that you put so much effort in to this remarkable piece of work only to have people complain. I personally do not watch KZbin videos to be an armchair film critic. I watch them to be educated and entertained. In this case it was great to be reminded of the Coe/Ovette/Cram races. Keep up the good work. It was just amazing to see how far humans have come and how some performances are so great they can takes years to beat.

[@nro337]

Amazing video!! thank you!

[@CarburetorThompson]

Great video. Never cared for running, more of a walker myself, but it was still a great watch all the way through.

[@runninggirl2765]

I watch A LOT of vintage track and field and have never seen some of this footage-or at least views from different angles. The research...Wow. (And, if anyone ever complains about your pronunciation of athletes names: sour grapes...this is a GREAT video).

[@cerastes3661]

This was sick man! The abyss yearns for us all

[@fuckboi_killa]

You did a great job on this video Keep up this quality and you'll go far

[@JTA1961]

Like a "mile"...even

[@richardmead4272]

Great documentary! This is a lot of work, gleaning historical records going so far back was also educational. As a former runner, this was so very entertaining!

[@szymon6207]

YARED NGUSE AR 3:43.97 (USA)

[@TyWebb4]

Enjoyed this thanks!

[@i_is_piano1941]

this deserves so much more

[@dionlindsay2]

It's a great story, and you tell it brilliantly.

[@sdgakatbk]

This is an awesome video!

[@Narj3zh]

If only I was alive in 1804

[@zetorux]

Welcome back brotha

[@robertmclane]

5 Seconds in and there is a clip of Cr1TiKaL from his "Presidential Fitness Test 1 Mile Run" ... this is going to be good

[@sidneytaylor8341]

Great video, well worth a sub👍

[@GHhg23124]

This is one of the greatest videos I've ever watched. Thanks !

[@SergiuSalcau00]

Amazing video bro. Great inspiration as i start training for my first marathon. Barcelona 2023 baby letsssss goooo.

[@Ihateschoolsobadly]

Good luck buddy, sending my positive vibes. You'll do great!!

[@jayure1346]

Good luck man give update In an edit if you run sub 4 hour or even a really fast sub 3 hour!!

[@christopherpalomo756]

Awesome video man

[@IslandPink]

Great work to put this together, very absorbing, I didn't know much about the pre-1950's era, good to see that. In the end however it just makes me more suspicious about the North Africans in the 1990's. I have had suspicions about El Guerrouj's training feats, and his record times, for years. Now I also see the two seconds that Morcelli took off the record in 1993, at the exact time the pro cycling world was being ripped apart by EPO ... it just looks bad. Add that to the fact that in an era now where training and tracks have improved so much in the last 20 years, we are not seeing these numbers any more. Well... it makes me think... welcome to hear anyone counter this.

[@cubest817]

I like these documentar-ish videos! (You're like Matthew Mayernik in cubing or SummonSalt in video speedrunning, but yours are really "speedrunning"! )

[@paulclarke7571]

18:43...The Empire games were held in Vancouver, Canada. My home town. The statue of the 2 men still stands on the site. It's title is "The Look" as Landy looked the opposite way as Banister passed him to win the race. The first race to have 2 men break the 4 minute barrier in the same race. Something to remember as the world records stacked up at a certain point in the mile as in all track events is that Banister and Landy ran on a cinder track (loose compressed material) Many future records were run on Mondo synthetic tracks which allow for much quicker times. Shoe technology also improved. It's simply the evolution of sport.

[@douglasherron7534]

I was going to comment on the changes in track and shoe technology which certainly give current runners an advantage over those at the time of Bannister, Landy, etc. However, it also makes Snell's world record even more impressive as he managed it on grass - which is a slower surface than cinder.

[@KayJblue]

Incredible video.

[@edenli6421]

The algorithm better pick this up soon, criminally underrated!

[@ShamanJeeves]

I love world record progression videos about speedruns in video games, so it's cool to run across a channel that does videos on record progressions in real-world disciplines. You get a sub for subverting my expectations!

