Sub 4:00: Alan Webb and the Quest for the Fastest Mile

For more than three decades, not one American schoolboy had run a sub-4:00 mile. Then, in January 2001, Alan Webb clocked a 3:59.86 mile, the fastest indoor U.S. high school mile ever. Just a few months later, the young track star achieved legendary status: he ran a 3:53.46 mile--a full 2 seconds faster than former record holder Jim Ryun. Everywhere Webb was hailed as "America's Next Great Miler."

In Sub 4:00, noted track writer Chris Lear follows Webb to college at the University of Michigan. As we witness Webb's freshman track season--watching him struggle with injuries, interpersonal conflicts, the politics of the collegiate track world, and his own aspirations to become the best miler ever--we get a behind-the-scenes view of the life of a promising young athlete.