Cole Hawker, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr have the Moroccan’s 26-year-old mark of 3:26.00 in their sights.
It wasn’t until 14 July 1998 that Hicham El Gerouj arrived in Rome aiming to break Noureddine Morseli’s 1500m world record of 3:27.37 set in Nice in 1995. The sporting world was still nursing a FIFA World Cup hangover as France beat Brazil 3-3. 0 in the finals of the tournament two days ago. Many Romans had also gone on holiday to escape the mid-summer heat, meaning the Italian capital’s cavernous Stadio Olimpico was largely empty.
As a young reporter AW:I got it from SOS The Times to cover the match as their athletics reporter David Powell had a bad back. I discovered that it is not only athletes who miss events due to injuries.
Those were the days when major newspapers would assign a freelance reporter to cover athletics’ biggest event if their main writer was out. So I answered the call and flew to Rome, mainly expecting to write about Mark Richardson challenging Thomas Schönlebe’s long-standing European 400m record of 44.33.
Before the 400m, however, we were treated to a 1500m world record at around 9pm local time when El Gerouj shaved 1.37 seconds off Morseli’s mark. His time of 3:26.00 also came almost 40 years after Australia’s Herb Elliott set a world record of 3:36.0, exactly 10 seconds slower than the Moroccan.
At the age of 23, El Gerouj was nearing the peak of his career. After winning 1500m world titles in 1995 and 1997, he won his first world crown in Athens in 1997 and took to the track at this Golden Gala meeting in Rome with his ‘Kenyan Leopards’ Robert Kibet and Noah Ngeni. , acting as a pacemaker.
Hicham El Gerouj (River)
El Gerouj followed Kibet with 400m in 54.3, 800m in 1:50.7 and 1000m in 2:18.8 before Ngeni took over. The Moroccan hit the front straight after the bell and turned the final lap in 53.47 minutes, running 3:26.00.
Runner-up Laban Rotich of Kenya clocked 3:30.94, with John Kibowan third in 3:31.08 and Daniel Komen fourth in 3:31.10. Britain’s John Mayock ran 3:36.74 but was 10th.
The only problem is that the clock didn’t stop when El Gerouj crossed the line, so it took about 20 minutes before his time was confirmed.
“I felt great the whole way. It was almost easy with good running conditions and excellent pacemaker support,” he said.
Hicham El Gerouj (Mark Shearman)
“My dream is to run 3:24 and I hope to do it before the end of this season,” he added. “If not, I’ll be back to do it here.
“Before it was Aouita’s time,” he continued, referring to Said Aouita, the former 1500m world record holder. “Then it was Morcelli’s time. Now it’s Hicham’s time.
“Now I feel like only the clock can beat me. Hicham is my only enemy.’
Seb Coe and Hicham El Gerouj (Getty)
After that, his goal was to run 3:24, a time his coach Abdelkader Kada thought he could achieve. However, the record has never been bettered, as it remains the world record to this day.
The following year, El Gueruj returned to Rome and took the mile record to 3:43.13. Like his 1500m mark, it also stands today.
READ MORE. Interview with Hicham El Gerouj
At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, he was dismissed by his old paceman Ngeni, but he bounced back to win the 1500m and 5000m titles at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
“I’m happy that my world records are still alive,” said El Gerouj AW: in May. And I wish they had lasted a little longer. I think one day they will be broken, maybe by Jacob (Ingebrigtsen) or maybe by another athlete. It is natural for this to happen. But I’m happy to be a part of history and participate in the development of track and field.”
Can the Class of 2024 surpass the mark? They are definitely getting close. Ingebrigtsen ran 3:26.73 in Monaco this summer, while Olympic champion Hawker won in Paris in 3:27.65 and Kerr improved the British record to 3:27.79.
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