- The mile race returns to the Commonwealth Games in tribute to Roger Bannister
- The four-lap contest will replace the 1500 metres in Glasgow in nod to 1954
Next year’s Commonwealth Games will pay homage to the legendary Roger Bannister by including the mile on the athletics programme for the first time in 60 years.
The four-lap contest will replace the 1500 metres in Glasgow in a nod to the iconic race at the Vancouver Games in 1954, when England’s Bannister went toe-to-toe with Australian John Landy, just weeks after becoming the first person to run a mile in under four minutes.
Bannister beat his rival but both broke four minutes in an encounter known as the ‘Miracle Mile’, which will be celebrated next summer on the advice of Lord Coe, the World Athletics president.
‘The mile is the quintessential Commonwealth athletics event, whose return I very much welcome,’ said Coe. ‘From 1930 through to 1966, the mile was the blue-riband event of each Games.
‘The magic of the mile continues to resonate with sports fans. A ticket to watch its Commonwealth final will be one of the must have seats in Glasgow next year.’
Omitting the 1500m is controversial given the global success of Scottish athletes Josh Kerr, Jake Wightman and Laura Muir in the event, but home stars were given advance notice of the plan to bring back the mile.
Muir’s new coach Steve Cram, the former mile world record holder, said: ‘The mile is easy to understand. It is four laps, and it takes four minutes, or it did until Roger Bannister broke that barrier.
‘The impact of what Roger did had a resonance, and it was that iconic moment that has allowed the mile to live, breathe and stay relevant.’
The inclusion of the ‘Commonwealth Mile’ was announced on Thursday, when Glasgow 2026 organisers released their full medal programme.
Although only 10 sports are on the schedule for the scaled-back Games, more than 200 gold medals will be up for grabs – the most in the event’s history. Swimming, track cycling and para sports will all contest a record number of medals.
As well as athletics, swimming and cycling, the other sports in Glasgow will be gymnastics, 3×3 basketball, boxing, bowls, judo, netball and weightlifting.
The Scottish city staged the Games as recently as 2014 but stepped in as emergency hosts after the Australian state of Victoria in 2023 pulled out due to financial concerns.
