The 2 mile (3,520 yards, 10,560 feet, or exactly 3,218.688 metres) is a historic running distance. Like the mile run, it is still contested at some invitational meets due its historical chronology in the United States and United Kingdom. It has been largely superseded by the 3000 m (approximately 1.864 miles) and 5000 m, and by the 3200 m in NFHS American high school competitions (18.688m short of 2 miles). The IAAF no longer keeps official world records for this distance; they are called world best instead. The world best for men is 7:54.10 set by Jakob Ingebrigtsen on 9 June 2023 in Paris. Ingebrigtsen, along with previous world best holder Daniel Komen, are the only people to have run the distance in under 8 minutes, and thus covered two miles at an average sub-four-minute mile pace. The women's record is 8:58.58, set by Ethiopian Meseret Defar in Brussels, Belgium on 14 September 2007.

Continental Bests

Key

All-time top 25

Men (outdoor)

Women (outdoor)

Men (indoor)

Women (indoor)

World Best Performance Progression

Men

Outdoors

Indoors

Women

Outdoors

Indoors

US high school boys progression

Note: this list only covers boys because the history of 2 mile running largely occurred before Title IX, before high school girls were allowed to compete, which occurred about the same time as conversion to metric distances.