TRAIL
SA Records in the Dream Mile Era
In the exciting 1958 and 1959 seasons , South African milers Harold Clark and Michael Hodgson were steadily knocking time off the national record for the mile . Clark set a number of SA Records in the 4:05 to 4:04 bracket , with a best of 4:04.5 . That time was was matched exactly by Hodgson , who also clocked 4:03.4 in the USA , but this was never recognised as an SA Record . In the end , neither could get closer to a sub-four , and it was De Villiers Lamprecht who became the first South African Dream Miler in November 1964 . Since then , the SA Record has been improved 12 more times .
3:59.7 |
De Villiers Lamprecht Stellenbosch , 13 Nov 1964 |
3:59.3 |
Fanie van Zijl |
Port Elizabeth , 20 Dec 1967 |
3:58.6 |
De Villiers Lamprecht Stellenbosch , 22 Mar 1968 |
3:57.7 |
De Villiers Lamprecht Stellenbosch , 13 Nov 1970 |
3:56.4 |
Fanie van Zijl |
Stellenbosch , 20 Mar 1972 |
3:56.0 |
Fanie van Zijl |
Modesto ( USA ), 27 May 1972 |
3:54.6 |
Danie Malan |
Stellenbosch , 26 Feb 1975 |
3:53.7 |
Sydney Maree |
Stellenbosch , 7 May 1979 |
3:53.29 |
Johan Fourie |
Port Elizabeth , 11 Dec 1982 |
3:52.31 |
Johan Fourie |
Stellenbosch , 25 Mar 1983 |
3:51.23 |
Johan Fourie |
Port Elizabeth , 7 March 1984 |
3:50.82 |
Johan Fourie |
Port Elizabeth , 11 March 1987 |
3:50.70 |
Johan Cronje |
Eugene , 31 May 2014 |
Interestingly , Stellenbosch seems to be the spiritual home of South African miling , since seven of these 13 SA Records were run there , including Lamprecht ’ s breakthrough first Dream Mile in 1964 , but when it comes to total number of South African Dream Mile performances , Port Elizabeth takes the win , with 89 Dream miles to the 65 of Stellenbosch .
Dream Mile Fast Facts
• In 1975 , New Zealand ’ s John Walker became the first man to run a mile under 3:50 , clocking 3:49.4 . He was also the first to run over 100 subfours .
• In 1994 , Irishman Eamonn Coghlan became the first man over the age of 40 to run a sub-four-minute mile .
• Daniel Komen of Kenya became the first athlete to run a two-mile race in less than eight minutes , clocking 7:58.61 in 1997 , and the following year he did it again , albeit 0.3 seconds slower .
• In 1999 , when Hicham El Guerrouj ( Morroco ) set the current World Record for the mile of 3:43.13 , Noah Ngeny ( Kenya ) finished second in 3:43.40 , which remains the second-fastest- mile ever run .
• Norway ’ s Jakob Ingebrigtsen holds the record as the youngest runner to post a four-minute mile , having run 3:58.07 in May 2017 , when he was 16 years and 250 days old . In 2023 , Ingebrigsten also broke Komen ’ s record for two miles , clocking 7:54.10 , becoming only the second runner ever to achieve the Double Dream Mile .
John Walker
Jakob Ingebrigtsen
World Record Progression
Since Roger Bannister broke through the four-minute barrier in 1954 , the World Record has been improved a further 18 times in
3:59.4 |
Roger Bannister ( UK ) |
Oxford , 6 May 1954 |
3:58.0 |
John Landy ( Australia ) |
Turku , 21 Jun 1954 |
3:57.2 |
Derek Ibbotson ( UK ) |
London , 19 Jul 1957 |
3:54.5 |
Herb Elliott ( Australia ) |
Dublin , 6 Aug 1958 |
3:54.4 |
Peter Snell ( New Zealand ) |
Wanganui , 27 Jan 1962 |
3:54.1 |
Peter Snell ( New Zealand ) |
Auckland , 17 Nov 1964 |
3:53.6 |
Michel Jazy ( France |
Rennes , 9 Jun 1965 |
3:51.3 |
Jim Ryun ( USA ) |
Berkeley , 17 Jul 1966 |
3:51.1 |
Jim Ryun ( USA ) |
Bakersfield , 23 Jun 1967 |
3:51.0 |
Filbert Bayi ( Tanzania ) |
Kingston , 17 May 1975 |
3:49.4 |
John Walker ( New Zealand ) |
Gothenburg , 12 Aug 1975 |
3:49.0 |
Sebastian Coe ( UK ) |
Oslo , 17 Jul 1979 |
3:48.8 |
Steve Ovett ( UK ) |
Oslo , 1 Jul 1980 |
3:48.53 |
Sebastian Coe ( UK ) |
Zürich , 19 Aug 1981 |
3:48.40 |
Steve Ovett ( UK ) |
Koblenz , 26 Aug 1981 |
3:47.33 |
Sebastian Coe ( UK ) |
Brussels , 28 Aug 1981 |
3:46.32 |
Steve Cram ( UK ) |
Oslo , 27 Jul 1985 |
3:44.39 |
Noureddine Morceli ( Algeria |
Rieti , 5 Sep 1993 |
3:43.13 |
Hicham El Guerrouj ( Morocco |
Rome , 7 Jul 1999 |
Hicham El Guerrouj
SA ’ s Most Prolific Dream Milers
In terms of which South African ran the most Dream Miles , the winner stands out by a proverbial mile . Johan Fourie clocked 53 sub-fours in his incredible career , and many consider it a tragedy that due to the country being excluded from world sport for many years , he was not able to compete on the world stage until his best days were behind him .
53 |
Johan Fourie |
1979-1994 |
17 |
Sydney Maree |
1976-1981 |
16 |
Deon Brummer |
1984-1991 |
10 |
Ewald Bonzet |
1975-1980 |
9 |
Peter van der Westhuizen |
2008-2013 |
8 |
Matthews Temane |
1983-1986 |
8 |
Johan Cronje |
2005-2015 |
7 |
Bennie Greyling |
1982-1988 |
7 |
Jean Verster |
1988-1996 |
6 |
Henning Gericke |
1981-1987 |
6 |
Johan Landsman |
1991-1995 |
There are eight more South African athletes who recorded five Dream Miles : De Villiers Lamprecht , Fanie van Zijl , Hendrik Smit , Danie Malan , Marius-Hugo Schlechter , Monde Tutani , Clyde Colenso and George Kusche . Current SA star Ryan Mphahlele is now on four Dream Miles , and is the most likely athlete to join this esteemed list of South African greats .
Globally , the most prolific Dream Mile exponents have |
wracked up still more impressive records , and the Irish seem |
to have a knack for producing great sub-four milers ! |
137 |
Steve Scott ( USA ) |
127 |
John Walker ( New Zealand ) |
100 |
Marcus O ’ Sullivan ( Republic of Ireland ) |
89 |
Ray Flynn ( Republic of Ireland ) |
78 |
Eamonn Coghlan ( Republic of Ireland ) |
Johan Fourie
Images : Hoffie Hoffmeister / Athletics History , Christian Petersen / Getty Images for World Athletics & courtesy YouTube , Olympic . com , Wikimedia , BringBackTheMile . com
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