Week in Review: A World Record feast
Ingebrigtsen, Fisher, Yamanishi, and Kiplimo set global bests during four-day span
A World Record tsunami that began to form on Feb. 8 when all-time indoor bests were set in the men’s mile and 3,000 meters made landfall during a four-day stretch last week when four men from four continents set global records in five events.
The first two records were set by Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway in a meet in Lievin, France, last Thursday when his 3:45.14 clocking in the men’s mile lowered the five-day-old World Record of 3:46.63 set by Yared Nuguse of the U.S. and his 3:29.63 split at 1,500 meters topped his previous global best of 3:30.60 that he had run in Lievin in 2022.
The third record was produced by Grant Fisher of the U.S. the following day when his 12:44.09 effort in the men’s 5,000 meters in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational slashed five-plus seconds off the mark that had been set by all-time great Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in 2004.
Less than 48 hours later, Toshikazu Yamanishi of Japan lowered the World Record in the men’s 20-kilometer walk in the national championships in Kobe when his time of 1 hour 16 minutes 10 seconds cut 26 seconds off the previous best of 1:16:36 set by compatriot Yusuke Suzuki in 2015.
Later that day, Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda set the most stunning of last week’s global records when his 56:42 clocking in a half marathon in Barcelona, Spain, axed a whopping 48 seconds off the prior best of 57:30 set by Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia in October of last year.
If this email appears clipped or truncated in your inbox, you should be able to click on “View entire message” to read it in its entirety.
“It has been the perfect race,” Kiplimo said about his shocking performance in a World Athletics post. “Ideal temperature, no wind at all, fantastic circuit, everything went better than expected.”
He then added that the pacemaker started out with the agreed tempo of 2:45 per kilometer — which projected to a final time of 58:01 — early in the race, “but I found myself full of energy, and decided to inject a brisker rhythm from the third kilometre, but I never imagined to perform under the 57 minute barrier, that’s astonishing.”
Ingebrigtsen, 24, had finished a disappointing fourth in the 1,500 meters in the Olympic Games in Paris last August while trying to defend his title from 2021. But he had bounced back to win the 5,000 four days later, set a World Record of 7:17.55 in the 3,000 15 days after that, and won his third men’s title in the European Athletics Cross Country Championships in December.
The Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais event in Lievin, France, last Thursday was his first indoor race of the season, but he had made it clear beforehand that he was looking to break Nuguse’s five-day old mark that had been set in the Millrose Games in New York City, as well as his 1,500 best from three years earlier.
When he accomplished both of those goals, he became the first man since 1954 to have set global records in the 1,500 and mile in the same race.
The most-recent time had occurred in a meet in Turku, Finland, on June 21, 1954, when John Landy of Australia came through 1,500 meters in 3:41.8 while on his way to a time of 3:57.9 in the mile.
Landy’s time in the 1,500 had bettered the World Record of 3:42.8 held by Wes Santee of the U.S. and his mark in the mile lowered the global best of 3:59.4 that Great Britain’s Roger Bannister had run on May 6 when when he became the first man in history to break four minutes in the mile.
“It feels amazing. This is what happens in Lievin,” Ingebrigtsen said in an interview shortly after the race. “I am a happy man.”
While Nuguse had led a best-ever eight men to sub-3:50 clockings in the Millrose Games, Ingebrigtsen finished way ahead of second-place Stefan Nillessen of the Netherlands, who placed second in a national record of 3:52.70, and Cathal Doyle of Ireland, who finished third in 3:53.18.
Ingebrigtsen was in third place when first pacesetter Filip Sasinek of Czechia came through 400 meters in 55.83 seconds and 800 in 1:52.08, and he was in second behind Pieter Sisk of Belgium when he came through the one-kilometer mark in 2:20.13.
But he was on his own after Sisk dropped out about 70 meters later and he came through 1,200 meters in 2:48.39 and 1,500 in 3:29.63 before running the final 109 meters of the race in 15.51 seconds.
It’s interesting to compare the splits of Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse in their record efforts as the Norwegian ran his final 409 meters of his race in 56.75, while Nuguse covered that distance in 57.36.
Ingebrigtsen was only eight hundredths of a second ahead of Nuguse’s split when he came through 800 meters in 1:52.55, but he covered the third 400-meter segment of his race in 55.84 seconds, compared to Nuguse’s 56.64, and he picked up another .61 seconds during the final 409 meters.
“Yes, it’s very hard,” he said when he was asked about striking out on his own after he was no longer following a pacesetter. “You have to push all the time, and you have to be focused for the whole race. So it was tough. But of course, it’s worth it when, when it goes like this.”
