[citation needed] It survived track and field's switch to metric distances in the 1900s and retained its popularity, with the chase for the four-minute mile in the 1950s a high point for the race.

[7] Although the spotlight was shining on the running scene, the categories remained distinct but the respective rise in amateurism and decline of the professional sector saw the division become irrelevant in the 20th century.

The International Amateur Athletics Federation formed in 1912 and confirmed the first officially recognised world record in the mile the following year (4:14.4 minutes run by John Paul Jones).

[9] The fact that the mile run was the only imperial distance to retain its official world record status after 1976 reflects its continued popularity in the international (and principally metric) era.

The top men's middle-distance runners continued to compete in the mile run in the first half of the 1900s – Paavo Nurmi, Jack Lovelock and Sydney Wooderson were all world record holders over the distance.

[9] In the 1940s, Swedish runners Gunder Hägg and Arne Andersson pushed times into a new territory, as they set three world records each during their rivalry over the decade.

[11] The goal of completing a sub-four-minute mile sparked further interest in the distance in the 1950s and to this day, many competitive runners are still chasing the ambitious barrier.

Englishman Roger Bannister became the first person to achieve the feat in May 1954 and his effort, conducted with the help of Chris Brasher and Chris Chataway, was a key moment in the rise of the use of pacemakers at the top level of the sport – an aspect which is now commonplace at non-championship middle and long-distance races.

[citation needed] The 1960s saw American Jim Ryun set world records near the 3:50-minute mark and his achievements popularised interval workout techniques which are still heavily used today, especially for collegiate distance runners.

[14] From this period onwards, African runners began to emerge, breaking the largely white, Western dominance of the distance; Kenya's Kip Keino won the mile at the 1966 British Empire and Commonwealth Games (which was among the last mile races to be held at a major multi-sport event as of 2021).

In 2019, World Athletics President and former athlete Sebastian Coe organized the World Athletics Heritage Mile Night in Monaco, which brought together eleven mile world record holders, either indoors or outdoors: Ron Delany, Michel Jazy, Jim Ryun, Filbert Bayi, Paola Pigni-Cacchi, John Walker, Eamonn Coghlan, Coe, Steve Cram, Noureddine Morceli, and Hicham El Guerrouj.