Historic four-minute mile female record attempt underpinned by Exeter research

Experts at the University of Exeter will work alongside Nike, and elite runner Faith Kipyegon to support her historic bid to become the first female to run a sub-four-minute mile

The Exeter scientists are integral parts of Nike’s performance team, adding their scientific expertise to enhance the Kenyan runner’s attempt. They have also published a new paper highlighting areas on which the team will need to focus to enable Kipyegon to become the first woman to break the barrier first achieved by Roger Bannister in 1954. 

Professor Andy Jones and colleagues have provided research data to support the effort and will work directly alongside Kipyegon and her coaching and management team when she attempts the feat on June 26 in Paris. In a joint press release with Nike, Kipyegon, a Kenya native and mother to a young daughter, said: “I’m a three-time Olympic champion. I’ve achieved World Championship titles. I thought, ‘What else? Why not dream outside the box? And I told myself, ‘If you believe in yourself, and your team believes in you, you can do it.’”

Kipyegon is already the world record holder in the mile and 1,500-meter events, but the female sub four-minute-mile has previously been considered insurmountable. To achieve this moonshot, Kipyegon will need to knock 7.65 seconds from the current female record time.

Professor Jones and Exeter colleagues have authored a paper published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, which outlines the physiological characteristics the runner would need, and what other interventions could be considered to achieve the epic feat.

Professor Jones said: “In comparison to men, the history of elite running is relatively brief among women, and there is also much less research on the physiology of elite female athletes. Women have repeatedly defied social dogma and taken sport to a level once assumed to be impossible. Our research paper outlines how we can optimise physiological preparation for middle-distance running through training, nutrition and other factors. We conclude that a woman could break the four-minute mile within the next decade. I’m now delighted to follow this work with supporting an immediate bid to break the record by Faith Kipyegon, who is the closest to displaying the physiological capabilities we outline in our paper.”

The research paper highlights the importance of very high levels of both aerobic and anaerobic energy supply during the mile race. The paper also spells out how the athlete would need to minimise energy expenditure, and how factors such as aerodynamic sportswear, nutritional interventions and the latest running shoe technology could support the bid. A key element is “drafting” – using pacemakers to run in front of the female athlete who is making the attempt to minimise air resistance which could slow her down by crucial seconds.

Rebekah Osborne, a Nike-funded PhD student at the University of Exeter whose research is focused on female middle-distance running performance, has been conducting scientific studies which have provided data to underpin the project. Osborne and Jones tested Kipyegon’s physiology at the Nike lab in Oregon last year and have been working with the performance team on optimising training, warm-up strategies and footwear choice to support the attempt.

Mrs Osborne said: “Working on this project with Nike is a fascinating experience. As a middle-distance runner myself, it’s a huge privilege to use my research to try to help Faith in her attempt to become the first female sub four-minute miler. I’m very fortunate to have a team of world-leading experts as my supervisors here at Exeter. The past fourteen months have provided many once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. The knowledge and skills I have acquired through these experiences and mentoring from my supervisors will be invaluable for my future career.”

John Hoke, Chief Innovation Officer at Nike, said in the company’s press release: “Advanced innovation at Nike is driven by a deep commitment to partnering with athletes like Faith, turning dreams into dares and dares into destiny.

“This courageous attempt at breaking a monumental boundary embodies the alchemy of art, science and athlete, resetting ambitions and amplifying impact. Together with athletes, we approach problems systemically, creatively and parametrically — no problem too large, no detail too small. As always, we stand in awe of helping athletes achieve greatness.”

The academic paper is co-authored by Exeter academics Rebekah Osborne, Matthew Black, Anni Vanhatalo and Brett Kirby, Principal Scientist at Nike Sport research Lab who has a joint affiliation with the University of Exeter. The paper is titled ‘Seven (.65) Seconds Away: The Possibility and Physiology of a Women’s Sub-4 Minute Mile’ and is published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.  https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/japplphysiol.00074.2025

The University of Exeter is ranked 1st for research quality in the UK’s most recent Research Excellence Framework for research in the Sport, Exercise and Nutrition Science theme. Exeter’s ranks 27th globally for Sports Related subjects in the QS Subject World Rankings.