GB’s Elliot Giles Breaks The Road Mile World Record!

Elliot Giles ran 3:51.3 in the New Balance KÖ MEILE in Düsseldorf on Sunday 1 September to smash the road mile world record by almost five seconds!

It took a blistering sprint finish to beat USA’s Yard Nuguse, Olympic bronze medallist in the 1500m, who ran 3:51.9 for second place, also within the previous record. 

The previous ratified record of 3:56.13 belonged to USA’s Hobbs Kessler, which he ran at the 2023 World Road Running Championships in Riga – it was only at this event that the road mile was officially recognised as a distance for world records (before that it was ‘world best’). Emmanuel Wanyonyi ran an as-yet-unratified road mile of 3:54.6 earlier in 2024. Now both Giles and Nuguse have bettered that time (though they are currently unratified, which is a process which makes the times official records). 

It’s a big high after an up-and-down summer for Birmingham runner Giles. 

In the 800m final at UK Championships earlier this year he clashed with Josh Kerr and both fell, with Jake Wightman then selected to the Team GB Olympic squad over Giles. But when Wightman had to pull out with injury, Giles was called up – he found out when staying in a tent in Saint Mortiz to do some altitude training. In Paris, he exited in the semi-final, and decided to focus on the longer middle-distance races. 

It only took him a few weeks to show his speed over the mile, and to break the world record – his road mile time is now faster than his track mile time (3:51.63). The track mile world record is 3:43.13 by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj. 

There are other road mile races, like the 5th Avenue Mile in New York, but the course and elevation loss make it ineligible for world records (it’s a race our own Andy Baddeley won in 2009 in 3:55.64). With it only being an official world record distance for one year, it looks set to be a record that is lowered numerous times in the coming years. 

But for now it’s Britain’s Elliot Giles who is the men’s road mile world record holder. 

Image from Power of 10