Talk:Mile run world record progression

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Untitled[edit]

A chart of some sort would be lovely.

This is a first attempt at creating a chart with EasyTimeline. Feel free to improve it. If people like it, I might also do this for the other record pages. The data is taken from the linked page, it seems there are some errors in the wiki-article (vandalism or typos). Cheezycrust 15:50, 2 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Lovely! Why not put it in the article? On the subject of vandalism, there was a small change to the figures put in today which I fixed. The solution is to provide citations (other than the overall source) for each one. No hurry, one at a time. PeterGrecian 14:13, 30 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]


Rounded times[edit]

I notice that on the record progression there is an inconsistency in terms of ratified records and actual times ran. Over the decades, the IAAF has changed its rules for rounding times. When Bannister broke 4:00, the rule was that times were rounded up to the nearest fifth of a second. Hence, Landy's 3:57.9 to break Bannister's record was ratified as 3:58.0. By the early 60s, times were recognized to the nearest tenth of a second, so when Snell ran 3:54.03 in 1964, the ratified time was 3:54.1. Similarily, when Coe ran 3:48.95, the ratified time was 3:49.0. In 1981, the rule was changed again as times to the 100th of a second were now recognized. Though Ovett's 3:48.8 was timed to the 10th of a second, all subsequent records were recorded - and ratified - to the 100th of a second.

I suggest we indicate the ACTUAL time run, with notes to indicate the RATIFIED time below. Canada Jack 21:20, 16 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Another discrepancy, given the IAAF rules, is when we go from "2/5" to ".4" I'm not sure when this change occured, but as stated, the rounding rule up to the nearest fifth suggests we can render those old times as decimals, not fractions. Curious to know when the style went from fraction to decimal. Also, one time seems clearly wrong: 4:28 3/6, Charles Gunton, 31 March, 1873. Surely "3/6" is incorrect - anyone out there who can verify this time? Canada Jack 21:36, 16 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

High school times[edit]

I omitted the reference to high schoolers who ran under 4:00. While it may have been of interest to note that "only" four high schoolers have done this, this is a rather distorted claim, as few non-American high-schoolers run the event, and a good number of foreign juniors - who were the same age or younger than Webb but not in "high school" nevertheless have run faster times. Webb ran 3:53.43 when 18 years old, but Alex Kipchirchir ran 3:50.25 also while 18 (though about 5 months older than Webb). Even more impressive, Noah Ngeny ran 3:50.41 while still 17!

Because the claim was partucularily American-centric, I omitted it. Canada Jack 18:19, 21 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Are you sure these times are for the mile and not 1600 m? High Schools switched from running yards and miles to metres back in the '70s. The event these times were made should be dated so one can know if we are referring to something modern or a generation ago. 68.105.199.216 (talk) 17:43, 18 February 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.105.199.216 (talk) 17:38, 18 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Track and field meet directors, starters, officials and statisticians are very aware of the difference between 1600 meters and a mile. Many 400 meter tracks have the mile start line marked 9.35 meters before the common finish line. I personally measured and marked that start line for the Arcadia Invitational, where an elite high school mile is conducted each year. In the specific cases of the American High School sub-4 milers, those cases are very well documented. They were mile runs from the start line. At this level, simple measurement mistakes are not made. In Webb's case, as seen on national TV, there was a timer set up at the 1500 meters and at the mile finish, but not at 1600 meters. He received credit for the 1600 meter record, identical to the mile because his 3:53.43 was superior to the best 1600 meters times as well as being the mile record, but he had to run the 9.35 meters extra in the process. None of the other miles, possibly save Verzbikas, had a timer at 1600 (Ryun, Danielson and Liquori were in the mid-60's before the distance was invented). And back to Canada Jack's deletion, American-centric as it is, this is a highly discussed, highly covered subject and WP:GNG does deserve coverage here on that basis. Perhaps supporting documentation of Ngeny and Kipchirchir will crack the American bubble, but that is not for you to decide by omitting content, rather it should be by adding content. Ugh, now I have more to write. 76.167.120.129 (talk) 01:45, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Here is the original text "Only four high-school athletes have broken the 4-minute barrier: Jim Ryunn, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquori, and Alan Webb. Webb ended the 37-year drought of sub-4 high school milers when he set the record in 2001 with his time of 3:53."

The problem here is not limited to the American-centric list of sub-4:00 high schoolers. It more bascially extends to the fact that this page is a mile progression list. So, simply listing sub-4:00 miles run by high schoolers, while of interest, is not within the scope of this page, nor is there any comparable list on the sister progression lists. If there is a source somewhere with a progression list of high school milers, I don't see a particular issue with including that. Another more appropriate pages, given the interest in sub-4 minute miles, would be on a page discussing generically the mile race, or a page discussing sub-4 minute miles. Canada Jack (talk) 18:59, 19 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Typo/Vandalism?[edit]

The time for Nick Hoffman in the IAAF section is listed as 6:00:37. This is obviously not correct, and if he did indeed run a real time, it should be between 3:47:33 and 3:48:40. Can anyone confirm his actual time? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 75.82.196.239 (talk) 02:51, 21 April 2007 (UTC).[reply]


Fastest mile is currently listed as "Jack McGuire" in 2:36.13, which was ran on Feb 11, 2011. Vandalism? The reference is from 2009. Gregnz (talk) 06:14, 12 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

USA FASTEST MILE[edit]

I just herd on NBC that this Kenyan guy did a 3:28.? /mile right .Being the fastest mile time in the USA .

