On January 16, 1965, Australian middle-distance legend Ron Clarke made history by breaking his fourth world record. This time, he took down Vladimir Kuts’ long-standing 5000m mark by a fifth of a second with a time of 13:34.8.
Clarke’s time was set on a grass track in Hobart, Tasmania, where he dominated the race from start to finish, almost lapping all of his competitors.
At the time, Clarke was no stranger to the world record books. Already holding the records for the three miles (13:07.6), six miles (27:17.8), and 10,000m (28:15.6) distances, he became the first athlete since Finland’s Taisto Maki (1939-42) to hold all four records simultaneously.
PS. He'd end up setting 11 WRs that year, eventually running 13:25 that year.