In addition to the two indoor World Records he set last Thursday, Ingebrigtsen holds global records of 4:43.13 in the 2,000 and the aforementioned 7:17.55 in the 3,000, as well as a World Best of 7:54.10 for two miles.
When asked how his latest performance in Lievin compared to the others, he said “This is all the way up there, for sure.”
The 27-year-old Fisher was shooting for his second Word Record in six days when he toed the starting line for the 5,000 meters in the Hemery Valentine Invitational at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center last Friday.
His first global record had come in the Millrose Games when he outkicked compatriot and Olympic 1,500-meter champion Cole Hocker while recording a time of 7:22.91 that trimmed nine tenths of a second off the World Record of 7:23.81 set by Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia in 2023.
His clocking in the 3,000 had come six days after he had lowered his personal best in the 1,500 to 3:33.99 and with those two races under his belt he figured the 5,000 record of 12:49.60 set by Bekele 21 years earlier was ripe for the taking.
Fisher was so confident in his fitness level that he asked for the two pacesetters to maintain a 12:42 tempo for the first two or three kilometers of the race. Meeting that objective would require them to go through the first kilometer in 2:32.4, the second in 5:04.8, and the third in 7:37.2.
Fisher was in third place when he came through 1,000 meters in 2:31.45 and he was in second when he passed 2,000 meters in 5:05.84. He then moved into the lead after second pacesetter Henry McIuckie dropped out after 2,500 meters.
About 200 meters later, France’s Jimmy Gressier began to drop off the torrid tempo being set by Fisher.
Fisher’s final time was projected to be 12:45.20 when he passed three kilometers in 7:39.12 and he had slowed ever so slightly when he came through four kilometers in 10:12.89. But with the crowd urging him on, he produced 400-meter splits of 61.50 and 60.35 for the next four laps of the 200-meter track before running his final 200 in 29.27 seconds.
His 12:44.09 clocking bettered his outdoor best of 12:46.96 that he had run in 2022 and left him 10-plus seconds ahead of the game Gressier, who finished second in a European record of 12:54.92 that bettered the French record of 13:00.54 that he had set in winning the John Thomas Terrier Classic on the same track 13 days earlier.
Fisher ran so fast that he lapped some of the runners in the race in which Yaseen Abdalla of the University of Arkansas finished third in a Sudanese record of 13:09.99.
The first eight laps of the race were a little uneven for Fisher as he ran 58.52 for the first 400 and 63.86 for the fourth, but his 1,600-meter splits were incredibly consistent as he clocked 4:05.01 for the first one, 4:05.03 for the second, and 4:04.78 for the third before finishing in the aforementioned 29.27 seconds.
“That was a tough one,” Fisher said in a FloTrack interview. “I came in here wanting the world record… It was really hard to find pacers. I had two guys step up and do a great job. The got me to halfway … I think any shorter than that and it would have been really close in getting the record.”
He later added that “They got me just as far as I needed, and it was a long, long way home. Those last laps felt like 400s and they were just dragging by, and I kept looking at the clock and being like, ‘Okay, I think that was a 30, I think that was a 31, I think that was a 31.’ With a few laps to go, I was like, ‘Okay, as long as I don’t blow up, I can get it.’ ”
With a lap to go, “I knew I had it. And I was giving everything I could and I wanted to get as far under the record as possible. That worked out just as well as I hoped.”
The 29-year-old Yamanishi had won gold medals in the 20-kilometer walk in the World Athletics Championships in 2019 and ’22, but he had finished a disappointing 24th in the 2023 global championships and he did not qualify for the Japanese Olympic team last year.
However, things came together well on Sunday as his 1:16:10 clocking bettered his previous best of 1:17:15 set in 2019.
After being part of a large lead pack that came through the first kilometer in 3:48, he was part of a four-walker group that passed the five-kilometer mark in 19:09.
His split of 38:21 at the midway point projected to a final time of 1:16:42, but he covered the next five kilometers in 19:03 for a 15-kilometer clocking of 57:24. That split projected to a final time of 1:16:32, but he picked up the pace further and clocked 18:46 for the last five kilometers while covering the second half of the race in 37:49.
Satoshi Mauro finished second in 1:17:24, followed by Kento Yoshikawa in 1:17:38.
“I’m glad ‘time’ came along with my effort today,” Yamamishi said in a World Athletics post. “The guys made a good rhythm in the first half of the race and I figured I’d make a move in the latter part of the race.
“My movement didn’t really feel right in the beginning, it wasn’t easy, but I was able to make the adjustment to find the right rhythm. When I was planning my race, whatever happened in the race I was aiming for the world record.”
