As many of you understand, based on your comments, this was a performance ahead of its time. I had the pleasure of seeing Prefontaine run, in a dual meet at UCLA, when I was in high school. He destroyed the field, as Ryun did in this race. A man among boys. As a kid who ran the two mile on dirt tracks in the late sixties and early seventies, I revered Ryun as I revered Pre. They meant everything to us. They were simply beautiful.
subtract 2 seconds for Cinder to synthetic, 1 second for uneven pace and 3 seconds for lack of drafting and you get a 3:45.1 mile today. Add in more modern training methods, better spikes, a professional contract, not to mention modern drugs and who knows, maybe
Jim Ryun had incredible speed. I read 9.9 in the 100 yard dash once, but can't give a link to verify that. Kids today need to get to know Jim. They only know Prefontaine.
@writerjmd thats roughly equivalent to 10.8 for the 100m! damn u aint kidding thats some raw speed right there. pre didnt have nearly ryuns speed, he just had better long distance strength
in the first and the second lap, i was like "pshh this guy is just a really good runner. ive seen these types" and then when the third lap comes im like "wtf. who is this kid?! look at him go!" and then the final lap comes and im like.. well i didnt even say anything. i was in just that much of a shock. my heart was actually pounding as the timer ticked by
Jim Ryun never ran an "even pace" race. He was really relaxed for most of the distance; then he would light the afterburners on the last lap. I think some experts in the field of running predict that had Ryun evened out his pace throughout the race, he would have run roughly a 3:47 mile or something like that. If you watch Hicham El Guerrouj (current WR holder in the mile), he ran a very even pace mile.
@GetUpAndTryAgain It's reckoned that at 64s per lap, running 1metre behind another athlete saves 1s per lap. Also, although a big finishing lap was Ryun's preferred modus operandi, it is not the most economical way of running fast times. His performance here is such that were he a 20 year old today, sub 3:45 would be entirely within his gift. And more?
i need to time my mile again i think i got slower over the summer but when i was in 8 grade i ran a 5:30 - 5:40 one time i got 5:20 but i think coach was lying to me..................
i need to time my mile again i think i got slower over the summer but when i was in 8 grade i ran a 5:30 - 5:40 one time i got 5:20 but i think coach was lying to me..................
i need to time my mile again i think i got slower over the summer but when i was in 8 grade i ran a 5:30 - 5:40 one time i got 5:20 but i think coach was lying to me..................
To run like that on slower tracks, wow! How many Americans can run entirely from the front, much of the race alone, and hit 3:51 now? None! With rabbits and faster tracks (and remember he was only 20) he would have been around El G's times no doubt.
There is so much "myth making" about Jim Ryun which has come to be "fact". He is credited in most books as having run the last lap here in 52.5, when you can see from the video above, that he goes through the finish line with a lap to go in 2:57.3, meaning he ran the last 400m in 53.8, the last 440yds in c. 54.2. Not quite the same! His 440yd split times in the IAAF Records book is given as 59.0, 59.9 (1:58.9), 59.7 (2:58,6) and 52.5. These are clearly WRONG!
This is a good example of someone at the time publishing hand time splits without a recourse to a video, and either purposely or not, making his performance sound even better than it was. If you know where the start line is and the fact that each quarter is approx 0.3-0.4 secs on top of each lap, then anyone can pause it at the right place and work it out. It was nearer to 57.7, 60.4, 58.8 and 54,2.
Yes I agree that Ryun is one of the greatest milers ever and would have run faster on modern tracks. I just think it's sloppy when stats are wrong, and there is a big difference between 54.2 and 52.5! People on message boards use 52.5 all the time to justify he was the GOAT, but it's plain wrong.
Jim Ryun could have won in Mexico 1968 1500 metres without doubt. But he used a very stupid tactic. One of the most stupid ever ! They have usually said that he was the most talented mile- runner ever. In less important races Kipchoge Keino had no chance with Ryun. But that
strange Mexico 1500 metres changed roles for a while.
Alan Webb with the aid of 41 years of information, modern training and recuperation methods, synthetic running surface, better shoes, pacing rabbits, and a few years of extra training, only manages to best Ryan's time by less than 5 secs. I sincerely believe that had Ryan in his prime been able to race Alan Webb in his, that Ryan would have triumphed. Ryan ran that 3:51 without anyone really pushing him. Had anyone been able to challenge him at the end, he may have gone even faster.
NO RABBIT...NO PACER OF ANY KIND....A DIRT TRACK.....HE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK WINDED....JIM AND PRE RULED THE AMERICAN RUNNING WORLD IN THE 60'S AND 70'S .I was at the Dream Mile in 71 and was in awe of Ryun. I never got to see Pre run in person but his Legend will live on...
