<P> No woman has yet run a four - minute mile . As of 2015, the women's world record is held by retired Russian Svetlana Masterkova, with a time of 4: 12.56 in 1996 . </P> <P> In 1997, Daniel Komen of Kenya ran two miles in less than eight minutes, doubling up on Bannister's accomplishment . He did it again in February 1998, falling just 0.3 seconds behind his previous performance, and is still the only individual to accomplish the feat . </P> <P> Some sources (including Olympic medalist Peter Radford) contend the first successful four - minute mile was run in London by James Parrott on 9 May 1770 . Parrott's route began on Goswell Road, before turning down Old Street, finishing at St Leonard's, Shoreditch . Although timing methods at this time were--following the invention of the chronometer by John Harrison--accurate enough to measure the four minutes correctly, the record is not recognised by modern sporting bodies . Neal Bascomb notes in The Perfect Mile that "even nineteenth - century historians cast a skeptical eye on the account ." </P> <P> Then in 1796, the Sporting Magazine reported that on 10 October of that year a young man called Weller, "undertook for a wager of three guineas (about 5 months' pay at that time) to run one mile on the Banbury road, in four minutes, which he performed two seconds within the time ." </P>

When will the mile world record be broken