No one his age has ever run the mile faster.
Sam Ruthe, a 16-year old from New Zealand, broke the world record for the fastest mile ever run by an athlete 18 or under, doing so in Boston on Saturday.
Competing in the John Thomas Terrier Classic, Ruthe ran an absurd 3:48.88.
He was running against professionals, and he beat them all on the fast indoor track.
Ruthe told Flo Track that he had only arrived in the country three days earlier. Not a bad run through the jet lag.
“I didn’t feel like I was going that fast to be honest,” Ruthe told Flo Track after the race. “I still don’t believe it… I’m completely stoked.”
Ruthe had already been the youngest athlete known to run a mile under four minutes, his first foray under the milestone mark being 3:58.35. That was in March 2025.
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Not only did Ruthe set the under-18 world record. He also set New Zealand’s national record.
Ruthe told CNN that New Zealand doesn’t even have indoor tracks. He sure looked right at home anyway.
This marks the 11th-fastest indoor mile of all time for any age.
The record for that is held by Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who ran 3:45.14 in 2025 in a meet in France.
For those unfamiliar, an indoor track is only 200 meters around, as opposed to the 400 meters of an outdoor track. World records are tracked separately for that reason.
The outdoor mile record was set on July 7, 1999, by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj at 3:43.13.
Maybe someday, Ruthe can make a run at that.