Also amazing about this race is that it includes 3 of the 4 American High School runners who ran sub-4 in High School. Jim Ryan, 1964 & 65, Tim Danielson in 1966 and Marty Liquori. Marty broke it in this very race (he was still 18, and was 70 yds behind Ryan in 3:59.8). It wasn't for another 34 years in 2001, that Alan Webb joined this sub-4 elite group, and even broke Ryan's high school record (of 3:55.43) with a 3:53.43.
Sorry...I didn't even catch that...must be seeing Ryan Hall's name in the So. Cal news too much these day...but it's inexcusable, since ran Track from 1966-70.
Man, it doesn't seem that impressive today... but if you look at how people were running back then, going that fast is just amazing. Plus, he was only a young college student... imagine what he would have been if he was that age in modern times, with all the best training techniques we've discovered and stuff.
Crazy splits........never seen anything like it, especially to break a world record. If this man ran even splits, and thats the best way to run 1600m he would have ran 3.47 . Given todays synthetic tracks, shoes,rabbits the sky was the limit. What an amazing athlete. If only now.
yeah.... believe me i know about pre... just sayin he went to the olympics while he was in high school..... and steve went when he was a junior in college.
someone should compile a list of no-rabbit world records.
kozmon0t 1 month ago
As many of you understand, based on your comments, this was a performance ahead of its time. I had the pleasure of seeing Prefontaine run, in a dual meet at UCLA, when I was in high school. He destroyed the field, as Ryun did in this race. A man among boys. As a kid who ran the two mile on dirt tracks in the late sixties and early seventies, I revered Ryun as I revered Pre. They meant everything to us. They were simply beautiful.
harry21868 1 month ago
In my opinion this is the greatest mile world record performance. Walker, Coe, Morceli
and El G may have run faster but they sure as hell didn't run those records completely solo on a cinder track.
7agneskickingbird7 2 months ago
3:51.1
subtract 2 seconds for Cinder to synthetic, 1 second for uneven pace and 3 seconds for lack of drafting and you get a 3:45.1 mile today. Add in more modern training methods, better spikes, a professional contract, not to mention modern drugs and who knows, maybe
3:41-3:42
7agneskickingbird7 2 months ago
prefontaine is the best distance runner EVER period!
coinpurse1996 5 months ago
Now remember kids....this all started from cross country ;)
ghost245353 8 months ago
yea he came to trabuco- got his autograph n stuff it was sic to talk to jantsen mainly
MrButtloaf 9 months ago
i get to meet him tomorrow!!!
rockinsurfkid 11 months ago 2
woah
GAP22JC 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Actual Be Naughty brides benaughtyman.info
malkamanjali 1 year ago
Jim Ryun had incredible speed. I read 9.9 in the 100 yard dash once, but can't give a link to verify that. Kids today need to get to know Jim. They only know Prefontaine.
writerjmd 1 year ago
@writerjmd thats roughly equivalent to 10.8 for the 100m! damn u aint kidding thats some raw speed right there. pre didnt have nearly ryuns speed, he just had better long distance strength
frostie1315 2 months ago
And yet Ryan's real strength was his finishing kick - amazing!
CaneFu 1 year ago
That's what I call front running. Hell of a guy. You all should read his book In Quest of Gold
mazzon06 1 year ago
in the first and the second lap, i was like "pshh this guy is just a really good runner. ive seen these types" and then when the third lap comes im like "wtf. who is this kid?! look at him go!" and then the final lap comes and im like.. well i didnt even say anything. i was in just that much of a shock. my heart was actually pounding as the timer ticked by
flashman201 1 year ago
This boy was one of the best I ever watched.
lekunberriko1 1 year ago
This guy use to lap runners and would regularly place himself half a track away from the #2 and 3 runners. Incredible.
JamesTKirkCobain 1 year ago
you shouldnt run an even pace istead you should try to go all out and run your fastest, just explode and i have run a mile many times before
zippo7224 1 year ago
@zippo7224 are you retarded?
BigBlauser13 1 year ago
who was better jim ryun or steve scott?
sjd2112 1 year ago
@sjd2112 jim ryun im only sayin that cuz im related to him
dakotaryun12 1 year ago
@sjd2112 steve
123Bloodmeat 1 year ago
My coach was there with his coach. They both talked to him later that day. Amazing!
superchunk1234 1 year ago
@superchunk1234 im related to him lol
dakotaryun12 1 year ago
I think Jim Ryun is the best runner ever. The most talented. Too bad, he never
could compete with Pekka Vasala. I think the final 1500 metres in 1972 Munich would have been fantastic !
