Mile run

The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distancefoot race.

The one mile run was a common athletic event in 18th and 19th century England, primarily for gambling purposes. It survived track and field's switch to metric distances in the 1900s and retained its popularity, with the chase for the four-minute mile in the 1950s a high point for the race.

In spite of the roughly equivalent 1500 metres race, which is used instead of the mile at the World Championships and Olympic Games and is sometimes referred as the foremost middle-distance track event in athletics, the mile run is present in all fields of athletics. Since 1976, it is the only imperial distanceWorld Athletics has on its books for official world records.

Although the mile is not featured at any major championships, the Wanamaker Mile, Dream Mile, Emsley Carr Mile and Bowerman Mile races are among the foremost annual middle-distance races. The Commonwealth Games reintroduced the mile race to its championship athletics program from 2026, in tribute to the tradition of the distance in Commonwealth nations, and particularly the rivalry between the Englishman Roger Bannister and his Australian rival John Landy to run the first four-minute mile.

The current mile world record holders are Josh Kerr of Great Britain with a time of 3:42.66 and Faith Kipyegon of Kenya with the women's record of 4:07.64.

Despite being only 109.344 metres longer, the mile is distinctly different from its much more common 1500 metres counterpart. Former world record holder Hicham El Guerrouj considers the mile to be his more challenging event.

“My favourite is 1500m. It’s part of my heart. I competed in it a lot and I know every metre of this race. The mile is completely different. If you are not strong physically and mentally, you cannot run it well.”

Each lap during Kerr's world record run averaged 55.34 seconds per 400 m. Along with Kerr, only four other men in history have broken the 3:44 barrier in the mile: Hicham El Gerrouj, Noah Ngeny, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Yared Nuguse.

When the mile is run, the time is often taken at 1500 metres, in effect when entering the home straight. As in the case with Kerr's world record run, runners approaching national, area or world records in the mile distance can break an official 1500 metre record en route; in Kerr's case, breaking his own national 1500 metres record on the way to his mile world record.