[@mtb5778]

awesome documentary.

[@TheWelwyn21]

Five of us trained for 2 months to see if we could break 4 minute mile . It is so difficult I ran over 5 minutes I was blowing out of my arse it took about 10 minutes to fully get my breath back. The closest to the time was 4 minutes 32 seconds, these runners must be super human

[@Em-gj2sg]

This was an amazing video. The amount of research is very impressive and you keep it interesting at all times.

[@oxleygreive6003]

Great video :)

[@TheeMelloMan]

Great video.

[@GeoAce777]

I used to train with a friend who ran twice a day, EVERY DAY. His post-collegiate PR of 4:09, a few years out of school, seemed CRAZY to me!

[@ahumanbean2268]

love this

[@champcar69]

Awesome video, loved it! Only question though, were all these historical mile races ran at the 1600 meter distance, or the true mile distance of 1609 meters?

[@chillin5703]

mile speedrun progression very interesting video

[@pupface]

Great vid

[@nc8186]

this dude sounds like real life lore

[@JoeIndustries]

To add to the achievement of Bannister and Landy running sub 4 at the empire games...that was in Vancouver at Empire Stadium...sea level!! (I got to play football in that stadium in the eighties...hallowed ground!!!)

[@jaco7675]

Ha - I watched the whole thing! I’m not even a runner. Great stuff!

[@charleschavarria7523]

I was a valet from 80 to 84.I thought I was in pretty good shape. So I thought I’d give running a shot. I was 26 and I knew I had to see what I could do in the mile.15 minutes.from there I was obsessed.in the summer of 87 I ran my fastest mile ever.at Centaurus high school in Louisville ,Co 6:19 and change. I would much rather run 10 miles than a mile at break neck speed. I loved it.Mind,Body.and Soul…

[@Darknamja]

I really enjoyed following the mile distance competition when Marty Liquori and Jim Ryun were competing. 😉

[@MikeCarte]

Good video bro

[@sillybeastmonkey7397]

Phenomal video

[@stephenlee1756]

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.

[@admiralaokiji7889]

It’s almost impossible that they ran that fast back then. They didn’t have the shoes or correct track to get to that level. These things make a huge difference regardless of training. There’s a reason we are getting 3-4 kids just from America nowadays running the sub4 mile yearly. So back then it was not happening even if they had the talent to do so.

[@jean-pierredeclemy7032]

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.

[@gowers1972]

Sorry to have to give a correction -- in Bayi's 3:51.0 race, the one right behind Bayi (wearing red) is not John Walker; it's Marty Liquori.

[@IdJones11]

Yes, I noticed that as well. Loved the video though!

[@lucasreinert3030]

Summoning salt but track and field

[@chrismoody1342]

Shout out to Jim Ryan my hometown hero.

[@todallard8791]

I found the section on Jim Ryun lacking, with so much put into other athletes no mention of him being the first High School runner to break 4 and also that he beat Peter Snell when he ran with a time of 3:55.3 while in High School. Peter Snell's training should have been included as he was coached by the legend Arthur Lydiard.

[@Dojocartwheel]

Here after Jakob Ingebrigsten and Yared Nuguse got realllllly 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.

[@Lakeman3211]

In 1980 or 81 our high school converted from the imperial measured track and field to metrics…as this was a new designation all participants on the track events, from the 100 meter, hurdles, to the long distances were all record setters, so I held a couple school records for all eternity!, I’m certain they have been eclipsed since????

[@michaelelliott289]

Motivation.

[@Datsun510zen]

Those Brits are all like Chariots Of Fire and stuff. My best mike was 8:42 and it about killed me.

[@GeoAce777]

Morceli's RAD form! 😗Cram's Dream Mile was the ULTIMATE. El Guerrouj has the most deceptive final kick.

[@KSCustomweapons]

It blows my mind this channel has under 10k subs

[@fredkelly6953]

People are putting out great work on you tube about off the beaten track stuff. Engaging, informative and entertaining, all is not lost to the beat of the algorithm.

