![]() Landy led with 50 yards to go until Bannister overtook on the outside, while the Australian looked over his shoulder on the inside, and Bannister went on to win the race in which both men beat the four-minute barrier for the second time in their careers.īannister returned to Europe and competed in the European Championships at Berne a few weeks later, and won the 1500 metres to become the first Briton to win the Commonwealth-European double in the same year. The two men then met in the mile at the British Empire & Commonwealth Games just over six weeks later, in a race that had several billings, including the “Mile of the Century”. Despite being in a good position going into the last bend in the final, Bannister’s legs would just not go, and he finished fourth.īannister held his historic world mile record for just 46 days, before John Landy reduced it to 3:57.9 at Turku, Finland on 21 June 1954. That was until the organisers re-scheduled the event, which meant a heat, semi-final and final on consecutive days, which proved too much for him. In between he could only finish fourth in the 1500 metres at the 1952 Olympics.ĭespite being the favourite to win gold at Helsinki, Bannister had done very little training leading up to the Games, but still felt he had the burst of power in his legs to put in his famous final burst to clinch gold. He won the 880 yards in 1952 and the mile again in 19. He won the 800 metres bronze medal at the 1950 European Championships, however, and in 1951 captured the first of four AAA titles, when he won the mile. He was considered for the 1948 London Olympics, but felt he wasn’t ready to compete at such a level at that time. He took a BA in physiology before moving to St Marys’ Hospital, London to finish his clinical studiesīannister started running seriously at Iffley Road in 1946 when, as an undergraduate, he won the Oxford University Freshman’s Mile in seven seconds under five minutes. He sat the University entrance examination at the age of 16, and won a medical scholarship at Exeter College, and later Merton College, Oxford. On returning to London, he attended University College School, Hampstead, where he played rugby, rowed, and showed his superiority as a runner. Roger was evacuated to Bath during World War II and attended the City of Bath Boys’ School. Had Bannister won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympics, however, he may not have attempted the world record because, by his own admission, he probably would have retired after the Helsinki Games had he done so.īorn at Harrow, north London, Bannister’s father hailed from a run-down cotton town near Burnley, Lancashire, before obtaining a post in the Civil Service in London. The tea-time news was interrupted by the BBC, and a re-run of the race was played non-stop throughout the evening, it was that memorable. It was a record that Bannister, the Australian John Landy and American Wes Santee had all been chasing, but it was the British doctor who carved his own piece of track history on that day at Oxford, as he broke Sweden’s Gunder Hägg’s near nine-year-old world record by two seconds. With a touch of irony, when Bannister was an Oxford undergraduate, he helped lay the cinder track at Iffley Road. Chataway and Brasher acted as pacemen for Bannister, who had tactically worked out how he was going to attack the record – and he did that to perfection. Joining him in the line-up were Chris Chataway, who would finish runner-up to Bannister, Chris Brasher and Tom Hulatt, (who finished third), all from the AAA, while Alan Gordon and the American George Dole ran for the University team. McWhirter eventually read out the remainder of the time which was: “Three minutes, 59.4 seconds.”Īn hour before the race, the weather was so bad that a record attempt was inconceivable, but the rain stopped, and the wind died down as Bannister decided to go ahead with the record attempt. Bannister of Exeter and Merton Colleges, in a time which will be a new English record, a new track record, a new British Empire Commonwealth record, a European record, a world record - in three…” The rest of the time could not be heard above the cheering and applause of the crowd, who had witnessed the breaking of the one mile four-minute barrier. A little over seven minutes later, with Roger Bannister collapsed into the arms of his fellow Olympian, the Reverend Nick Stacey, the trackside announcer, Norris McWhirter, of Guinness Book of Records fame, announced to the crowd: “The result of event number six, the one mile, winner R. At 6.03 pm on, six runners set off in the mile race during the annual Oxford University versus the AAA race at the University’s Iffley Road track.
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