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Faith Kipyegon fell short in her bid to become the first woman in history to run a sub-four-minute mile.
The Kenyan, 31, clocked four minutes 06.42 seconds in perfect conditions at Stade Charlety in Paris - a time 1.22 seconds faster than her world record - in pursuit of the momentous feat.
The time will not be recognised as an official record because Kipyegon was assisted by a team of male and female pacemakers and wore technologically advanced kit and shoes at the Nike-sponsored 'Breaking4' event.
Kipyegon's official women's mile record of 4:07.64, set in July 2023, remains almost five seconds faster than any other female athlete in history has run for the distance.
It was that record performance in Monaco which made Kipyegon believe sub-four - once considered physiologically impossible for a woman - was within reach.
But the three-time Olympic 1500m champion still had a chasm to bridge, being required to run two seconds per lap faster than she had before.
Kipyegon was kitted out in an aerodynamic skinsuit and specially designed spikes as she targeted sub-60 second laps - an average speed of about 15 miles or 24 kilometres, per hour.
She was aided by 13 pacemakers, including Britain's Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Georgia Hunter Bell and Jemma Reekie, as she chased the Wavelights tracking her progress on the inside curb of the track.
Kipyegon completed the third lap in 3:01.84, but her hopes of achieving the target gradually faded in the final 400m.
She still ran through the finish tape in the fastest time in history by a woman before collapsing to the ground.
The tape was held by her friend and training partner Eliud Kipchoge, who in 2019 became the first person to run a marathon in under two hours.
"I have proven that it is possible, it is only matter of time. If it is not me, it will be somebody else," Kipyegon said.
"I will not lose hope, I will still go for it. I hope I will get it one day."
Sending a message to her daughter and young girls watching the record attempt, she said: "I will tell them we are not limited. We can limit ourselves with thoughts, but it is possible to try everything and prove to the world that we are strong. Keep pushing."
More than 70 years have passed since Britain's Sir Roger Bannister became the first man to beat the four-minute barrier for the mile.
That came in May 1954 and was a sporting frontier compared at the time to being "as elusive and seemingly unattainable as [reaching the summit of] Everest".
Far more have climbed to Earth's highest point than matched Bannister's feat since then.
It was in the same month as Bannister's historic milestone that compatriot Diane Leather became the first women to run a sub-five minute mile.
After decades of incremental increases by women, Kipyegon obliterated Sifan Hassan's 2019 world record of 4:12.33 to bring the once inconceivable into view.
Long before she chased history in Nike's latest high-technology shoes, Kipyegon would run barefoot to and from school in her village in Kenya.
The first woman to win three consecutive Olympic 1500m titles even captured her first global title at the World Junior Cross Country Championships in 2011 with nothing on her feet.
On Thursday evening, Kipyegon wore a black aerodynamic skinsuit featuring 'aeronodes' - strategically placed 3D-printed bumps - along with accompanying arm and leg sleeves and a headband, each designed to reduce wind resistance and drag.
Her shoes, based on the Nike Victory 2 spikes in which she won Olympic gold last summer, weighed just 85 grams, with a carbon fibre plate on the sole and air pockets in the forefoot providing enhanced propulsion.
The time on the clock at the end of the race did not begin with a '3' this time but, just as the men's record now reads 3:43.13, Kipyegon has made the once impossible appear probable.