He then added that “With my performance today, I was able to express my appreciation towards my supporters who stuck along even during the last season when I was struggling.”
Although Kiplimo had finished a somewhat disappointing eighth in a depth-laden 10,000-meter final in Paris in which the first 13 finishers ran under 27 minutes, the 24-year-old performer was regarded as one of most versatile distance runners in the world entering the eDreams Mitja Narato Barcelona by Brooks half marathon on Sunday.
Not only had he won the men’s title in the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in 2023 and ’24, but he has also run 12:40.96 for 5,000 meters and 26:33.93 for 10,000.
In addition, he placed first in the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in 2020 and set a then-World Record of 57:31 for the distance in Lisbon, Portugal in 2021.
The aforementioned Kejelcha lowered that mark in 57:30 in Valencia, Spain, last October and that was the time Kiplimo was intent on bettering in Barcelona.
After running behind the pacesetter during the first six or seven minutes of the race, he took the lead eight minutes into the contest and was never challenged after that.
At five kilometers in 13:34, he was 19 seconds ahead of Kenyans Geoffrey Kamworor and Samwel Mailu.
He was 53 seconds ahead of second-place Kamworor when he passed 10 kilometers in 26:46 and he proceeded to produce splits of 13:21 and 13:35 for the next two five-kilometer segments of the race to come through the 20k mark in 53:42.
He then ran the final 1,097-plus meters of the race in three minutes even to finish well in front of second-place Kamworor, who ran 58:44, and third-place Mailu, who timed 59:40.
Kiplimo’s pace was so torrid that his split at 15 kilometers was 35 seconds faster than the world best of 40:42 that he had set in a race in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, in November, and his clocking at 20 kilometers was a minute and 39 seconds quicker than the official world best of 55:21 set by Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea at the distance that is not contested often.
Kiplimo’s performance was so impressive that many fans immediately began to wonder how fast he could run in his debut marathon in London on April 27.
Although it might be unrealistic to expect him to break the world record of 2:00:35 set by the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya in Chicago in October of 2023, those expectations will no doubt be there.
World record forthcoming?: It was widely reported on Sunday that Yomif Kejecha of Ethiopia had fallen seven seconds short of the World Record in the men’s 10-kilometer road race when he ran 26:31 in the 10k Facsa Castellon in Spain.
A dejected Kejelcha said afterward that the race was a “set back” for him because he was “absolutely convinced” he could break the World Record of 26:24 that had been recorded by Kenyan Rhonex Kipruto in 2020.
However, it has been pointed out since Sunday that Kipruto’s mark was supposed to have been disallowed as a World Record because he is currently serving a six-year ban for a doping violation, and part of that ban disqualified all of his results from September of 2018 onward.
If those penalties are still in place, Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia should have been the world record-holder at 26:33 entering the race in Castellon and Kejelcha should have become the new record holder based on his 26:31 clocking.
Nonetheless, the all-time list for the men’s 10k road race on World Athletics’ website currently lists Kipruto as the world record-holder at 26:24, with Kejelcha second at 26:31 and Aregawi third at 26:33.
After timing 2:36 for the first kilometer, 5:13 for the second, and 7:51 for the third, Kejelcha came through the halfway point in 13:13.
He began to drop Kuma Girma of Ethiopia a little before he passed 6,000 meters in 15:50 and he was well clear of the 19-year-old brother of Lamecha Girma when he raced past 7,000 meters in 18:28.
He was on pace to run 26:23 at that point in the race, but he slowed some during the final three kilometers and his time of 26:31 was seven seconds shy of what Kipruto had run.
Girma finished second in 26:58 in his first 10k road race and Brian Kibor of Kenya placed third in 27:05.
Ethiopians swept the top three places in the women’s race as Medina Eisa ran 29:25, followed by second-place Likina Amebaw in 29:40 and third-place Aynadis Mebratu in 30:05.
The 20-year-old Eisa moved to fourth on the all-time performer list and Amebaw is now in the ninth spot.
Running in the same race as the men, Eisa had a three-second lead over Amebaw when she went through the first kilometer in 2:36 and she was 14 seconds ahead of her compatriot when she passed the midway point in 14:35.
She then averaged 2:58 per kilometer while running the second half of the race in 14:50 in her first-ever race at the 10-kilometer distance.
“It was my first time over 10k at any surface and I didn’t know how I was going to adapt to the distance,” she said, “but everything went well and I’m quite happy with my victory and also the time.”
