Athletics: Tauranga's Sam Tanner breaks another Nick Willis record, becomes youngest Kiwi to break 4 minute mile at Cooks Gardens

Tauranga middle distance runner Sam Tanner continues to break records. Photo / Andrew Warner

Sam Tanner is having a season of breaking records and personal bests but the Tauranga teenager is confident he has plenty more speed in him.

The middle distance runner became the 45th man to break the 4 minute mile in the main event of the One Mile Championship at the Sir Peter Snell International Track Meeting at Cooks Gardens on Saturday night with a time of 3m 58.4s.

He was second in the race, with Canberra's Rorey Hunter becoming the 44th man to go under the 4 minute barrier in 3m 57.5s.

"The first 800 I was really, really comfortable and really, really relaxed and that was kind of the goal, just to hang on for the first 800 and stay as relaxed as possible and then it was just a matter of seeing what happens in the third lap because in the third lap of a mile it can either slow down or someone's going to have to take the pace," Tanner says.

"Rorey Hunter, he took the front and sped off on the third lap and I just thought 'here comes the sub four minute mile' and I just hung on and then he kind of surged again at 400 to go and I'm like 'oh sweet okay', I went with him.

"He just pulled a few metres on me at kind of 200, well maybe 150 kind of pulled some metres on me, and then at about 90m to go I had another little crack at him but I couldn't quite get him."

At just 18, Tanner was also the youngest New Zealander to go finish the mile in under 4 minutes, overtaking the junior record for Cooks Gardens of 4m 1.32s, set by Olympian Nick Willis in January 2001.

Hunter seemed aware of the significance as he raised Tanner's hand at the finish line.

"The mile I raced was the first mile I've ever done so to have my first mile ever straight into sub four, I don't think many people have done that, and that's pretty awesome," Tanner says.

"I'm pretty stoked, it's pretty surreal and I hadn't really imagined what it would be like. I don't think it's really sunk in yet, but yeah there's kind of no words.

"That was pretty exciting but to break a few records as well and be the youngest ever, it's like 'wow', next level."

The weekend's PB is the latest in an exciting season for the young runner, who heads to the US later this year, to start a 4-5 year track and field and cross-country scholarship at the University of Washington, where he will study engineering.

In January, Tanner broke another record previously held by a young Willis as New Zealand's fastest 1500m runner under the age of 19.

He ran the Wanganui Toyota Men's 1500 metre distance at the Cooks Classic in Whanganui in a time of 3m 43.01, pipping Willis' 2001 record of 3:43.54.

He was third overall behind 35-year-old Willis, from Lower Hutt Athletics Club, with a time of 3m 41.70s, followed by Athletics Tauranga's Julian Oakley, 25, in second in a time of 3:42.26.

A few days later at the Capital Classic Meeting in Wellington, Tanner came up against Willis and took the win in the 800m with a PB time of 1m 49.42s. Willis was second in 1m 50.05s and Sam Petty third in 1m 51.54s.

Tanner says he has worked really hard in the sport he has only been training for in the last couple of years and he's confident he still has plenty more speed left in him. He juggles his training of about 50km a week with work and preparation for his move to the US.

"I'm not surprised in the sense that I've worked really, really hard and my coach and myself have set goals for me that have kind of just been realistic.

"I've worked hard for it but it's been fun."

Tanner says he's motivated by his own ability and is keen to find out just how far he can go.

"I've kind of got the running bug and I just want to keep running faster so that's kind of it, how fast can I run?

"I think I'm kind of thinking when is the point where I'm going to find it hard to like get another PB because this season's been all PBs for me which is pretty awesome."

"My coach has got me on pretty low mileage at the moment so I'm not running that much compared to professional athletes so I've got a lot of room for improvement in the distance and volume area.

"When I up my volume a bit more and up my training, definitely the times will come down even further so that's what I'm looking forward to."