Title.
What is the fastest first time under 4:00?
Title.
What is the fastest first time under 4:00?
Interesting question. Another would be how many people ran 3:59.99 their first time under the barrier.
Probably somebody sub-3:50 since foreigners run 1500s much more often.
Would you exclude those who had run a clear sub 4 equivalent for 1500 before? If we don't exclude them I would bet sub 3:50. If not I would say 3:52.XX.
OklahomaGuy wrote:
Title.
What is the fastest first time under 4:00?
Seb Coe 3:48.95?
The IAAF progression doesn't have any times before 1979 for Coe.
It's possible that 3:48 in 1979 was his first sub 4.
He was an 800m runner who probably did a number of 1500m races but may have never jumped in a fast mile before that race.
Noah Ngeny ran 3:50.41 in 1997 and his 1500m PR from the year before was 3:42.
So 3:50.41 may have been his first sub 4 (he 1500 in 3:32 that year).
The fastest first sub 4 may be Daniel Komen.
He ran 3:46.38 in 1997 and doesn't seem to have any mile times posted before that as he was a 5000m specialist.
malmo wrote:
https://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/category-stats/2472-world-sub-4-mile-alphabetic-register
According to this list, it looks like the fastest first mile is 3:47.88 by John Kibowen of Kenya on July 4th 1997, which was just three days before Hicham El Guerrouj's 3:43.13 in Rome.
Star wrote:
The IAAF progression doesn't have any times before 1979 for Coe.
It's possible that 3:48 in 1979 was his first sub 4.
He was an 800m runner who probably did a number of 1500m races but may have never jumped in a fast mile before that race.
Noah Ngeny ran 3:50.41 in 1997 and his 1500m PR from the year before was 3:42.
So 3:50.41 may have been his first sub 4 (he 1500 in 3:32 that year).
The fastest first sub 4 may be Daniel Komen.
He ran 3:46.38 in 1997 and doesn't seem to have any mile times posted before that as he was a 5000m specialist.
Coe ran 3:58 for his first sub 4. Then 3:57 the following year. Then 4:02. Then 3:48.
I think Komen is the fastest first mile sub 4 as it is unlikely he ever ran one in Kenya.
OklahomaGuy wrote:
Title.
What is the fastest first time under 4:00?
What about fastest first mile race EVER? Lawi ran like 3:59 in his first ever mile race, with I believe no 1500 times before that? It was like his 2nd race of any distance ever.
3:47.88
9 men ran 3:59.99 their first time sub 4.
Thanks for that awesome link Malmo!
Brian Lawlor: 3:45!!
coach deez nuts wrote:
3:47.88
9 men ran 3:59.99 their first time sub 4.
Thanks for that awesome link Malmo!
What did Komen run for his first mile?
Looks like Komen ran 3:58.0 en route to his sub 8:00 two mile, so that was his first sub 4.
But I think his first actual sub 4 mile result was his 3:46.38 later that year.
Metric Miler wrote:
coach deez nuts wrote:3:47.88
9 men ran 3:59.99 their first time sub 4.
Thanks for that awesome link Malmo!
What did Komen run for his first mile?
3:58.0, it was an en-route time from his 7:25.16 3000m in 1996.
So that is interesting, the first time Komen broke 4 was not in a mile race but rather in a 3000m that had splits at the mile. His first true mile race was likely 3:46.
Star wrote:
Looks like Komen ran 3:58.0 en route to his sub 8:00 two mile, so that was his first sub 4.
But I think his first actual sub 4 mile result was his 3:46.38 later that year.
Not his 2 mile, I thought the same thing. The date listed was August 10, 1996. He ran his sub 8 2 miles in 1997 and 1998. He ran a 7:25 3000m on that date which I guess had splits set up for the mile.
Star wrote:
Looks like Komen ran 3:58.0 en route to his sub 8:00 two mile, so that was his first sub 4.
But I think his first actual sub 4 mile result was his 3:46.38 later that year.
Ok but really his first listed mile race was 3:46 so that makes it a quicker 'sub 4 debut' than the 3:47.88 by John Kib
Pretty strange to even take an official one mile split in a 3000m race.
You'd have to draw a line 9m past the 200m/3000m start line just to take the split.
That line would not be used for anything else except for the first mile split of a 5000, but not for a start of any other event.
Or it's a quarter mile track and the 3000m start was 17 or so meters ahead of the 220 yard start.
Then you'd have a one split after exactly 4 laps.
Or it was a 1600m split with added time to give a mile split.
Star wrote:
Pretty strange to even take an official one mile split in a 3000m race.
You'd have to draw a line 9m past the 200m/3000m start line just to take the split.
That line would not be used for anything else except for the first mile split of a 5000, but not for a start of any other event.
Or it's a quarter mile track and the 3000m start was 17 or so meters ahead of the 220 yard start.
Then you'd have a one split after exactly 4 laps.
Or it was a 1600m split with added time to give a mile split.
I agree, very strange. Would love more info. The dates line up though, it was from the 7:25 3000 in 1996.
He ran 7:25 twice in 1996.
So that first one was in Monaco and it looks like he missed the World Record by .05s in that race. Whoa!
Then he misses the record again two weeks later by less than a second.
Then a week later he finally smashes the record with his famous 7:20.
(He really wanted that record)
Obviously he is going out sub 4 for a mile in all of those races.
Maybe for record attempts they have the mile split marked.
It counts as a mile time but not as a mile race result.
If the question is:
What is the fastest mile time that was someone's first time under 4:00 in a mile race?
Then it's Komen's 3:46?
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!
2024 College Track & Field Open Coaching Positions Discussion
adizero Road to Records with Yomif Kejelcha, Agnes Ngetich, Hobbs Kessler & many more is Saturday