Week in Review: Strand's record rampage continues
North Carolina senior sets collegiate bests in mile and 1,500 in John Thomas Terrier Classic
Saying that Ethan Strand is on a roll is a major understatement when it pertains to the indoor track and field season.
For the senior from the University of North Carolina has smashed collegiate records in both of his races. And his latest performance, a winning time of 3 minutes 48.32 seconds in the men’s mile in the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic last Saturday, moved him to third on the all-time indoor performer list in the event and was the fourth-fastest time ever run on a 200-meter track.
Only Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who ran 3:47.01 in 2019, and American Yared Nuguse, who clocked 3:47.38 in 2023 and 3:47.83 last year, have run faster than Strand, whose performance in the Terrier Classic cut more than two seconds off the collegiate record of 3:50.39 set by Oregon’s Cooper Teare in 2021.
For good measure, Strand also set a collegiate record of 3:33.41 for 1,500 meters on the way to his mile mark.
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The race came eight weeks after he had lowered the collegiate record in the 3,000 by more than six seconds when he ran 7:30.15 while edging senior teammate Parker Wolfe (7:30.23) for the victory in the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on the same Boston University Track and Tennis Center oval on which he ran in the Terrier Classic.
Strand and Wolfe entered that race intent on breaking the collegiate best of 7:36.42 set by Drew Bosley of Northern Arizona in January of 2023. But Strand said in a postrace interview on Saturday that he wasn’t sure if he was ready to better Teare’s mark in the mile.
“This time definitely was not to try to come and get the collegiate record,” he said. “But the two pros up front obviously wanted the world standard and they weren’t going to let it go slow. So I just hung tough and tried to win the race today.”
Robert Farken of Germany and Adam Fogg of Great Britain were the two professional runners Strand spoke about and they ended up finishing second and third in times of 3:49.45 and 3:49.85, respectively.
Farken’s time was a German record and moved him to ninth on the all-time performer list and Fogg’s effort was the second fastest of his career. Furthermore, they each exceeded the 3:50.00 clocking in the mile that acts as a qualifying standard for the 1,500 meters for this year’s World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from Sept. 13-21.
Strand ran in fifth place when pacesetter Hazem Miawad of Egypt led the 11-runner field through the first 409 meters in 56.82 seconds and the 809-meter mark in 1:54.81.
Farken took over the lead after Miawad dropped out and he came through 1,009 meters in 2:24.30 and 1,209 in 2:52.31.
Strand had trailed Farken, Fogg, and junior Colin Sahlman of Northern Arizona through 1,009 meters, but he was in third place, ahead of Sahlman, a lap later.
He was still in that position when Farken came through 1,409 meters in 3:20.74, but Strand moved past Fogg during the first turn of the last lap before speeding past Farken starting down the backstretch. He was not challenged after that and extended his arms wide in celebration a stride or two before he crossed the finish line.
After the front three, Flavien Szot of France finished fourth in in 3:52.67, Tyler Bilyard of Great Britain placed fifth in 3:52.73, and Sahlman was sixth in 3:52.82, a time that puts him 11th on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Strand, who had finished ninth in the 1,500 in the NCAA outdoor track and field championships last June before placing eighth in the NCAA cross country championships in November, ran his final 200 meters in 27.09 seconds and his last 400 in 55.46 in the Terrier Classic.
He was obviously thrilled to have run so fast so early in the year. But he seemed hesitant to look too far down the road when it came to the outdoor season and the USA Track & Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, from July 31-August 3.
Barring anything unforeseen, the top three finishers in the men’s 1,500 in that meet will qualify for the U.S. team that will compete in the World Championships in Tokyo.
“So obviously, you run super-fast times,” Strand said. “But they’re times. [What] sticks around forever [is] winning championships… Definitely want to focus on my collegian season and run well and score some points for the team.”
Viva la France: Distance runners from France capped the second — and final — day of the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic on Saturday by winning the men’s 3,000 and 5,000 meters.
Arthur Gervais, 24, won the 3,000 in a personal best of 7:38.90 while moving to fourth on the all-time national performer list and compatriots Jimmy Gressier and Romain Legendre then finished first and second in the 5,000 with times of 13:00.54 and 13:02.08, respectively.
The times by the 27-year-old Gressier and the 25-year-old Legendre were the two fastest times in the world this year, as well as the two fastest performances in French history.
In addition, Legendre’s time moved him to third on the all-time collegiate performer list as he is a senior at NCAA Division II program Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado.
