middle distance

Also called middle ground, middle plane. Fine Arts. the represented space between the foreground and background in paintings, drawings, etc.

(in track) a race distance ranging from 400 meters or 440 yards to 1 mile.

Origin of middle distance

First recorded in 1805–15

Hamilton competed in middle-distance running at the Games in 1992, 1996, and 2000 but never scored a medal.

A Peek at Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton’s Escort Service |Eliza Shapiro |December 22, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
Kipketer currently holds eight of the 17 all-time fastest 800m times, a middle-distance track event.

What Makes a Great Olympian? Sometimes It’s Genetics |Jon Entine |August 11, 2012 |DAILY BEAST
We need a middle-distance man and some one who knows something about pole vaulting.

For the Honor of the School |Ralph Henry Barbour
When Peets lets drive something about 'sky effects,' an' 'fore-grounds,' an' 'middle-distance,' we stacks in all sim'lar.

Faro Nell and Her Friends |Alfred Henry Lewis

In the middle-distance, Mrs. Payson was approaching with a cup of nourishing beef-tea.

Stanford Stories |Charles K. Field
These figures must be in the foreground, and the rest in the middle-distance or in the back-ground.

The Author's Craft |Arnold Bennett

middle-distance

athletics relating to or denoting races of a length between the sprints and the distance events, esp the 800 metres and the 1500 metres

Also called: middle ground part of a painting, esp a landscape between the foreground and far distance