Just as the runABC staff were being blown away by Jakob Ingebrigtsen's exploits in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China at the weekend – another sublime double gold at 3000m and 1500m to match his performances in the European Indoor Championships in Apeldoorn, Netherlands two weeks earlier – along comes another eye-popping result with a tenuous link to the mercurial Norwegian.

Ingebrigtsen has always been a precocious talent. When he was still 16, on 27 May 2017, he became the youngest person in history to run a sub-four-minute mile, recording 3:58:07 in the Diamond League at Hayward Field, Eugene, USA – finishing eleventh!

However, we now have a 15-year-old running a sub-four-minute mile! On 19 March 2025, just as Ingebrigtsen and the rest of the world's elite were assembling in Nanjing, New Zealand's middle-distance prodigy, Sam Ruthe, aged 15 years 341 days, almost matched the Norwegian's time when he dipped just behind the pacemaker Sam Tanner to set a world age-15 best of 3:58.35 in wet conditions in Aukland.

The mile has moved on a bit since Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four at Iffley Road, Oxford on 6 May 1954 – aged 25! The new targets for Sam Ruthe over the next few years are held by Australian athlete Cam Myers, who has run the fastest times at 16 (3:55.44), 17 (3:50.15), and 18 (3:47.48) – the latter mark set in New York on 8 February 2025.

Something special is going on 'down under' and we have some exciting middle-distance races to look forward to – not least Myers versus Ingebrigtsen in the Los Angeles Olympic 1500m final in 2028...with Sam Ruthe causing havoc while still a teenager!

Photo of Sam Ruthe (black vest) courtesy of Athletics New Zealand on facebook