Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj ran the fastest mile ever 15 years ago, in 3 minutes, 43.13 seconds in Rome on July 7, 1999.
El Guerrouj’s long-awaited Olympic triumph came 10 years ago, when he became the first man since Paavo Nurmi to sweep the 1500m and 5000m in Athens.
El Guerrouj celebrated his 40th birthday on Sunday, appearing at the IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakech, Morocco.
There, he told the IAAF he still runs five or six times per week. But how fast could he run a mile these days?
“Oh, that is a tough one,” El Guerrouj said. “Maybe 4:30 or 4:25. But not 3:43. Not now that I am 40.”
Great to catch up with Hicham at the Continental Cup and watch the men's 1500m together pic.twitter.com/vMzICvyUUG
— Seb Coe (@sebcoe) September 14, 2014