Speed in Sweden

The track world's favorite fable almost came true last week. Arne Andersson ran within a moment's breath of the "impossible" four-minute mile. In a race with Gunder Hagg at Malmo, Sweden, the 27-year-old grammar-school teacher accomplished the distance in 4:01.6, clipping a full second off his own world's record, set just a year ago. Although he was beaten by some six feet, 25-year-old Hagg also shattered the old mark with a time of 4:02.

Sensational as it was, the race was only part of an even more amazing series which Andersson and Hagg have run this year. Although the Swedish track season is only a month old, the arch-rivalry has already produced three other world's records:

P: 8:46.4 for the two-mile run, by Hagg in his first rare of the season. It bettered his own two-year-old world mark of 8:47.8.

P: 3:43 for the 1,500-meter run, by Hagg, beating Andersson's mark of 3:45 set last year. Running a close second, Andersson also shattered his previous record by a full second.

P: 2:56.6 for the three-quarter-mile run, by Andersson.

Although the honors are evenly divided so far, Andersson is the season's standout. Before this year he was a Hagg-ridden runner, could never win against Gunder the Wonder. Arne's finishing kick was better but Gunder's quick start and speed put him always just out of reach.

Last year, while Gunder visited the U.S., Arne experimented with a change of pace, learned to run his own race against great competition. His improvement is so marked that it may upset the balance so recently attained with Hagg. "[Andersson] is really terrific," Hagg said recently, "and may become much better than I am. I think I've just about done my share."

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