Ireland’s Eamonn Coghlan ran a mile in 3 minutes, 58.15 seconds Sunday, becoming the first man over 40 to run a mile in less than four minutes.
Coghlan’s time broke his Masters indoor mile record of 4:01.39, set last year. He has the seven fastest indoor miles by a Masters runner.
Coghlan, 41, set the current world indoor mile record of 3:49.78 in 1983.
Coghlan, paced for three quarters of a mile by Stanley Redwine, ran the half-mile in 1:59.76, hit three-quarters in 2:59.21 and ran the final two laps alone, spurred on by a boisterous crowd gathered at the Harvard track for the Massachusetts high school track and field championships.
“The noise they created was noisier than Madison Square Garden or any other track I’ve every run at,” Coghlan said. “I realized . . . that this was going to be a good, hard attempt.
“I’ve been trying to do this for two years, through a lot of aches and pains and injuries.”
Coghlan anticipates ending his competitive career at the New York Games May 22.
