Running Through Time: Bannister, Kipyegon, and the Meaning of the Mile
By Tom Ratcliffe and James Nealon
June 25, 2025
Seventy-one years ago — on 6 May 1954 — on a wet, windswept cinder track in Oxford, Roger Bannister, a 25-year-old medical student, ran a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds — and into history. In breaking the so-called “impossible” four-minute barrier, Bannister didn’t just set a record. He shifted the limits of belief. He showed that barriers — even sacred ones — are made to be tested.
Today, the athletics world celebrates astonishing new times made possible by carbon-plated shoes, optimized track surfaces, and wave-light pacing. Records are falling not by inches, but by great leaps and bounds — hailed as breakthroughs that are “redefining the sport.” But one has to ask: redefining what, exactly? And by what standard?
On June 26, Faith Kipyegon will attempt the same feat that once shook the sporting world: the sub-four-minute mile. To understand the significance of her effort, we must view it through two essential lenses: technological innovation and expanding opportunity — particularly for women in sport.
Bannister ran his mile under less-than-ideal conditions — four laps on a damp cinder track, in leather spikes, training between hospital shifts. His performance wasn’t just about time; it was about conviction and the power of belief.
For Phil Knight, who would go on to found Nike, that belief was transformative. At 16, a high school runner in Portland, Knight read about Bannister’s feat in the morning paper. When he arrived at school, his history teacher — Jim Norton — dismissed the result: “It’s physically impossible. I think those watches were wrong.” Knight recalled thinking otherwise. “It really bestowed a love for track & field,” he said. “It intensified it enormously.”
Bannister’s run not only deepened Knight’s passion for the sport, it set his life on a new course. “What would my life be if it hadn’t happened?” he later asked. “Would I have walked on at the University of Oregon? Stayed walking on, even though there were better runners? What would have happened if I hadn’t done all of those things?”
That question is the power of Bannister’s mile. Not just what it meant, but what it made possible. Not just for Knight — but for thousands who were watching, running, dreaming. “People saying it couldn’t be done and Bannister doing it affected me,” Knight said. “There’s probably nothing more challenging than someone telling you it can’t be done.”
Just weeks after Bannister’s feat, Diane Leather became the first woman to run a mile in under five minutes — 4:59.6 — an achievement history has largely overlooked. Unlike Bannister’s, it was met with little celebration.
Cut to 2025. Kipyegon will run on a fast, synthetic surface, in aerodynamically optimized gear, carbon-plated shoes, and scientifically calibrated conditions. Her race kit will be 3D-printed for precision. She’ll be backed by cutting-edge data, gear innovations, and the most advanced support team a professional athlete can access.
Yes, the gear matters. The track is faster, the shoes are light-years ahead. But Kipyegon’s run is also the product of cultural and structural progress. It reflects the long arc of movements like Title IX — a U.S. law that triggered global change. It challenged traditions, reshaped expectations, and opened doors — for girls and women once sidelined by sport.
So what are we really witnessing in Paris? A race, yes — but also a conversation across time. It’s a moment that asks us to look not just at the clock, but at evolution: from cinder tracks to carbon plates, from marginalized women to global icons.
Sport moves on. Time, inevitably, marches forward. But in a sport measured by the ticking of seconds, we must remember: time is not just a number — it tells a deeper story. A record tells us what is possible now, but the story of how we got here reminds us what was once impossible. And that story matters.
Yes, we celebrate the science, the shoes, the surface. But these are tools. At the heart of the story is still a human being, like Bannister before her, pushing against a barrier once thought unreachable. Bannister wasn’t just fast — he was a pragmatic dreamer. Kipyegon is, too.
But let’s be clear: without the revolution Bannister set in motion none of this would be happening. Without the momentum of Title IX and decades of advocacy, Kipyegon might never have had a lane to run in. And without modern sports science, the sub-four-minute mile would still lie far beyond the reach of women.
Let’s hold Bannister close — not to romanticize the past, but to honor it. To remember what belief and resolve looked like before the age of precision tech. And let’s celebrate Kipyegon — not only if she breaks the barrier, but because she dares to. Because she carries the weight of history, the momentum, and the conviction that, even in a world of engineered advantage, the human spirit still leads the way.
As T.S. Eliot wrote: “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” Bannister risked it — and showed us how far belief could carry us. And now Kipyegon charts her own path, pushing the boundary not just of time, but of possibility.
Talk about Faith Kipyegon’s breaking 4 attempt on the world-famous letsrun.com fan forum at letsrun.com/forum:
*MB: Faith Kipyegon breaking-4 official discussion thread (+watch party/reaction show at 1:55 pm ET)
*MB: CU Boulder Scientists (Drafting Experts) Call Out & Respond to Rojo’s Comments on Sub 4-Mile Attempt
Tom Ratcliffe is the producer and director of the documentary Bannister: Everest on the Track and a track and field agent. James Nealon is a former U.S. ambassador and retired diplomat. You can view their interview with Phil Knight here.