This is a list of American high school students who have run a

four-minute mile A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...

since the feat was first accomplished in 1964. The first person to run the mile (1,760

yards The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...

, or 1,609.344 metres) in under four minutes was

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

in 1954, in a time of 3:59.4. This barrier would not be broken by a high school student until 1964, when

Jim Ryun James Ronald Ryun (born April 29, 1947) is an American former Republican politician and Olympic track and field athlete, who at his peak was widely considered the world's top middle-distance runner. He won a silver medal in the 1500 m at the 1 ...

ran the distance in a time of 3:59.0 at the Compton Relays. Ryun went on to set a national high school record of 3:55.3, which stood until 2001 when it was broken by

Alan Webb Alan Webb may refer to: * Alan Webb (actor) (1906–1982), English actor * Alan Webb (runner) (born 1983), American track athlete * Alan Webb (footballer) (born 1963), retired English association football player See also

* Allan Webb (disambigu ...

. Seventeen U.S. high school students have run the mile in less than four minutes since 1964.

U.S. high school mile record holders

Jim Ryun

After setting the national high school record in the mile, Jim Ryun set the world record in 1966 and then again in 1967, when he ran 3:51.1. Ryun was 19 at the time, making him the youngest world record holder in the mile to date. His record stood for nine years. Ryun competed in the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympic games. He took silver in the men's 1500m at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Alan Webb

* Allan Webb (disambigu ...

broke Ryun's 36-year old high school mile record (3:55.3), running 3:53.43 at the

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University o ...

in 2001. Webb also set an American record in the mile in 2007 at 3:46.91, making him the eighth-fastest miler in history and the only American to ever run the mile in under 3:47. Despite finding success in high school and on the track, Webb had an inconsistent career that was riddled with injuries, such as achilles tendonitis and a stress fracture in his foot and tibia.

Sub-four-minute mile runs by U.S. high school students

Note: all of the above runners were high school seniors when they ran under four minutes for the mile except for Ryun in 1964, and Burns and Birnbaum in 2022, who were juniors at the time.

References

{{reflist Middle-distance running American high school