An unexpected winner: An Ethiopian runner won the women’s 3,000 meters in the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin, France, last Thursday, but the victory by Freweyni Hailu was a bit of a surprise as compatriot Gudaf Tsegay entered the race eyeing the World Record of 8:16.60 set by Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia in 2014.
Freweyni, the defending World indoor champion in the 1,500, ran behind her more acclaimed compatriot Tsegay for the first 2,600-plus meters of the race before pulling away over the final two laps to record an 8:19.98 clocking that was the fourth fastest in history and moved her to third on the all-time performer list.
Tsegay placed second in 8:25.12, followed by 19-year-old Birke Haylom, another Ethiopian, who set a World U20 Record of 8:25.37.
Nadia Battocletti of Italy, the silver medalist in the 10,000 in the Olympic Games, set an Italian record of 8:30.82 while finishing fourth.
Tsegay was in second place when Ethiopian Saron Berhe paced the field through 1,000 meters in 2:45.53 and 1,400 meters in 3:51.67.
After Berhe dropped out, Tsegay was in first when she came through 1,600 meters in 4:25.20, 2,000 in 5:31.28, and 2,600 in 7:13.71. However, the 24-year-old Hailu was close behind her at each of those junctures and she covered her final 400 in 66.13 seconds and her last 200 in 30.97, compared to Tsegay’s splits of 71.41 and 35.79.
Hailu had opened her season on Feb. 4 with a winning — and personal best — time of 8:24.17 in the 3,000 in the Czech Indoor Gala in Ostrava, Czechia.
Win streak hits 20: Mondo Duplantis of Sweden opened his indoor season by clearing a yearly world-leading height of 6.10 meters (20 feet) in the men’s pole vault in the ISTAF meet in Berlin last Friday.
That height left the two-time defending Olympic gold medalist well ahead of Emmanouil Karalis, who placed second with a Greek indoor record of 5.94 (19-5¾).
The 25-year-old Duplantis, who raised the World Record three times last year, cleared 5.55, 5.85, 5.94, and 6.02 on his first attempts in Berlin before needing two tries to get over 6.10. He then missed twice at a World Record height of 6.27 (20-6¾) and called it a day.
The win was his 20th in a row dating back to the 2023 season and he has now cleared 6.10 or higher in a record 25 meets.
Two other men in history have combined to jump that height or higher in 12 meets.
Welcome back: For the first time since May of last year, Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia resembled her brilliant self when she won the women’s 1,500 meters in the ORLEN Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland, on Sunday.
The versatile, 28-year-old runner, who had lowered the World Record in the women’s 5,000 to 14:00.21 in September of 2023, clocked 3:53.92 in Torun to finish well ahead of compatriot Birke Haylom, who placed second in 3:59.82.
Tsegay’s winning time was the second fastest indoor time ever, behind her 3:53.09 World Record from 2021, and it came three days after she had faded badly during the final 400 meters of a 3,000-meter race in Lievin, France, when she ran her final two laps in a painstakingly slow 71.41 seconds.
Tsegay had entered that race intent on breaking the World Record of 8:16.60 set by Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia in 2014, but she finished a distance second in 8:25.12 as countrywoman Freweyni Hailu ran 8:19.98 while moving to third on the all-time performer list.
A bout with the flu had reportedly weakened Tsegay before that race and she looked like a different runner in Torun, running with her beautiful slowing stride throughout the race. She was in second place when a pacesetter came through 400 meters in 62.02, moved into the lead after 650 meters, and clocked 2:05.18 at the 800 mark and 3:07.84 at 1,200.
She had a 20-plus meter lead over Haylom at that point and increased her advantage during the remainder of the contest.
“I am very happy with the race,” Tsegay said in quotes on the meet website. “One week ago I had a strong flu, but now I am feeling very strong. My goal here was the meeting record, but maybe with better pace I could have broken the world record.
“I have not yet decided about going to the World Indoor Championships, my main goal is the outdoor season.”
Tsegay had run extremely well during the first five months of last year, running the third-fastest times ever in the 1,500 at 3:50.30 and in the 10,000 at 29:05.92. But she underperformed in the Olympic Games in Paris when she finished ninth in the 5,000, sixth in the 10,000, and 12th — and last — in the 1,500.
The vaunted kick for which she was known was not evident in any of those races and it was missing once again when she closed her season with a lackluster fourth-place effort in a tactical 1,500 in the Athlos NYC meet in September.
Righting the ship: Ackera Nugent of Jamaica capped a good week in the women’s 60-meter hurdles when she won the event in 7.79 seconds in the Copernicus Cup while finishing a hundredth of a second in front of second-place Ditaji Kambundgi of Switzerland and three hundredths ahead of third-place Nadine Visser of the Netherlands.