FinnMove 1 year ago
IM RELATED TO HIM!!!!!!!!!!
dakotaryun12 1 year ago
Jim Ryun...... Great Athlete, Shitty Politician.
genYprogressive 1 year ago
Jim Ryun never ran an "even pace" race. He was really relaxed for most of the distance; then he would light the afterburners on the last lap. I think some experts in the field of running predict that had Ryun evened out his pace throughout the race, he would have run roughly a 3:47 mile or something like that. If you watch Hicham El Guerrouj (current WR holder in the mile), he ran a very even pace mile.
chuckmanofgod 1 year ago
sdfsfs
vaiotheviaotheviao 2 years ago
I like how he says "almost amazing."
TeddyOfRS 2 years ago
Jim Ryan versus Steve Scott in the mile... now THAT would have been one HELL of a race!
knightsxc06 2 years ago
imagine if he would have had a couple of pace setters... i bet he would have gone 3:49.
he was out there all by himself the whole time and still got 3:51!!
GetUpAndTryAgain 2 years ago 3
The best miler ever. But Jim was stupid to underrate Keino in Mexico in 1968.
This kind of runners are not happening in this world too often.
FinnMove 2 years ago 2
@GetUpAndTryAgain It's reckoned that at 64s per lap, running 1metre behind another athlete saves 1s per lap. Also, although a big finishing lap was Ryun's preferred modus operandi, it is not the most economical way of running fast times. His performance here is such that were he a 20 year old today, sub 3:45 would be entirely within his gift. And more?
kiplinggroove 2 years ago
he could have gone WAY faster. look at him after the race. he doesnt look tired at all
blaze222666 1 year ago
Wow looks like he is barely breaking a sweat at the end there. All in a days work.. He has training method down!
Globalpack 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
i need to time my mile again i think i got slower over the summer but when i was in 8 grade i ran a 5:30 - 5:40 one time i got 5:20 but i think coach was lying to me..................
martinezskater 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
i need to time my mile again i think i got slower over the summer but when i was in 8 grade i ran a 5:30 - 5:40 one time i got 5:20 but i think coach was lying to me..................
martinezskater 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
i need to time my mile again i think i got slower over the summer but when i was in 8 grade i ran a 5:30 - 5:40 one time i got 5:20 but i think coach was lying to me..................
martinezskater 2 years ago
To run like that on slower tracks, wow! How many Americans can run entirely from the front, much of the race alone, and hit 3:51 now? None! With rabbits and faster tracks (and remember he was only 20) he would have been around El G's times no doubt.
calebwwecanipe 2 years ago
Has anyone got the full race of Ryun's 1500m WR of 3:33.1?
I doubt it, but would love to see it.
deano27671 2 years ago
Thanks for posting this. I've thought about it ten thousand times but never actually seen the whole race.
Saffron333 2 years ago
There is so much "myth making" about Jim Ryun which has come to be "fact". He is credited in most books as having run the last lap here in 52.5, when you can see from the video above, that he goes through the finish line with a lap to go in 2:57.3, meaning he ran the last 400m in 53.8, the last 440yds in c. 54.2. Not quite the same! His 440yd split times in the IAAF Records book is given as 59.0, 59.9 (1:58.9), 59.7 (2:58,6) and 52.5. These are clearly WRONG!
deano27671 2 years ago
This is a good example of someone at the time publishing hand time splits without a recourse to a video, and either purposely or not, making his performance sound even better than it was. If you know where the start line is and the fact that each quarter is approx 0.3-0.4 secs on top of each lap, then anyone can pause it at the right place and work it out. It was nearer to 57.7, 60.4, 58.8 and 54,2.
deano27671 2 years ago
57.7, 60.4 (1:58.1), 58.8 (2:56.9) & 54.2
deano27671 2 years ago
Why do you care so much about how exact these splits are? Everyone knows he's one of the best milers ever.
houstontrack 2 years ago 2
Yes I agree that Ryun is one of the greatest milers ever and would have run faster on modern tracks. I just think it's sloppy when stats are wrong, and there is a big difference between 54.2 and 52.5! People on message boards use 52.5 all the time to justify he was the GOAT, but it's plain wrong.
deano27671 2 years ago
Ryun wouldn't have beat El G, but would've challenged Cram, Coe, Ovett, Coghlan, Walker, Moorcroft, Aouita and Scott.
bootymanager 3 years ago
What about to say ? Jim Ryun was the best
mile- runner of all time. He makes a new world
record by himself ! That were the days.
FinnMove 3 years ago 2
He's one of the best, but surely he has to have won a major title to be the greatest ever!? There are a few with better credentials than him.
deano27671 2 years ago
Jim Ryun could have won in Mexico 1968 1500 metres without doubt. But he used a very stupid tactic. One of the most stupid ever ! They have usually said that he was the most talented mile- runner ever. In less important races Kipchoge Keino had no chance with Ryun. But that
strange Mexico 1500 metres changed roles for a while.