Habtom Samuel of the University of New Mexico and Eritrea placed third in 13:04.92 to move to fourth on the all-time collegiate list and he was followed by Mexican Eduardo Herrera in fourth in 13:06.36 and Belgian John Heymans in fifth in 13:08.93.
Gressier, who had set a French record of 26:58.67 in the 10,000 when he placed 13th in the Olympic Games in Paris last summer, was in third place when pacesetter Sair Salgado of the U.S. came through the first kilometer in 2:35.63 and 1,600 meters in 4:09.71, and he was in second when second pacesetter Derek Johnson of the U.S. passed two kilometers in 5:12.84 and three kilometers in 7:49.29.
He then moved into the lead after Johnson dropped out and he passed through 3,200 meters in 8:21.05 and 3,600 in 9:24.93.
Legendre was in front when he came through four kilometers in 10:29.01 and he remained there through 4,400 meters in 11:31.24 and 4,600 in 12:02.02. But Gressier surged past him with about 320 meters left in the race and never trailed again as he ran his final lap in 28.87 seconds, his last 400 in 58.46, and his final kilometer in 2:31.40.
Welcome to the sub-15:00 club: The number of American women to have run under 15 minutes for 5,000 meters indoors grew from 11 to 15 last Friday when Whittni Morgan ran 14:48.41 while winning the event on the first day of the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic.
The 27-year-old Morgan, who had run a then-personal best of 14:53.57 while finishing 14th in the Olympic Games last year, moved to fourth on the all-time U.S. performer list with her effort while also running the fastest time in the world this year and bettering the qualifying standard of 14:50.00 for the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September.
Ella Donaghu finished second in 14:50.89 to move to eighth on the all-time U.S. list, while Bailey Hertenstein’s third-place time of 14:56.33 puts her at 12th and Lexy Halladay-Lowry of BYU is at 14th after finishing fourth in 14:57.63.
Halladay-Lowry, who led BYU to the NCAA cross country title in November with a 14th-place finish, also moved to fourth on the all-time collegiate list in the 5,000 with her performance on Friday.
Morgan ran in third place for the first eight laps of the race as American Amaris Tyynismaa paced the field through the first kilometer in 2:58.55 and the opening 1,600 meters in 4:46.41.
Nikki Hiltz, who had won the 3,000 in a personal best of 8:32.52 earlier in the evening, then took over the pacesetting duties for the next kilometer and came though 2,000 meters in 5:28.29 before dropping out of the race after passing 2,600 meters in 7:44.87.
Morgan was essentially on her own after that and she had a lead of a little more than three seconds over Donaghu when she passed the 3,000-meter mark in 8:55.52 and her advantage was just under four seconds when she came through four kilometers in 11:54.83.
Although her lead decreased some during the last 800 meters of the race, she was never in jeopardy of falling out of first place.
Closing strong: As mentioned in the previous note, Nikki Hiltz had won the women’s 3,000 meters in 8:32.52 in the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic before running the first 2,600 meters of the 5,000 as one of the two pacesetters in that race.
Their winning time in the 3,000 moved them to seventh on the all-time U.S. performer list and came about after they ran the first kilometer in 2:54.72, the second in 2:51.98, and the third in 2:45.82.
Linden Hall of Australia finished second in 8:35.17 to move to second on her country’s all-time performer list and compatriot Amy Bunnage, a sophomore at Stanford University, placed third in 8:43.82 to move to sixth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
She was followed by Kimberley May of Providence, whose 8:44.73 clocking moved her to seventh on the all-time collegiate list and made her the second-fastest New Zealand performer in history.
Hiltz, who finished seventh in the 1,500 in the Olympic Games, was in fourth place when pacesetter Abbe Goldstein came through the first kilometer in 2:54.04 and she was in third when Hall led the field past the second kilometer in 5:45.91.
The Australian was 6-7 meters in front of May and Hiltz at that point in the race, but it was a two runner race between Hall and Hiltz for first place with two laps to go and Hiltz was in the lead with 300 meters remaining while on her way to running her final 400 in 62.42 and her last 200 in 29.64.
“I felt great,” Hiltz said when they were asked about their strong finish in an interview posted on citiusmag.com. “I feel like I could have started to going a little earlier, but I was very happy and confident with it.”
Closing strong II: Like Nikki Hiltz in the women’s 3,000, Elise Cranny of the U.S. sped away from her closest competitors during the final 400 meters of the women’s mile while winning the event in 4:20.83 in the John Thomas Terrier Classic.
