Breaking Four: A Family Affair: Lap 1

By Liam Boylan-Pett, Bring Back the Mile

Editor's Note: This is part one in a four part series written by Liam Boylan-Pett, #315 on the United States sub-4 minute Mile list, boasting a personal best of 3:58.19 (2011 Falmouth Mile). He obtained Bachelor's Degrees in Sociology and Creative...

Don Bowden Opened Gateway for American Milers

By Mark Winitz

Longtime track & field writer Mark Winitz interviewed Don Bowden in 2004 for an article that appeared in American Track & Field magazine. On the 55th anniversary of Bowden’s first sub-4 minute Mile by an American, Bring Back the Mile asked Mark to contact Don for his thoughts...

Verzbicas Breaks 4 Minute Mile

"Until the race started, I thought this was going to be effortless and I was going to do it, but once the race got started, it was actually harder than I thought."

By Bill Carey, Sports Illustrated

NEW YORK -- Lukas Verzbicas sat alone at a table checking his phone, still smiling 30 minutes...

Catching Up with Jim Spivey: Part 2

1978-84: First Sub-4, First Olympics
He visited Oregon, who, at the time, had Rudy Chapa and Alberto Salazar. On his visit to Eugene in the fall of his senior year, coach Bill Dellinger explained the Ducks’ training philosophy, pulled out some charts, pointed to a number and said that’s what he...

Bannister’s Sub-4 Minute Mile Named Greatest Athletic Achievement

For Forbes' panel of experts, editors and readers, one feat did emerge as a clear winner: the first sub-4 by Roger Bannister in 1954

By David M. Ewalt with Lacey Rose, Forbes.com

At their best, sports are about more than just winning games and diverting crowds. They test the limits of what...

Bowden passed test with first U.S. sub-4:00 Mile

My coach, the legendary Brutus Hamilton, said, "Let's give it a try and see if you can do it."

By Paula Parrish, Special to The Record

His face, when he crossed the finish line 48 years ago, could have come straight out of "Happy Days." Even when he was straining on his last steps to become...

My First Sub-4

My head was pounding and I struggled to catch my breath as my time finally appeared: 3:59.78 and all the pain instantly went away.

By Steve Slattery

The story of my first 4 minute Mile started in elementary school gym class. We were running the Mile and I decided I was going to run as hard as...

Harry Downes: an old pro who ran like the fastest amateur

Australian records first sub-4 minute Mile for a professional in a handicap race on Bendigo Showgrounds grass track

From The Age

Before the era of open athletics, professional and amateur athletes often seemed to operate in parallel worlds.

They looked the same; they ran the same distances,...

Alan Webb, 18, Becomes First Prep Since 1967 to Break 4 Minutes in Mile

By David Monti
(c) 2001 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

NEW YORK - Alan Webb, an 18-year-old senior at South South Lakes High School in Reston, Va., became the first U.S. prep athlete to run under four minutes for the Mile indoors at today's New Balance Games at...

Schoolboy Webb breaks 4 minute Mile

First U.S. prep to run sub-4 indoor Mile with 3:59.86 clocking; also 4th U.S. high schooler under 4 minutes for storied distance

By Sabrina Yohannes, IAAF.org

Alan Webb, 18, became the first American high school athlete to run under 4 minutes for the indoor Mile on Saturday. Webb's time of 3...