Commonwealth Games to replace the 1500 m by a mile race

John Austin reports on the athletics programme for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will commence in Glasgow, Scotland on 27 July. National and International Athletics is almost entirely metric. The only imperial measurements in general use are “beneath the surface”: some shot weights are in whole numbers of pounds and hurdle and steeplechase heights are in imperial. Even the marathon is not an official distance in miles but is rather 42 195 m. So it may come as a surprise to most people to find that the 1500 m races have all been replaced by 1 mile [1].

The distance has of course a great deal of historical and cultural significance due to the attempt in the 1950s to be the first athlete under 4 minutes. Many at the time questioned whether it was even physiologically possible. Of course, Roger Bannister achieved that target in 1954 [2] and it has immortalised his name and the distance remains a classic distance on the athletics programme. However, it is not run that often, with the 1500 m race being far more dominant. I always preferred a 1500 m race in my 20s because it is that little bit shorter (by 109.344 m) and you have the complete back straight to slot into position in the field before the first bend. In the mile race, there is just a short distance before the first bend, so if you are not fast enough off the start line, you have an extra distance in lanes 2 or 3 to cover.

As if on cue, Josh Kerr, who will be running for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, set a new world record for the distance at the London Diamond League Athletics meeting on 19 July. This was a substantial performance, beating a 27-year-old record, and it brought back the mile record into British ownership once more. The media interviewed Seb Coe and Steve Cram, former holders of the record and both praised Josh’s performance profusely. Cram in particular was part of the BBC commentary team for the event.

The track was remarked for the occasion, and Cram with his usual penchant for humour, said that he hoped that they had measured the distance properly. Like all good humour, there is hidden depth in this remark. If the distance were found to have been just 1 m short, then even though it would take an athlete only a fraction of a second to cover that metre, it would completely invalidate any record. When a track is measured in metric, but an imperial distance is run, extra care is required. Usually a mile race is started from a curved line 9.343 m from the finish line. So you need to run 4 laps plus 9.343 m. The shape of the curve line is computed by projecting a straight line from the curved line to the bend, assuming the runner takes the shortest route. If there are many athletes present this would lead to collisions, as I alluded to in the opening paragraph. The London meeting organisers reduced the chance of collisions or extra distance needed to run by introducing a second curved line further out from the kerb and by splitting the runners between the two start lines. To ensure that everyone ran a mile but no further, the second curved line would have needed to have been measured accurately. This appears to have been an innovation, so Cram would not have experienced this in his racing career. Of course none of this is necessary in a 1500 m race, where runners have almost 100 m to slot into position and a single curved start line suffices for as many as 20 competitors.

The Commonwealth Games Championship record dates back to 1966 (Kip Keino of Kenya in 3:55.34) [3]. In 1970, the games went metric and the 1500 m record is now 3:30.12 by Oliver Hoare (Australia) from 2022 [4]. As Martin Ward has commented, it is certainly ironic that the first metric games in 1970 were in Edinburgh, also in Scotland. With Josh Kerr’s new world record (above) almost 13 s faster than Kip Keino in 1966, a new games record is almost inevitable. It will seem odd for spectators to hear mile times instead of 1500 m times, and the competitors will likely want to try to convert their times to approximate 1500 m times. Many personal bests will be set but they won’t have the same meaning as 1500 m bests, especially for the women knocking on the door of 4 minutes. I pity the top class women who have to endure the 4 min mile hyperbole.

Changes in the World Athletics programme have been small and subtle over the last few years. They have been stimulated by Seb Coe (former world record holder over the 1500 m and, yes, mile and numerous other achievements too many to note) as head of the International Association of Athletics Federation. Some of the innovations have not gone down well, others have flourished. I disagree, though, with Coe’s contention that the sport needs to change in order to attract more public interest. Personally, I think the powers that be should leave the sport to evolve naturally. I believe that the public only has a limited capacity for sport at the highest level and trying to pull spectators from other sports endangers losing the interest of more devoted fans. To my mind, it is the performances of the competitors on the world stage that will determine the ebb and flow of spectator interest. I certainly wouldn’t want to see the mile race at other championship events and I hope this experiment is reversed for the next Commonwealth Games.

Acknowledgement: The topic of this article was suggested by Martin Ward.

References

[1] Commonwealth Games 2026: Mile Race Returns and Mixed 4x400m Relay Introduced – Running News Daily by My BEST Runs – My BEST Runs – Worlds Best Road Races

[2] roger bannister 4 min mile – Search

[3] Athletics at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – Men’s 1 mile – Wikipedia

[4] List of Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics (men) – Wikipedia