The 28-year-old Cranny was in second place when pacesetter Brooke Feldmeirer came through the first 409 meters in 64.37 seconds and clocked 2:11.36 at the 809 mark.
She took the lead after Feldmeirer dropped out and was less than a second ahead of fellow American Gabbi Jennings when she came through 1,209 meters in 3:16.22. But her lead was more than two and a half seconds a lap later and it was nearly four and a half seconds when she crossed the finish line with a time that was the fastest in the world this year and moved her to fourth on the all-time U.S. performer list.
Jennings placed second in 4:25.32 and personal bests also went to fellow Americans Riley Chamberlain of BYU, who finished third in 4:26.19, and Abbe Goldstein, who was fourth in 4:28.61.
Chamberlain’s time moved her to fifth on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Cranny, who had finished 11th in the 5,000 in the Olympic Games last year, said in a citiusmag.com interview that she was pleased with her time in her first indoor race of the season, and “felt like it did what we wanted it to do, which was to get back to racing after a while.”
Another win, another personal best: Josh Hoey of the U.S. ran another personal best while winning his third race of the indoor season with a time of 3:33.66 in the men’s 1,500 meters in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Sunday.
Hoey’s time was the second fastest in the world this year and moved him to third on the all-time U.S. performer list while turning back second-place Grant Fisher, whose 3:33.99 effort made him the sixth-fastest American ever.
Olli Hoare of Australia placed third in 3:34.91, followed by the personal bests from fourth-place Thomas Keen of Great Britain, who ran 3:35.12, and fifth-place Graham Blanks of the U.S., who clocked 3:36.11.
Hoey was in third place when his brother — and pacesetter — Jonah came through 400 meters in 55.88 seconds and 800 in 1:53.78. But he trailed only American Vince Ciattei when Ciattei came through 1,000 meters in 2:23.22 and Josh Hoey was in the lead when he clocked 2:37.83 at 1,100 meters, 2:52.19 at 1,200 and 3:06.29 with a lap remaining in the race.
Fisher, the bronze medalist in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters in the Olympic Games in Paris, made up a small amount of distance on Hoey during the final 100 meters of the race. But he never got close enough to seriously threaten the fourth-place finisher in the 800 in last year’s U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
The 25-year-old Hoey had run 3:52.61 in the mile and 2:14.48 in the 1,000, the second-fastest indoor time in history, during his two previous undercover races this season.
“It feels really great. It’s validating for all of the training we’ve done the past couple of months,” Hoey said in a World Athletics post. “We’re going to look to keep pushing this momentum throughout the rest of indoors and outdoors, so I’m not trying to slow down anytime soon.”
Strong opener: Melissa Courtney-Bryant of Great Britain won the women’s 3,000 meters in a yearly world-leading time of 8:28.69 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix after outkicking Elise Cranny of the U.S. during the final 100 meters of the race.
Courtney-Bryant’s time smashed her previous personal best of 8:37.74 that she had run while finishing seventh in last year’s meet, moved her to second on the all-time British performer list and left her well clear of Cranny, who finished second in 8:29.87.
Parker Valby of the U.S. placed third in 8:34.95, followed by Sarah Healey of Ireland in 8:35.19, Emily MacKay of the U.S. in 8:35.35, and Olympic 1,500-meter bronze medalist Georgia Bell of Great Britain in 8:36.96.
Ten of the top 11 finishers in the race set personal bests, with Healey’s time setting a national record as well.
The 31-year-old Courtney-Bryant trailed pacesetter Taryn Rawlings of the U.S. and Cranny when Rawlings came through the first kilometer in 2:50.73 and 1,600 meters in 4:32.60. And she was in second place behind Cranny when the American went through two kilometers in 5:39.54, 2,400 meters in 6:47.28 and 2,800 in 7:56.65.
However, she passed Cranny just before heading into the final turn of the race and then picked up more than a second on her during the final 100 meters of the contest. Cranny had run a yearly world-leading time of 4:20.83 while winning the mile in the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic two days earlier.
Courtney-Bryant seemed to be very happy with her performance and a post on her Instagram account read as follows: New Balance Indoor Grand Prix ✨So pleased with my season opener, I felt calm before this race as I knew I was ready and was just so excited to race. So happy it all came together on the day and extra special I got to get the win at the New Balance meet & track, such an incredible atmosphere and such a fun meet!! Thanks Boston! ✨
Strong opener II: Like Melissa Courtney-Bryant of Great Britain in the women’s 3,000 meters, Andrew Coscoran of Ireland smashed his previous personal best in the men’s version of the event when he clocked as winning 7:30.75 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
Coscoran’s national-record clocking was the second fastest in the world this year and slashed more than nine seconds off his previous best of 7:40.26 that he had run while finishing fifth in the New Balance meet last year.
