16-Year-Old Rheinhardt Harrison Trying To Become The Youngest Runner In History To Break The 4-Minute Barrier At The Atlanta Track Club Classic

An attempt to become the youngest runner in history to break the four-minute mile barrier headlines Saturday night's Atlanta Track Club Classic. Start lists for the middle distance-focused meet, which will be held at an undisclosed high school facility in Atlanta, were released today.

Rheinhardt Harrison is already the fastest 16-year-old in American history. Last month, the Florida high school junior ran 4:01.34 at the Music City Distance Carnival in Nashville. On Saturday, he will attempt to become just the 12th American high school runner to break four minutes in the mile and the first junior to do so since Jim Ryun's historic run in 1964. Harrison would also become the youngest person ever to run under four- minutes at 16 years, 6 months and 28 days old. Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway was 16 years, 8 months and 18 days old when he broke four-minutes at the Prefontaine Classic in 2017.

Harrison will be joined on the start line by former Florida State standout Kasey Knevelbaard (3:58.08). Multiple pacemakers have been assigned to the race with a goal pace of 1:59 through 800m for Harrison.

The District Track Club's Edose Ibadin leads the men's 800m having run a season's best of 1:44.81 last month in Washington D.C. Teammate Alex Amankwah (1:44.80) and Atlanta Track Club's Abraham Alvarado (1:46.62) will challenge Ibadin for the victory.

The women's 800 includes two women on the cusp of breaking two minutes. New Balance's Hannah Segrave (2:00.18) and The District Track Club's Jazmine Fray (2:01.18) lead a field that will also include high school national record holder Sammy Watson (Adidas) and former NCAA runner-up Allie Wilson (Atlanta Track Club).

The Atlanta Track Club Classic will kick off with a series of masters races including a men's and women's 100m and a men's mile. Elite races will be streamed on Atlanta Track Club's Instagram account (@atlantatrackclub) beginning with the men's 800m at 7:45 p.m. EST.

Atlanta Track Club will follow strict COVID-19 safety protocols as required by USA Track & Field's sanctioning requirements to ensure the safety of the athletes, coaches and staff. All athletes must submit two negative COVID-19 tests within seven days of the event. Wellness checks will be administered on site. No spectators will be permitted inside the venue.

posted Saturday September 12th