Hicham El Guerrouj’s Unbreakable Mile: The Race That Redefined Human Limits

Just imagine. Over twenty five years ago, a runner named his sham Aljeroux from Morocco broke one of the most traditional records of all time, and it has not been broken since. It all happened on July seventh, nineteen ninety nine, when he broke the record for the fastest mile ever ran at three minutes and forty three seconds, and a record that has stood over a quarter century later. Today, we're going to dive into the history of this record and how it was done on Daily Sports History. Let's go. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I mean the Reese your guide because I remember game stats better than my own social Security number. So his jam Algeroux is a name. When you see it in America, you would struggle to say it, and you even think it was from Rocco. But he was born in Breckman and he was born on a farm. He enjoyed running with his classmates through the streets, and he was initially interested more in soccer and basketball. By the age of thirteen, a local coach recognized he had natural speed and guided him towards using that speed for sports. By eighteen, he had already made a mark. At the nineteen ninety two World Junior Championships in Seoul, when he finished third in the five thousand meter. At that point, he would leave his tiny town to train the national team, and it was a huge turning point for his career and he went from running long distance to being a middle distance runner and focused on the fifteen hundred meter, a distance that would become his signature race. In his career began to take off as he finished just behind the record holder in the nineteen ninety five World Championship Games in the fifteen hundred meter and was a rising star in the racing scene, and in nineteen ninety six he set a personal best for the fifteen hundred, breaking three minutes and thirty seconds. He made it to the Olympics that would be held in Atlanta, and he was perfectly positioned to take home gold in this fifteen hundred race, except with just one lap left, he tripped over current record holder Marcelli and fell down. Would finish twelfth in a heartbreaking moment, but he turned this tragedy into even more motivation and he would rebound after this. In between nineteen ninety six and two thousand and one, he would enter sixty four races and he would only lose three of them. It was a rare feat for any runner to be able to do so. He's virtually unbeatable at the time. He would set records in nineteen ninety seven in the indoor World Championships for the fifteen hundred and three minutes thirty one seconds and that mark stood for twenty two years. Weeks later, he would set the indoor record for the mile at three minutes forty eight seconds, record that lasts till twenty nineteen. But he said his legacy for records that still hold to this day. Starting on July fourteenth, nineteen ninety eight, when running a race in Rome, he broke the record for the fifteen hundred meter with three minutes and twenty six seconds, beating the previous record by over a second, and he still holds this record to this day. He would break one of the most coveted world records in the world, the mile race, which is a unique race because back in the day you would have metric and English distance. Today it is just one race that is not metric based. We have the fifteen hundred meter, which he was great at. We have one hundred meter, the two hundred to four hundred. All these meter races. Jumps are measured in meters, throws are measured in meters. Everything in track and field is measured in meters except the mile. And it's not even ran at every track event. To ran in all the Olympics and World Championships, but not all the professional races, and it's one of those traditional races, and it's just very popular in America. We love it because we understand what a mile is and we've all had to run it when we were in school. And it became special as people started to break the record, especially after Roger Bannister broke the four minute mile. Everyone was astonished, and then weeks later another person broke the mile, and it continued to go down and down and down, and in nineteen ninety nine Yakam had set the fifteen hundred meter record, which is one hundred meters less than the mile, so it was very close. He could taste it and it was against an our trifle. So almost a year to the day, he was running at Rome Stadio Olympica, a story track and a legend where legends have ran before. The stadium was a buzz with anticipation as he had just broken the record a year earlier at that same track, and as the race started there was two pacemakers. Now, if you don't know, ever since Roger Bannister broke the record for the mile, they've started to use what known as a rabbit or a pacemaker, someone that sets the pace for the runners to know, so they continue to push what they can do on the racetrack. And that's exactly what they did for this race. They had two pacers that could set the pace for these runners to have them have a chance at these great records. The first lap they ran with fifty five seconds, the second was one minute in fifty one seconds, the third two minutes and forty seven seconds. He was on a terror. But it wasn't just that they had a rabbit. There was pressure. It was not just Hockem, it was Noah Jinny from Kenya was just a twenty year old runner and had never before ran under three minutes and fifty seconds, but he was nipping at his heels, running just behind Hokem the entire race. And as the race came to the fifteen meter mark down the stretch just one straightway left, Hockem's time was three minutes and twenty eight seconds, a great split and almost as fast as his world record pace for the fifteen hundred meter and down the back stretch, Hokkup began to surge. Hearing these footsteps from Jenny really pushed him even further as he could look up at the giant screen and see him behind him and push even as hard as he could, and the crowd was roaring, and hokumb passed the finish line and looked up and saw three minutes forty three seconds and thirteen tenths, shattering the previous record by with Jenny finishing with three minutes forty three point four seconds. That's how close it was. These longer races usually aren't this close, but this one was so close, and that is why these times get broken. When you have competition, when you have someone pushing you more than ever, that's when things get broken. Records don't get broken just willy nilly. When you have someone really pushing you is when they happen. But the record was set and Hisham Aljerouge was now the title holder for the mile. Standing at just five nine, two hundred and twenty six pounds, he set a record that still stands to this day, and Noah Jane has the second fastest ever ran to this day. Hashim al Jerouze owes Noah everything because he is the one that pushed him to that record. Without him, he wouldn't have gotten that far, and without al Jerrouge, Noah wouldn't have got that far. They needed to work together and push each other for this crazy ending to this record, like when Banister broke the four minute minal, which people thought was impossible. Will anyone ever break this record? The closest anyone has come is three minutes in forty three seconds zero point seventy three in twenty twenty three, Very close, but not there yet. It's one of those things where it's a record that's very hard to beat and you have to give it your all sometimes need someone to run with you, like Algiro had in Noah Gene. It's just it takes the right set of circumstances and the right training to set yourself up to break a record like this. It has become a leader in running in his country, developing grassroots efforts and being a mentor to other runners to help them have great achievements just like he did. And he's an active ambassador for UNICF and helps promote the assets of Morocco across the world. He's a role model not only on the track and field, but also off of it and helps his country as much as he can, which is all we hope for are athletes in the Olympics. It's about peace and representing your country and that's exactly what he's doing off the track. And the question is will this record ever be broken? I want to thank you for listening Today's Daily Sports History. 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