The newest Olympic record in Paris: How fast can you see the Mona Lisa?

Every Olympics produces remarkable feats of athleticism. But here in Paris, there’s another event that requires extensive training, rewards careful strategy and draws millions of people from around the world—and it comes with a selfie instead of a medal.

How fast can you race from the entrance of the Louvre to the face of the “Mona Lisa"?

Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is one of the greatest spectator attractions on the planet. But for the past two weeks, she has looked askance at tourists who would rather marvel at fencing, table tennis and beach volleyball. With about 15 million visitors flocking to Paris to witness the world’s greatest athletes, this is one of the first times in a century that more people are here to see the jocks than La Joconde.

So in the spirit of the Games, The Wall Street Journal decided to transform the city’s most famous cultural institution into its own Olympic venue—and attempt to set a new world record in the door-to-da-Vinci dash.

Forget Mona Lisa’s smile. This was the Mona Lisa Mile.

A visit to the Louvre is usually more intimidating than stepping onto the mat with wrestler Mijaín “El Terrible" López. The museum displays 30,000 pieces in 403 different rooms and even a two-week tour wouldn’t be long enough for most visitors to fully experience several acres of art.

But the Olympics is a showcase of specialists, not generalists, so our goal was to reach the Louvre’s main attraction in as little time as humanly possible.

To learn about the course and its many tourist-shaped obstacles, the Journal visited the Louvre three times in less than a week. But first came a qualifying round. It took more than 20 minutes to make it from the entrance of the museum to the front of the “Mona Lisa" crowd—longer than it took Ledecky to win her signature race.

That test run was useful reconnaissance for the course. Even on a light day at the Louvre, the halls are crowded. There are too many stairs and not nearly enough signs. There is also the immense guilt of speed-walking past “The Coronation of Napoleon" and an entire wall of Eugène Delacroix.

After the initial scouting mission, it was time to try again.

With the route committed to memory, this heat delivered a personal best. We shaved the time down to a mere 10 minutes, 40 seconds—still longer than fencer Lee Kiefer needed to win the bout that earned her gold for individual foil.

By now, we didn’t need the Canadian women’s soccer spy drone to know that the Louvre’s entrance is emptiest right before a new wave of visitors with timed tickets passes through security. So in the late afternoon—with the early risers gone, the post-brunchers tired and the evening crowd loitering near the I.M. Pei glass pyramid outside—the conditions were perfect.

Stopwatch in hand, it was time to see the “Mona Lisa." Yet again.

Hurtling past the statues of Hercules and into the maze of Italian art, the Journal crossed the finish line in a blazing 6 minutes, 15 seconds.

The lap from the room that holds the “Mona Lisa" to the front of the crowd came in at 18.55 seconds—faster than the world’s fastest man in the 200 meters.

But inspired by pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, we took one last shot with a new strategy.

This time, we left the Journal-issued laptop at home and laced up our Doc Martens as if they were super spikes. The halls of a French cultural landmark aren’t exactly the purple lanes of the Stade de France track, and sprinting would have raised plenty of security concerns and likely resulted in disqualification. After all, the Louvre specifically bans drinking, eating, smoking, touching art, making “a lot of noise"—and running. But not on the list: race-walking.

By the time we race-walked to the “Mona Lisa" again, her expression read as more judgmental than bemused. We had seen her enough for one lifetime—and she probably felt the same way about us.

But on that final trip, knowing exactly where to go under precisely the right circumstances, the Journal hotfooted it through the halls of the Louvre and clocked a new world record: 3 minutes, 34.33 seconds.

We broke the four-minute Mona Lisa Mile.

Write to Lindsey Adler at Lindsey.Adler@wsj.com