[@moneyandtimefreedom3352]

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

[@chappikingofjoberg3583]

Appreciate that you pronounce tanzania correctly 😁

[@qbertq1]

Love the film of them running inside a velodrome.

[@barakesmith-washington6946]

this is a treasure

[@llammb]

My shortest mile time (if I had finished it) would’ve been around 8 minutes, I wasn’t sprinting but definitely it was my most athletic time where I was running 3/4 miles almost every day. Ngl I miss it cuz I wasn’t even stressing while jogging, now a days 11 minutes is good enough

[@jfu5222]

As a pretty good, but by no means exceptional runner, I was running under 4:20 in 1500m when in high school in 1985. I never understood why it took so long to break the four minute mark. Shoes hadn't changed much and I trained on a cinder track. By the way Fartleks were a favorite of Mr. Lundin, my cross country, nordic skiing, and track coach!

[@leonbrumett6155]

This is in no way meant to come across as disrespectful, 4:20 is still a goal of mine and I admire your dedication, but a 4:20 1500 is about a 4:36-4:39 mile. I just finished my freshman year of high school in the spring and tan a 4:44 mile, then over the summer - after starting my training for xc and almost completely cutting out speedwork - I ran a 4:24 1500

[@AethelwulfBretwalda]

Wait so there are *3* different distances for the mile!? 1,500 for the "Metric Mile" even though 1,600 meters, which is the distance of 4 full laps, is closer to the 1,609 meters of an *actual* mile!

[@luckyspurs]

19:40 Wow, knowing so much less about Landy than Bannister, other than the name. He comes across as very classy and likeable here.

[@ginogara3465]

Hi ha. Will be the king on this distance for a quick long time say decades to come S

[@dominofuel8050]

Gotta add Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse to the top 5 list with them both running under 3:44 last year, and I see a few athletes with the possibility of going under the record in the coming years.

[@trentcard]

the Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy music in the start lol

[@bfc3057]

The Bannister sub-4 was not a race as all other runners had to agree in advance that Bannister would be allowed win. This practice was then immediately banned.

[@OtesOtesOtes]

The Mile is the best race

[@johnclon1742]

Did this video get muted? I can't get any sound from it, but if I click on another video it gets sound.

[@NJ-uh6hz]

El Guerrouj still has 1500m record, so its not because the mile is just not run much anymore that the record still stands. But yes the 1500 is more likely to be broken. Amazing how his times have stood up for over 20 years. He also has the record in the seldom run 2000m.

[@ItsJustStevesWorld]

Ahhh. The mid-90’s in distance running, when times were fast and dopers were everywhere. Widespread availability of EPO, and no tests that could detect it.

[@B3Band]

Where's the Summoning Salt music? Who is Andershin? What is Oxfoard?

[@keithboyce1542]

We lived opposite the Iffley Road running track and I watched Bannister run that race from our bedroom window as a 12 year old , great memory xx

[@simosuurkuukka1581]

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😂

[@szymon6207]

Area record 3:43.73 ingebritsen (EU) AND 3:43.97 NGUSE (USA) IN 09.2023

[@D4100N]

I love your take on pronunciation of the countries and towns, especially Tanzania 😊

[@MrVvulf]

The pronunciation of Oxford was painful to hear. As if it was a place where oxen ford a river...Ox-Ford.

[@stevebagley3436]

Agreed. Really enjoyed the video but mispronunciations diminished it a bit. Brasher, Ovett, Tanzania, etc.

[@lewisham]

And the one no Americans get right, Melbourne. Great video though.

[@esotericVideos]

The only thing that could make this video better is summoning salt's music. He should pay you like 50 thousand dollars for this video and just swap in his music and re-upload it to his channel on april fools. Anyway, great video! Totally deserves more views.

[@Jay9966]

It's a decent video, great background sound for when working on something else, but yeah I do feel like it would benefit from being paced a bit slower. pause longer a little bit after each sentence and just slightly slower overall. It's a bit rushed for a documentary style video. This pacing is better for list videos.

[@jo_nil]

Gotta go fast