That performance came three days after she had run a yearly world-leading time of 7.75 in Lievin while finishing well in front of Grace Stark of the U.S., who placed second in 7.82.
The 22-year-old Nugent’s indoor season had gotten off to a rough start as she ran 7.92 while finishing fourth in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Feb. 2 before she was disqualified for a false start in the Millrose Games six days later.
But her time in Lievin was the third-fastest of her career for the hurdler who ran her personal best of 7.72 in a qualifying heat of the 2023 NCAA indoor championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she was a sophomore at the University of Arkansas.
“I am feeling very tired now after running meets back to back in Europe,” she said. “I ran in France just three days ago and came straight here. This is the last meeting I am doing before the World Indoor Championships.
“It is really cold outside in Poland, but the stadium is nice and I like the vibe from the audience.”
Long jump on final effort: Mattia Furlani of Italy produced the best indoor effort of his career when he spanned a yearly world-leading distance of 8.37 (27-5½) on his final attempt of the men’s long jump in the Copernicus Cup.
The 20-year-old Furlani was in first place entering the final round as he had leapt 8.21 (26-11¼) on his third attempt of the competition, but his 8.37 effort increased his margin of victory over second-place Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece and third-place Thobias Montler of Sweden.
Although two-time Olympic champion Tentoglou and Montler each had bests of 8.03 (26-4¼), Tentoglou placed second on the tiebreaker.
Bouncing back: Chase Jackson set a U.S. indoor record of 20.24 (66-5) in the women’s shot put when she won that event in the Copernicus Cup.
The two-time World champion hit her national record on her first put of the competition before fouling on four of her last five attempts.
Michelle Carter had set the previous U.S. record of 20.21 (66-3¾) in 2016 and Jackson had tied it in 2022.
The 30-year-old Jackson defeated a high-quality field in Torun as Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands placed second at 20.01 (65-7¾) and defending World indoor champion Sarah Mitton of Canada finished third at 19.69 (64-7¼).
Mitton had set a Canadian indoor record of 20.68 (67-10¼) nine days earlier when she had come from behind to defeat Schilder, second at 20.09 (65-11), and Jackson, third at 20.06 (65-9¾).
Olympic champion Yemisi Ogunleye of Germany finished fourth at 19.49 (63-11½).
A post by Jackson on social media read as follows: Loved being at @copernicus_cup at the weekend, a MR and NR are always great feelings 🤩 I can’t wait to get to NY to compete at USA indoors ♥️
Injury sidelines main attraction: Keely Hodginson’s much-publicized attempt to break the world indoor record in the women’s 800 meters in the first edition of The Keely Klassic never materialized last Saturday due to an injury to the Olympic champion.
The 22-year-old runner from Great Britain had been scheduled to take a shot at the world indoor record of 1:55.82 set by Jolanda Ceplak of Slovenia in 2002, but she announced via social media late last week that she had “picked up a hamstring injury” and would be unable to race in the meet in Birmingham, England.
With Hodgkinson out of the competition, the top event turned out to be the men’s 1,000 meters in which Samuel Chapple of the Netherlands and Neil Gourley of Great Britain set national records of 2:16.09 and 2:16.74, respectively, while finishing first and second.
With one gold medal and three silver medals in the last four global outdoor championships, no 800-meter runner in the world has been more consistent than Hodgkinson. But this marks the third time in the last four indoor seasons that she has sustained an injury.
The first two times forced her to withdraw from the 2022 and ’24 World Athletics Indoor Championships and this latest injury is expected to prevent her from posting a qualifying mark in time for this year’s global title meet in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23.
Picking up where he left off: Christopher Bailey of the U.S. produced the fastest time in the world this year when he ran under 45 seconds in the men’s 400 meters for the first time in his career indoors in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last Friday.
His time bettered her previous indoor best of 45.09 from 2023 and moved him to fifth on the all-time performer list.
World Athletics lists Bailey as the sixth-fastest 400 performer in history, but the 44.52 clocking that USC’s Michael Norman ran in the 2018 NCAA indoor championships was never ratified as a world record due to a technicality.
The 24-year-old Bailey’s performance came in a race in which he finished nearly a second in front of second -place TJ Tomlyanovich of the University of Arkansas, who ran 45.61. It also occurred in his first competitive outing since he had run a 44.45-second opening leg on a U.S. 4 x 400 relay team that won the Olympic title in Paris in 2:54.43, the second-fastest time in history.
That effort had come during a meet in which he placed sixth in the final of the 400 in 44.58 after running a personal best of 44.31 in the semifinals.
