Four-minute mile: History and Key Facts

A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1.609 km) in four minutes or less, translating to an average speed of 15 miles per hour (24.1 km/h).

The first four-minute mile is usually attributed to the English athlete Roger Bannister, who ran it in 1954 at age 25 in 3:59.4. The mile record has since been lowered by 17.34 seconds. According to World Athletics statistics, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by just over 2,000 athletes. The record for the fastest time stands at 3:42.66, achieved by the Scottish athlete Josh Kerr, at age 28, in 2026. There has not yet been a woman who has run a four-minute mile.

It is a standard for male professional middle-distance runners in several countries.

Source and attribution

Text excerpted from Four-minute mile by Wikipedia contributors, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. The extract is abridged and formatting has been adjusted; the adapted text on this page is shared under the same licence. Revision history.