Mile (road), men

What to remember

Düsseldorf, September 1, 2024: at the New Balance KO Meile, Britain's Elliot Giles ran the road mile in 3 min 51.30 s, an average of 25.05 km/h (15.56 mph).

The mile is 1,760 yards, or exactly 1,609.344 metres. A common race in 18th and 19th century England, it survived athletics' switch to metric distances, and the chase for the four-minute mile was a high point of the 1950s. Since 1976 it has been the only imperial distance on World Athletics' books for official world records, and it is run on the road as well.

Giles, from Birmingham, is above all an 800 m runner. He competed at the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games, which means this mark came away from his favourite event, over a longer distance and on the road.