Huge improvement: Amanda Moll of the University of Washington raised the collegiate record in the women’s pole vault three times while winning the event at a height of 4.88 (16-0) in the Don Kirby Elite Invitational at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Saturday.
Moll, who had entered the meet with a personal best of 4.66 (15-3½), won a competition in which Gabriela Leon of the U.S. finished second at 4.66, followed by Moll’s twin sister, Hana, who cleared 4.56 (14-11½).
Amanda Moll cleared 4.36 (14-3½) and 4.46 (14-7½) on her first attempt before passing at 4.51 (14-9½) and needing two tries to make 4.56.
After the Molls and Leon all passed at 4.61 (15-1½), defending NCAA indoor champion Hana Moll was in the lead when the bar was raised to 4.66 (16-3½) because she had yet to register a miss. However, Amanda took the lead when she cleared that height on her second attempt while Leon needed three tries to get over that bar and Hana went out of the competition with three misses.
Amanda Moll and Leon both passed at 4.71 (15-5½) before Moll cleared 4.76 (15-7¼) on her first try and Leon missed three times at that height.
Moll’s 4.76 clearance topped the previous collegiate record of 4.75 (15-7) set by Demi Payne of Stephen F. Austin in 2015 and she set her second college best when she cleared 4.81 (15-9¼) on her first attempt.
She recorded her third collegiate record when she cleared 4.88 (16-0) on her second attempt before calling it a day.
The 4.88 effort made Moll the highest vaulter in the world this year, moved her to fourth on the all-time U.S. performer list, and made her the 14th woman in history to have cleared 16 feet or higher indoors or outdoors.
UW posts fastest time ever in DMR: Although the distance medley relay is rarely contested at the international level, a University of Washington foursome posted the fastest time ever in the event with a time of 9:14.10 in the Husky Classic in Seattle last Friday.
Running on the 307-meter track at Washington’s Dempsey Indoor facility, Washington effort was quicker than the World Record of 9:14.58 that had been set by a Brooks Beast squad last year.
However, the squad’s time could not count as a World Record because it was comprised of three Americans and a Irish runner, and the rules require all members of a relay team to be from the same country in order for it to be eligible for a World Record.
According to a gohuskies.com post, senior Ronan McMahon-Staggs, who represents Ireland internationally, had an unofficial split of 2:50.52 on his opening 1,200-meter leg before freshman Bodi Ligons ran 46.86 for 400 meters, senior Kyle Reinheimer clocked 1:46.57 for 800, and senior Nathan Green ran 3:50.15 on his 1,600-meter anchor leg.
Although the time was the fastest ever run and 2.3 seconds quicker than the collegiate indoor record of 9:16.40 set by Oklahoma State in 2023, it did not come on a standard 200-meter track and therefore will not be counted as a official college best by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Association.
“One of the great performances in Husky Track & Field history,” Washington coach Andy Powell said in the hohuskies.com post. “Obviously, it’s not every day that you set a World Record. We had the team and the track to do this here tonight without having to travel around the country to find the right race. Whether it gets ratified or however long it lasts we're going to remember it.”
Depth galore: BYU won a hotly-contested women’s distance medley relay in the Husky Classic as its winning time of 10:37.58 was the second fastest ever run indoors or outdoors.
It was also the fastest collegiate time ever run indoors and came in a contest in which Stanford finished second in 10:38.93, Northern Arizona placed third in 10:39.44, Washington was fourth in 10:40.44, and Utah was fifth in 10:42.56.
Although all five of those times were quicker than the collegiate indoor record of 10:43.39 set by Washington last year, they were not eligible for inclusion on the all-time indoor list because they were run on the Dempsey Indoor facility’s 307-meter oval, rather than the standard 200-meter track.
According to a byucougars.com post, senior Carmen Alder was credited with a rough split 3:16 split on her opening 1,200-meter leg and senior Meghan Hunter followed with a 52 split on her 400-meter carry. That was followed by a split of 2:04 for 800 meters by freshman Tessa Buswell and a 4:24 carry for the final 1,600 meters by junior Riley Chamberlain.
“I am really pleased with my group,” said Diljeet Taylor, BYU’s women’s cross country coach. “You can do something special in the DMR if you have really good bookends. But, to do something magical in the DMR, you need all four to be hitting it and they did that today.”
According to a gostanford.com post, junior Juliette Whittaker ran 3:14 on her 1,200-meter leg with sophomore Cate Peters clocking 55 seconds on her leg of 400 meters. That was followed by a 1:59 carry for junior Roisin Willis on her 800-meter leg and a 4:29 carry for the final 1,600 meters by Amy Bunnage, a sophomore from Australia.
