A 15-year-old New Zealander becomes the youngest athlete to run a sub 4-minute mile

Wellington, Mar 19 (AP) New Zealander Sam Ruthe became the youngest athlete to run a sub-four minute mile when he broke the mark 24 days short of his 16th birthday.

Ruthe ran 3 minutes, 58.35 seconds in a paced mile at the Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland on Tuesday. New Zealand Olympian Sam Tanner and Ben Wall, who were his pacemakers, also went under four minutes.

Ruthe is the first 15-year-old to run under the 4-minute mark. Athletics New Zealand said Norway’s two-time Olympic champion Jackob Ingebrigtsen set the previous mark for youngest runner to go under 4 minutes for the mile when he ran 3:58.07 in 2017 when he 16 years, 250 days old.