Today marks 60 years since the Australian runner broke the 5000m world record
On January 16, 1965, Australian middle-distance legend Ron Clarke made history by breaking his fourth world record. This time, he took down Vladimir Kuts’ long-standing 5000m mark by a fifth of a second with a time of 13:34.8.
Clarke’s time was set on a grass track in Hobart, Tasmania, where he dominated the race from start to finish, almost lapping all of his competitors.
At the time, Clarke was no stranger to the world record books. Already holding the records for the three miles (13:07.6), six miles (27:17.8), and 10,000m (28:15.6) distances, he became the first athlete since Finland’s Taisto Maki (1939-42) to hold all four records simultaneously.
The year 1965 would go on to be a ground-breaking year for Clarke, as he set an astounding 11 world records across eight different distances.
Less than three weeks after his triumph in Hobart, Clarke returned to action in Auckland on February 1, once again improving his own mark with a new time of 13:33.6 at Western Springs Stadium.
By June, Clarke had travelled to Los Angeles, where he obliterated his 5000m record once again, posting a blistering 13:25.8 at the Compton Invitational. During this race, he also broke another of his own records, running three miles in 13:00.4.
But Clarke’s feats didn’t stop there. In March, he had already established a world record for the 10-mile distance, finishing in 47:12.8.
In June of 1965, he travelled to Turku, Finland, where he bettered his 10,000m record with 28:14.0, though it was never officially ratified due to an issue with race authorisation.
Nonetheless, he continued to refine his form, lowering his three-mile mark in London in July to 12:52.4 and further improving his six-mile record in Oslo with a 26:47.0 performance, as part of a new 10,000m world record of 27:39.4.
He capped off his extraordinary year in Geelong, Australia, where he set both the 20,000m world record with 59:22.8 and the one-hour record, completing an impressive 20,232 metres in that time.
On top of all the world records he broke during his successful career, his achievements also included Olympic 10,000m bronze at the 1964 Games in Tokyo and four Commonwealth medals. After his athletics career Clarke went on to become mayor of the Gold Coast from 2004 to 2012 and was also awarded the Order of Australia and made an MBE.
To celebrate the 60-year anniversary, you can find our coverage of all of Ron Clarke’s records via the Athletics Weekly archive, and look through all of our copies over the years.
From the first ever issue in December 1945 through to the present day, current subscribers to our magazine are able to dip into this resource for free whereas non-subscribers can pay just £3.99 per month for full access.
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