Quick analysis – I counted the number of steps that Jeilan and Farah took starting at the 16 second mark (about 26:36.7 on the race clock) of the video and ending at 26 second mark. If my count is correct, both took 34 steps during that segment of the backside straightaway during the final lap. This would give each a cadence of 204 steps/min over this stretch.

During the final straightaway to the finish, if you start when the race time is at 27:04.5, Jeilan takes 32.5 steps over about 9 seconds to the finish line, for a cadence of 216.67 steps/min. Over the same distance, Farah takes 31.5 steps in about 9.3 seconds, for a cadence of 203.23 steps/min. What this suggests is that Jeilan was able to ramp up his turnover during the final stretch to catch up to and pass Mo Farah just before the finish line, whereas Farah’s turnover remained consistent. The one additional step gained by Jeilan by ramping his turnover up was enough for the win!

Unfortunately, no data on stride length as that is the other determinant of speed, but amazing to see how much Jeilan was able to ramp up his cadence during his final kick –amazing stuff!

The race in its entirety:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Just the Finish:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Post-Race Interview:

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

American distance runner Dathan Ritzenhein broke the American Record for the 5K (5000 meters) on August 28, 2009 with a time of 12:56:27 at the Weltklasse Meet in Zurich, Switzerland. The previous American record was 12:58.21, set by Bob Kennedy in 1996. The current 5K world record of 12:37.35 was set in 2004 by Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia. If the significance of Ritzenhein’s record time is hard to grasp, think of it this way – his pace was about 4:10 min/mile for 3.1 miles.

In addition to breaking the American Record, the 26 year-old Ritzenhein, who finished third overall in the Weltklasse race (Kenenisa Bekele won in 12:52.32), became only the third American ever to go sub 13:00 in the 5K (Kennedy and Bernard Lagat being the other two). Along with the recent successes of American distance runners like Ryan Hall, Kara Goucher, and Shalane Flanagan, Ritzenhein’s performance is yet another example of increasing American competitiveness at the international level in major distance running events – lets hope the trend continues!

You can watch the race here – Ritzenhein’s final 800m are simply outstanding as he emerges from out of nowhere to finish 3rd (starting around 6:30 of the video):

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Here’s an interview with Ritzenhein from after the race (via Flotrack.com):

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Image by I am I.A.M. via Flickr

The final of the one-mile race at the Empire Games in Vancouver, Canada on Aug. 7, 1954 might just be the greatest running race of all time. The race featured two of the titans of middle-distance running, Roger Bannister of England, and John Landy of Australia. Both of these men were world famous runners, both were at the peak of their respective careers, and both had, within the previous six months, broken the 4-minute mile time barrier that many at that time thought was impenetrable (they were the first two runners in history to do it). This latter fact is in part what made this race so compelling.

Without a doubt, Roger Bannister is best known for running the first sub 4-minute mile (he did so on May 6, 1954 in Oxford, England). Few people realize, however, that Bannister’s record stood for less than 2 months – it was broken (by over a full second) by John Landy in June of that same year. Some said Landy’s feat was all the the more impressive since he accomplished the time in a genuine race (in Finland) without the aid of dedicated pacers. Imagine, then, a situation where the two most famous runners of their day, and the first two men to run a sub 4-minute mile, were able to face each other down on the track. This is exactly what happened in August of that same year at the Empire Games in Vancouver.

One of my main reasons for writing this post is that on my run this afternoon, I finished listening to the audiobook version of “The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It” by Neal Bascomb. If you’re not familiar with “The Perfect Mile,” it recounts the story of Bannister, Landy, and American Wes Santee as they competed to become the first to break the 4-minute mile barrier. Naturally, I assumed that the “Perfect Mile” in the title referred to Bannister’s record breaking race – I was wrong. It turns out that the Empire Games race, now commonly referred to as “The Miracle Mile,” was far more compelling, and I literally got goosebumps as the reader recounted the details of the finish. I highly recommend this book, and the audiobook reader is phenomenal. I listened to a good chunk of the 14 hours of audio while running myself, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Now back to the race.

More than anything else, the one-mile final of the 1954 Empire Games was a race about strategy. Roger Bannister and John Landy were both fast, of that there is no doubt, but they both approached races with different styles. Landy was a front-runner – he blazed through the initial miles with the hope of blowing away his opponents before they knew what hit them. Bannister, on the other hand, was a kicker. He preferred to hold tight to the leader, and then blast past them in the final leg with his deadly-fast kick. Both men knew their opponent’s style, and Neal Bascomb does a great job in “The Perfect Mile” describing the agonizing days leading up to the race as the two runner’s tried to figure out the appropriate strategy to use to beat their opponent. The race itself lived up to the hype (and then some), and both men decided to stick to their favored strategy and hope for the best. So who won??? I’m not going to tell you here in this post for fear of spoiling the climatic race for anyone planning to read “The Perfect Mile.” Sorry!

However, if you just can’t wait, I’ve made use of the miracle of modern technology known as YouTube to provide video footage of the race in its entirety. For your viewing pleasure, here is the race that has come to be known as “The Miracle Mile:”

Sir Roger Bannister was the first runner to break the 4:00 barrier for a mile run. Bannister’s time of 3:59.4 in a race in Oxford in 1954 was a monumental moment not just in the history of running, but in the history of all sport.

Since 1954, Bannister’s record has been improved 18 times, but only twice since 1985. You can view the progression of mile record times on the “mile run” page on Wikipedia.

The current World Record for the mile is 3:43:13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj in a race in Rome in 1999. El Guerrouj, from Morocco, also holds the world record for the 1500m and outdoor 2000m distances, and won gold medals in both the 1500m and 5000m at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. Amazingly, El Guerroj posted the “year’s best” time in the 1500m for eight consecutive years from 1996-2003.

Below is video of the amazing race in Rome in 2009 where Hicham El Guerrouj set the mile record (with a surprisingly close finish for a race run at such a blazing pace):

The first version is the classic “newsreel” recount of the event.

The second version is a replay of almost the entire race with no narration, set to the title song from “Chariots of Fire”.

If you’re wondering, the current World Record for the mile is 3:43:13, set by Hicham El Guerrouj in a race in Rome in 1999. You can watch this too: