In this period he was selected to run for Great Britain in the 1956 Olympic 1500 metres finishing ninth in the final.
[2] In May 1955 Wood finished second in a two-mile race behind Sándor Iharos both breaking the world two mile outdoor record.
[3] He became the fourteenth athlete (the fifth from the UK) to officially run a Four-minute mile, achieving a time of 3:59.3 on 19 July 1957.
[4] He in fact finished fourth behind Derek Ibbotson, who set a new British record, Ron Delany and Stanislav Jungwirth.
[5] [6] On the 50th anniversary of Roger Bannister's first Four-minute mile, Wood claimed he had previously run under four minutes on 7 April 1954.