FinnMove 2 years ago
I agree! Not to take anything away from Webb, but Ryun ran under very different conditions...
kinridge 3 years ago 11
Alan Webb with the aid of 41 years of information, modern training and recuperation methods, synthetic running surface, better shoes, pacing rabbits, and a few years of extra training, only manages to best Ryan's time by less than 5 secs. I sincerely believe that had Ryan in his prime been able to race Alan Webb in his, that Ryan would have triumphed. Ryan ran that 3:51 without anyone really pushing him. Had anyone been able to challenge him at the end, he may have gone even faster.
sandman4733 3 years ago 2
I think it's safe to say that technology aside, Jim Ryun is truely the greatest miler America has to offer.
BRazor78 2 years ago
ya hands down!
tycosedler 2 years ago
praise Jesus every day, I love you! lets pray
ekimbell 2 years ago
i thought this was an amazing time and accomplishment BEFORE i learned it was on a dirt track.
Anyone think he would have done the 3:50 if the race had been on a modern day track?
Ghartnell 3 years ago 2
@Ghartnell Is Usain Bolt quick?
kiplinggroove 2 years ago
NO RABBIT...NO PACER OF ANY KIND....A DIRT TRACK.....HE DIDN'T EVEN LOOK WINDED....JIM AND PRE RULED THE AMERICAN RUNNING WORLD IN THE 60'S AND 70'S .I was at the Dream Mile in 71 and was in awe of Ryun. I never got to see Pre run in person but his Legend will live on...
mervrun 3 years ago 23
@mervrun agreed. The race that alan webb set the hs record, El Guerrouj ran barely faster than that with 2 rabbits,a better track and modern training
j4str 5 months ago
@mervrun Good points. Ryun could run with and beat todays best. He was a freak of nature.
TheMexHurricane 2 months ago
Also amazing about this race is that it includes 3 of the 4 American High School runners who ran sub-4 in High School. Jim Ryan, 1964 & 65, Tim Danielson in 1966 and Marty Liquori. Marty broke it in this very race (he was still 18, and was 70 yds behind Ryan in 3:59.8). It wasn't for another 34 years in 2001, that Alan Webb joined this sub-4 elite group, and even broke Ryan's high school record (of 3:55.43) with a 3:53.43.
marksjohnson5 3 years ago
C'MON MAN....IT'S RYUN....
mervrun 3 years ago 2
Sorry...I didn't even catch that...must be seeing Ryan Hall's name in the So. Cal news too much these day...but it's inexcusable, since ran Track from 1966-70.
marksjohnson5 3 years ago
This is probably still the fastest mile ever run on a dirt track.
3:51.1 was the official time, not 3:50.9.
noinnurt 3 years ago
It has been said that there is no human equivalent to Secretariat's legendary run at the Belmont Stakes, well this is it.
Chris82bc 3 years ago
didn't jim ryan star in the movie "psycho"?
garzaeduardo 3 years ago
Man, it doesn't seem that impressive today... but if you look at how people were running back then, going that fast is just amazing. Plus, he was only a young college student... imagine what he would have been if he was that age in modern times, with all the best training techniques we've discovered and stuff.
GetUpAndTryAgain 3 years ago
I got out of my car one day and I look up and Jim Ryun was running by me and down the street, obviously in training.
huskyjerk 3 years ago
Wow...impressive.
fisher2521 3 years ago
wow..... thats just amazeing
averynewcreativename 4 years ago
He was smoking that track up and he is one nice dude
Zippertheslipper 4 years ago
thats called
droppin the hammer
slow pace on the first 3 laps for that time
bout to watch sebastian coe
campusmang 4 years ago
Crazy splits........never seen anything like it, especially to break a world record. If this man ran even splits, and thats the best way to run 1600m he would have ran 3.47 . Given todays synthetic tracks, shoes,rabbits the sky was the limit. What an amazing athlete. If only now.
newromantic888 4 years ago
hes is a great person from kansas
imnotanoob1 4 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
yous is retodded from kans iss
ZachScott 4 years ago
7 men broke 4 minutes that day, Dave Wilborn finished fourth at 3:56.2
jeaniewienie 4 years ago
This guy is incredible
Traviskula 4 years ago
wow! he was easily the best alltime ditance runner for his age.
cling824 4 years ago 2
nah check out steve prefontaine
JamesP09 4 years ago 3
yeah.... believe me i know about pre... just sayin he went to the olympics while he was in high school..... and steve went when he was a junior in college.
cling824 3 years ago
Ryun didnt have a rbbit, he just ran on guts and determination
jpindayton 5 years ago
Wow. Ahead of his time; and ahead of anyone on the track as well!
starsinmybeard 5 years ago
he looks like he went out for a jog when he finished. Just walks it off. Ryun = god
ExportDrummer89 5 years ago
Ryun was the man back then
kingofthemile87 5 years ago