University of North Carolina Athletics
On This Day in Carolina History
June 21, 1999 | General
Tony Waldrop broke the world record in the indoor mile at the San Diego Indoor Games and, in the process, turned in his fifth consecutive sub-four-minute performance.
Waldrop's time of 3:55.0 shattered the long-standing mark of 3:56.4 set by Tom O'Hara in 1964 and later matched by Jim Ryun in 1971.
The amazing thing about this race was that Waldrop set a world record without benefit of a standout field. In his earlier sub-four-minute efforts he had defeated such stars as Marty Liquori, Steve Prefontaine, Dave Wottle and Len Hilton.
This race was different, however. Larry Rose of the Pacific Coast Club led the race for the first quarter in 59.4 seconds and the half in 1:59. That's when Waldrop took over and passed the three-quarter mark in 2:59.
He ran the last quarter in an amazing 56 seconds.
Wilson Waigwa of Kenya was second in 3:57.2.
Tanzania's Filbert Bayi had been expected to race Waldrop, but failed to show.
"I came out with Tony because I thought he could break the record here," said Carolina Coach Joe Hilton after the race. "But, I also thought he would have to break it with Bayi in the field to provide the competition."
Waldrop was credited with an American indoor record of 3:39.8 for the indoor 1,500 meters.
No other runner in track and field history had ever had as many as four sub-four-minute miles at any time in one indoor season. Waldrop now had recorded an amazing five in a row.
