On This Day: Sir Roger Bannister breaks four-minute mile

May 6, 1954: Sir Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes on this day in 1954, achieving a feat once thought impossible - but now routinely eclipsed.

The then 25-year-old British junior doctor realised his personal goal – inspired by his failure to win a medal at the 1952 Olympics – with only minimal training.

On the morning of the historic race, at the Iffley Road Track in Oxford, he had been doing his usual rounds at St Mary’s Hospital, in Paddington, west London.

But, as the well-spoken reporter from this British Pathé newsreel put it, the medic had no trouble showing off his “famous Bannister burst” as the crowd roared him on.

Sir Roger, who was knighted in 1975, is seen ditching his pace setters – Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway – and thundering towards the tape with 250 yards to go.

As he crosses the finishing line, he exhaustedly flops into the arms of his coach and team manager, who had long been critical that he didn’t train enough.

The camera then zooms in on a white analogue stopwatch, which shows Sir Roger’s time of 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.

His new world record clipped two seconds off the previous one set nine years earlier by Swede Gunder Hägg.

But, while many feared the sub-four-minute mile would never be achieved, Sir Roger’s record lasted just 46 days after Australian John Landy beat the time.

Since 1954, better trained athletes have made massive gains in the Mile, the only non-metric distance recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

The current record of 3 minutes 43.13 seconds was set by Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco in 1999.
Sir Roger, a former Oxford University student, went on to become a distinguished neurologist.