Depth galore II: While Grant Fisher of the U.S. grabbed the headlines in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational last weekend with his World Record of 12:44.09 in the men’s 5,000 meters, the all-time collegiate list in the women’s mile underwent a large-scale rewriting during the second day of the meet on Saturday.
That was when six women moved into the top 13 performer spots in the event, topped by a collegiate and Turkish record by Silan Ayyildiz of Oregon.
The Duck junior clocked 4:23.46 while finishing fifth in the first heat of the women’s mile to better the collegiate record of 4:24.26 that had been set by Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State in 2023.
Seniors Melissa Riggins of Georgetown and Margot Appleton of Virginia briefly moved into fourth and fifth, respectively, on the all-time collegiate indoor performer list when they finished sixth in 4:24.98 and seventh in 4:25.03.
However, each of them soon moved back a spot when sophomore Grace Hartman of North Carolina State won the third heat in 4:24.76 to become the third-fastest collegian in history.
The top nine runners in the first heat all ran under 4:27 while setting personal bests.
Canadian Lucia Stafford won the race in 4:21.74, followed by Danielle Jones of the U.S. in 4:22.45, Gabija Galvydyte of Lithuania in 4:22.76, and Taryn Rawlings of the U.S. in 4:22.80.
Stafford moved to second on the all-time Canadian performer list with her mark and Galvydyte set a Lithuanian record with her performance.
After Oregon sophomore Sam McDonnell paced the field through 409 meters in 64.46 seconds and the 809 mark in 2:12.04, Stafford and Jones moved into first and second place after McDonnell dropped out and they would end up finishing in those same positions.
Stafford was in the lead when she came through 1,209 meters in 3:17.91 and no one was able to overtake during the remainder of the race as she ran her final 400 in 63.83, compared to Jones’ 64.20.
Hartman’s 4:24.76 clocking in the third heat was particularly impressive as she won the race by more than 10 seconds and her performance came a day after she had lowered her personal best to 8:46.57 in the 3,000 while winning that event at The Track at New Balance in nearby Brighton.
After running the first 409 meters in 65.27, Hartman came through the 809 mark in 2:13.77, and 1,209 meters in 3:18.69. before running her final 400 in 66.07.
Rolling along: Sophomore Tinoda Matsatsa of Georgetown University moved to third on the all-time collegiate performer list in the men’s indoor 800 meters when he outdueled Ireland’s Cian McPhillips to win that event in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational last Friday.
Matsatsa’s winning time of 1:45.21 made him the fastest U.S. collegian in the history of the event and McPhillips’ 1:45.33 effort moved him to second on the all-time Ireland list.
Matsatsa and McPhillips were running in third and fourth place, respectively, when pacesetter James Oliver came through 200 meters in 24.99 seconds and 400 in 50.43.
Darius Smallwood of Penn State took over the lead after Oliver dropped out, but Matsatsa passed Smallwood just before he came through 600 meters in 1:17.80.
McPhillips moved passed a fading Smallwood heading down the final backstretch and made up ground on Matsatsa during the final 100 meters of the race. But he was unable to overtake the American who moved to sixth on the all-time U.S. performer list with his effort.
Smallwood finished seventh in 1:48.61.
Matsatsa’s run came four weeks after he had lowered his own collegiate record in the 1,000 meters to 2:16.84.
Breakthrough meet: Senior KeAyla Dove of the University of Houston broke 60 feet in the women’s shot put for the first time since May of 2023 when she won the event with an effort of 19.46 (63-10¼) in the Howie Ryan Invitational last Friday.
It was the fourth consecutive victory for Dove and her winning mark topped her previous personal best of 18.95 (62-2¼) while moving her to third on the all-time collegiate indoor performer list.
Dove’s previous best had come when she won the 2023 Conference USA title for North Texas, but she had transferred to Houston soon after finishing 11th in last year’s NCAA indoor championships.
She only competed in one outdoor meet last year and her indoor campaign did not get off to a rousing start this year when she placed second in the Leonard Hilton Memorial Invitational on Jan. 10 with a best of 16.15 (53-0).
However, she followed that performance with winning marks of 17.76 (58-3¼), 17.27 (56-8), and 18.16 (59-7) in her next three meets before she exceeded 60 feet on three of her five fair puts in the Ryan Invitational at the University of Houston’s Yeoman Fieldhouse.
After producing efforts of 17.64 (57-10½) and 18.03 (59-2) in the first two rounds, she improved to 18.29 (60-0¼) in the third round before unleashing her 19.46 (63-10¼) best in the fourth.