Daniel Kipchir Komen ran 3:48.28 in Eugene Oregon today, which, I am pretty sure, is the fastest mile ever run in America. But that time has been exceeded more than 30 times, almost always in Europe, the first time being in 1981.Canada Jack 23:27, 10 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Roger Bannister's background[edit]

Why does Roger Bannister's background use a different color? According to the article itself, he is the first man who ran in less than 4 minutes, but does this need to be displayed in this way? Nineko 12:06, 6 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

12.75 vs. 12 3/4[edit]

A user changed a time from 12 3/4 s to 12.75. I reverted this as I believe that "12.75" implies a level of accuracy to the hundredth of a second. "12 3/4" more clearly reflects the accuracy of the timing methods used at the time which I why I feel we should employ fractions where warranted. For the same reason, if a runner ran, say, 3:45.10 we wouldn't put it 3:45.1 as the latter implies an accuracy only to 1/10th of a second when in fact the accuracy is to 1/100th. Canada Jack 14:29, 12 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Here we go again - there seems to be a move to render all fractional times to decimal, even when in the case of the above time, we have a time which implies an accuracy to the tenth of a second. This is clearly inappropriate as the times as rendered in the original sources were thus.
We don't, because times are now to the hundredth of a second, render old times to that level of accuracy, so Bannister ran 3:59.40, and we shouldn't do likewise to the other times. Canada Jack 15:35, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As of november first 2001, a U.S Army Ranger has the fastest time in a mile. Staff seargent Peter black ran his mile in an astonoshing 2min and 46 seconds. Current world record for the mile is 3minutes and 40 seconds.That truly proves the amazing agility of our elite soldiers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.54.14.123 (talk) 06:25, 17 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]


Ireland[edit]

The nationality of the record holders from the 1860s should not be shown as Ireland (linked to Rep of Ireland). The Republic of Ireland did not exist until the 20th century. Jooler (talk) 17:42, 10 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Split proposal - "Mile run" vs "World record progression"[edit]

Really there are two entities here:

The lead is attempting to be the former while the body is attempting to be the latter. I recommend a split into two separate, related articles (see 800 metres and 800 metres world record progression as an example). Also: is it mile run or one mile which is the more common way to refer to he event? Sillyfolkboy (talk) (edits) 03:20, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Doesn't include Second best time ?[edit]

Include: Noah Ngeny ( Second best, mile for men: 3:43.40 , Date: 1999 July 7, in Roma ) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.220.41.75 (talk) 22:01, 18 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Problem is this is a list of the record progression, not a list of best miles ever run. Too bad for Ngeny - he broke the old mile record, unfortunately behind El Guerrouj... Canada Jack (talk) 14:56, 19 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

1500m[edit]

This article should mention the 1500m, as this is the major reason that there are now very few international mile races, and thus less chances to lower the record. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.49.153.93 (talk) 04:52, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Though this article is about the progression not about the event per se, not a bad idea here to find a source which makes that point - that few high-quality mile races are run these days as most of the big meets concentrate on the 1500. This has been noted on the 1500 progression page, though without a reference. Canada Jack (talk) 22:15, 10 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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indoor record progression list[edit]

Good work, Trackinfo, in getting the indoor mile list added - I didn't know the record was broken until I saw your changes!

A couple notes here on the new list - I adjusted the time/auto columns to be consistent with what was built previously on this page and other progression pages and to be consistent to the way the IAAF uses this information - the "auto" mark is there for an auto time that is different from the ratified record. So Buerkle's 3:54.93 is the unbolded auto time for a mark which would have been, given the rounding rules in effect back then, as 3:55.0, in bold. The "auto" column is interesting for historical purposes when auto times were recorded but hand-timed marks or rounding rules to the tenth (or the fifth) were in effect. These days only two events so far have the need for an "auto" column for records set recently - the 100m and 200m - where auto times to the thousands were recorded, though rounded up for record purposes to the nearest 100th. I've not seen an IAAF handbook post-Rio 2016 as that may list an auto-time to the thousandth for van Niekirk's 43.03.

As for the "IAAF era" list, I took out the "auto" column as there was no instance where the auto time was different from the ratified mark. Nevertheless, the list needs to be adjusted, as the event wasn't recognized for record purposes by the IAAF until the late 1990s, so Coghlan's 3:49.78 from 1983 was the inaugural one, not the 3:50.6 he ran in 1981. I checked the IAAF record progression list and this is how they have it - the 3:49.78 is the inaugural record. I'm too clumsy (and lazy) to put the 3:50.6 in its proper pre-IAAF column.... Canada Jack (talk) 16:22, 4 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism[edit]

Article currently says the world record is held by "Jarrod Binstead, a Scottish schoolboy". That seems extraordinary unlikely. (Comment added by an IP)

This article is prone to constant vandalism because it takes a low order of IQ for someone to think they can simply put their name in place of the esteemed world record holder, or the like, and think nobody will notice. Trackinfo (talk) 04:52, 11 June 2020 (UTC)[reply]
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