The time it takes to complete each individual mile during a longer race, used to track pacing consistency and performance throughout an event. These intermediate times help athletes and coaches analyze race strategy and execution.
'Mile' derives from Latin 'milia' meaning thousands (referring to 1,000 paces), while 'split' comes from the idea of dividing or separating time segments. The practice became standard with electronic timing systems in the 1960s-70s.
Mile-splits reveal the story of a race - you can see where someone went out too fast, hit the wall, or made a strategic move. The most famous mile-splits in history might be from Roger Bannister's first sub-4-minute mile: 57.5, 60.7, 62.3, 58.9!
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