With his sub-four minute mile Bannister broke

[sanjaylakhani]

Source -Majortests.com

With his sub-four minute mile Bannister broke a psychological barrier, inspiring thousands of others to attempt overcoming seemingly insurmountable hurdles.
A. inspiring thousands of others to attempt overcoming
B. inspiring thousands of others to attempt to overcome
C. inspiring thousands of others to overcome
D. and inspired thousands of others to attempt to overcome
E. and inspired thousands of others to attempt overcoming

How is D correct here.... what's wrong with C

Inspiring as in C- comes after a comma and so acts as a participle modifier and modifies the previous clause

Anybody?

[JonathanSchneider]

C is wrong because there has been a change in meaning; we've lost the word "attempt."

D is wrong as well, however, if the comma is indeed not underlined. You would not want a comma between two verbs joined by the word "and" when both words refer to the same subject.

B would be the correct choice here.