1500m & Mile Heritage Display to mark 70th Anniversary of Bannister’s sub-4 Mile – World Athletics – Chris Turner

22 April 2024 – Dear friends of the MOWA, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Sir Roger Bannister’s sub-four minutes mile (6th May 1954), the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA) will stage a pop-up exhibit for three-days (Sat 4 to Mon 6 May) at OUAC’s track, Iffley Road, Oxford, England.

The historic display features competition artefacts donated to the MOWA by nineteen of the world’s greatest middle-distance runners.

These athletes have between them won eleven Olympic Games & twelve World Championships 1500m titles and have set ratified world records, eight times at 1500m and ten times at the mile.

This group includes the first man to go sub-3:30 for the 1500m, the first men to go sub-4 at the mile outdoors and indoors, the first woman inside five minutes for the mile, the current outdoor world record holders for both the men’s and women’s miles, and the women’s indoor 1500m record holder.

Four of the athletes, each of them world indoor mile record breakers, have between them won 20 Wanamaker Mile titles in the world-famous Millrose Games, New York.

Bannister breaks the four-minute mile at Iffley Road, Oxford, on 6th May 1954. – Photo: Allsport UK/Getty Images/World Athletics

Visitors to the Iffley Road track will be allowed free entry to view the display on Saturday 4 May and Sunday 5 May 2024.

On the Bank Holiday Monday, 6 May, the actual anniversary, access will only be given to invited guests and those who are officially accredited for the Bannister Miles.

During the afternoon, two World Athletics Heritage Plaques will be unveiled and placed on permanent public display at the track.

Sir Roger Bannister’s plaque (category: Legend) was awarded in 2019. The plaque celebrates the world’s first sub-four-minute mile which was run at Iffley Road on 6 May 1954 and which is arguably one of the most inspiring global sporting achievements in modern history.

Oxford University Athletics Club’s plaque (category: Competition) will be awarded on 6 May 2024. The plaque marks the historic contribution to the development and codification of track and field athletics which at the time of the OUAC’s foundation in 1860 was a fledgling pastime with little formal structure.

ARTEFACTS on display

In chronological order…

Paavo Nurmi (1925 bronze bust),
Roger Bannister (Signed sub-4 mins programme, 6 May 1954),
Diane Leather (Silvered spikes, first woman sub-5mins, 29 May 1954),
Ron Delany (Silver bowl, 1959 Philadelphia Inquirer Mile),
Herb Elliott (1960 Olympic Games 1500m singlet),
Jim Beatty (1962 world indoor mile record spike; first man under 4mins indoors),
Kip Keino (Silver trophy, 1965 Morley Mile Trophy),
John Walker (New Zealand track suit),
Steve Cram (1980 Olympic Games 1500m tracksuit top),
Sebastian Coe (1984 Olympic Games 1500m spikes and singlet),
Eamonn Coghlan (Wanamaker Mile Trophy & world indoor mile record spikes),
Abdi Bile (1987 World Championships 1500m singlet),
Hicham El Guerrouj (1995 World Indoor Championships 1500m singlet),
Gabriela Szabo (2001 World Championships 1500m singlet),
Bernard Lagat (2010 World Indoor Championships 1500m singlet),
Gudaf Tsegay (World indoor 1500m record spikes, 2021),
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (2022 World Indoor Championships 1500m bodysuit),
Jake Wightman (2022 World Athletics Championships 1500m spikes),
Faith Kipyegon (2023 World Athletics Championships 1500m spikes).

Chris Turner
Director of Heritage & curator of MOWA

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