Using newsreel footage, this Sportscope entry chronicles the race toward running's four-minute mile, highlighting several important contests. It starts in the 1920's, when Finland's Paavo Nurmi set the record for the distance at 4 minutes 10.4 seconds. It continues through Roger Bannister's first run under 4 minutes in 1954, and ends in spring 1956, when Australia's Joe Bailey became the first to break 4 minutes on US soil.
Harry Wismer
Paavo Nurmi
Harry Wismer
Fiorello LaGuardia
Arne Andersson
Jules Ladoumegue
Bill Bonthron
John Lovelock
Glenn Cunningham
Gene Venzke
Sidney Wooderson
Gunder Hagg
Roger Bannister
John Landy
Christopher Chataway
Laszlo Tabori
Ron Delaney
Joe Bailey