Pat despatched me this story this morning, and sure, I’m posting his fantastic synopsis of the Metric Mile, arising in Paris in about one week!
The roll-call is the stuff of legends! Paavo Nurmi, Jack Lovelock, Gundar Haegg, Arne Andersson, Roger Bannister, Herb Elliott, Peter Snell, Jim Ryun, Kip Keino, Filbert Bayi, John Walker, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Cram, Saïd Aouita, Noureddine Morceli, Hicham El Guerrouj, and Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Olympic champions or world report holders, in some instances each. And their forte was/is the Mile and 1500 metres, the Metric Mile. The occasion was the Olympic blue riband, however with the arrival of Carl Lewis and the doomed Ben Johnson, and all of the publicity, good and unhealthy, that that engendered, abetted by the glamorous rocket-propelled Flo-Jo, adopted by the lengthy reign of the meteoric Usain Bolt, the main target switched to the dash. However with Ingebrigtsen seeking to underline his standing later this week in Paris, in a much-heralded face-off with Josh Kerr, the center distance occasion can assume centre stage once more.