That was followed by a fifth-round put of 18.64 (61-2) before she fouled on her sixth — and final — attempt.
Jorinde van Klinken of Oregon set the collegiate record of 19.57 (64-2½) in 2023 while adding a centimeter to the previous collegiate best of 19.56 (64-2¼) set by Raven Saunders of Mississippi in 2017.
Two liners: Grant Holloway of the U.S. ran a yearly world-leading time of 7.36 seconds in the men’s 60-meter high hurdles in the Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais in Lievin, France, last Thursday. The two-time defending World champion has now run 7.36 or faster 14 times during his career, while five other men have combined to do that eight times. . . . . . . Leonardo Fabbri of Italy produced a yearly world-leading mark of 21.95 meters (72 feet 0¼ inch) in the men’s shot put in Lievin. He also had a winning put of 21.62 (70-11¼) in the ORLEN Copernicus Cup in Torun, Poland, on Sunday. . . . . Katie Moon of the U.S. cleared a then-yearly world-leading height of 4.83 (15-10) in the women’s pole vault in Lievin. It was the third victory of the season without a loss for Moon, who had cleared 4.80 (15-9) and 4.82 (15-9¾) in her two previous wins. . . . . . . Leyanis Perez of Cuba posted a pair of victories in the women’s triple jump last week. Her first win came in Lievin on Thursday when she bounded a yearly world-leading mark of 14.62 (47-11¾) and her second came in Lyon, France, on Saturday when she jumped 14.25 (46-9). . . . . . . Henriette Jaeger of Norway ran a yearly world-leading time of 50.44 in the women’s 400 meters when she won that event in the Copernicus Cup on Sunday. Jaeger’s national record topped the previous world-leading mark of 50.57 that Amber Anning of Great Britain had run in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Friday. . . . . . . Senior Makanakaishe Charamba of Auburn University ran the fastest time in the world this year in the men’s 200 meters when he ran 20.16 in the Tiger Paw Invitational in Clemson, South Carolina, on Saturday. His time bettered the Zimbabwean record of 20.29 and moved him to eighth on the all-time world performer list and to seventh on the all-time collegiate list. . . . . . . Sophomore JaMeesia Ford of South Carolina ran a yearly world-leading time of 22.34 in winning the women’s 200 in the Tiger Paw Invitational. That effort tied her personal best, which puts her fourth on the all-time collegiate performer list. . . . . . . Lexy Halladay-Lowry and Riley Chamberlain of BYU and Elise Stearns of Northern Arizona recorded the third-, fourth-, and fifth-fastest times in collegiate history under all conditions in the women’s 3,000 meters with their performances in the Husky Classic in Seattle, Washington, on Saturday. Halladay-Lowry, a senior who led BYU to the NCAA cross country title last November, won the race in 8:40.60, followed by junior Chamberlain in 8:40.89, and seniors Stearns in 8:41.07. . . . . . . Luciano Fiore moved to fifth on the all-time U.S. performer list in the men’s 1,000 meters when won the event in 2:16.74 in the Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational last Friday. Freshman Dan Watcke of Villanova placed second in 2:17.77 to move to third on the all-time collegiate list. . . . . . . NCAA cross country champion Doris Lemngole of the University of Alabama moved to fifth on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s 3,000 meters when she finished second in the event in the David Hemery Valentine Invitational on Saturday. Lauren Ryan placed first in a personal best of 8:41.80 while strengthening her hold on third on the all-time Australian list. . . . . . . Junior Sanu Jallows of Arkansas moved to fourth on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s 800 when she ran a winning 1:59.77 in the Tyson Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on Saturday. Jallows’ Gambian-record performance came a month after she had moved to second on the all-time collegiate list in the 600 with a 1:25.37 clocking. . . . . . . Sophomore Malachi Snow of Texas Tech moved to fifth on the all-time collegiate list in the men’s 60-meter high hurdles when he ran 7.46 while finishing a hundredth of a second behind Trey Cunningham of the U.S. in the Jarvis Scott Invitational in Lubbock, Texas, last Friday. It was the second win in a row for Cunningham, who had failed to finish the final of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on Feb. 2. . . . . . . . Senior Daniel Reynolds of Wyoming moved to fourth on the all-time collegiate performer list in the men’s 35-pound weight throw when he won the event with a best of 24.72 (81-1¼) in the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last Friday. . . . . . . Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya moved to seventh on the all-time performer list in the women’s half marathon when she clocked 1:04:13 in a race in Barcelona, Spain, on Sunday. Jekosgei’s previous best of 1:04:29 had come in last year’s race in Barcelona.