Hicham El Guerrouj’s Unbreakable Mile

On July 7, 1999, at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico, Hicham El Guerrouj shattered the world mile record with a time of 3:43.13, a mark that still stands 25 years later. This episode dives deep into the legendary race, El Guerrouj’s journey from heartbreak to history, his rivalry with Noah Ngeny, and why this record remains untouched. Discover the tactics, drama, and legacy behind one of sport’s greatest achievements. Perfect for sports history enthusiasts and fans of inspiring athletic stories.


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Speaker 1: 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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