National records also went Azzedine Habz of France, who finished second in 7:31.50, and 18-year-old Cameron Myers of Australia, who placed third in 7:33.12.
Hobbs Kessler of the U.S. finished fourth in 7:35.06 and James West of Great Britain placed fifth in 7:37.13 in a race in which the top six runners set personal bests, as did eight of the nine finishers.
Pacesetter Charles Philibert-Thiboutot of Canada led the field through the splits of 60.92 seconds for 400 meters, 2:01.01 for 800, 2:31.25 for 1,000, and 4:02.96 for 1,600.
Habz was in the lead, ahead of second-place Kessler and third-place Coscoran, when he came through two kilometers in 5:03.78 and 2,400 meters in 6:05.17.
Coscoran moved into first place just before passing 2,600 meters in 6:35.64 and he never trailed again.
Kessler, who finished fifth in the 1,500 in the Olympic Games last summer, was in second place with a lap to go, but he labored through a 30.72 split for the final 200 meters, compared to Coscoran at 26.71, Habz at 27.03, and Myers at 28.00.
In addition to setting a national record, Coscoran moved to fourth on the all-time European performer list.
Two and done?: Noah Lyles won his second 60-meter dash final of the season by winning his fourth consecutive title in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and then said he wasn’t planning on running any more indoor races this year.
The 27-year-old Lyles had finished second to fellow American Christian Coleman in the 60 in the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, last year. But based on his post-race comments on Sunday, he has no intention of trying to earn a spot in this year’s meet in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23 by placing among the top two finishers in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York, from Feb. 22-23.
Although Lyles was not seriously challenged in the final at The TRACK at New Balance, his time of 6.52 was well off his 6.43 personal best he had run at altitude in winning the USATF title in Albuquerque, New Mexico, last February, as well as the 6.44 he ran in the final in Glasgow.
Terrence Jones of the Bahamas, who won the 60 and 200 while leading Texas Tech to last year’s NCAA team title, ran 6.57 while finishing second to Lyles.
He was followed by American Pjai Austin, who placed third in 6.60, Italian Marcell Jacobs, fourth in 6.63, and American Trayvon Bromell, fifth in 6.64.
Jacobs, the 2021 Olympic champion in the 100, won the 60 in the 2022 World indoor championships and Bromell had placed first in the event in the 2016 meet.
Ever the showman, Lyles tore his name bib off of his back after his victory to display three hand printed words on the reverse side that read, “Tyreek Could Never.”
The words were directed at Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who stated a while back that he could beat Lyles. The two have traded a lot of banter on social media since then, but thus far, no match race between them has materialized.
When Lewis Johnson of NBC Sports asked Lyles to elborate about his message to Hill, the Olympic 100-meter champion said, “Hey, when you’re ready to actually put some words down and you actually ready to race, see me. I’m right here. I ain’t going nowhere. But all I know is your football season is over. You ain’t got no excuses now.”
Looking more like himself: Junior Quincy Wilson of the Bullis School in Potomoc, Maryland, lowered his own world U18 and national high school record in the 400 meters to 45.66 seconds in winning the men’s event in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
Wilson’s time took a tenth of a second off the 45.76 effort he had produced last year and it came in a race in which he went from third place to first on the final lap of the 200-meter track.
Zakithi Nene of South Africa led the field through the first lap in 21.07 while being followed by 2022 World indoor champion Jereem Richards of Trinidad and Tobago at 21.12, Wilson at 21.20, and American Will Sumner at 22.36.
Wilson continued to run in third place down the backstretch, but he began to close in in Nene and Richards approaching the final curve and then threw traditional tactics to the wind and went around both of while moving through the turn, rather than waiting to pass them until the final straightaway when he would not have had to run as far to get by them.
Wilson’s time left him well in front of 800 specialist Sumner, who finished second in a personal best of 46.27. Richards, who placed fourth in the Olympic final in Paris, finished third in 46.49, followed by Nene in 46.56.
Wilson’s victory came 13 days after he had been soundly beaten in a 500-meter race in Virginia Beach when senior Andrew Salvodon of Bayside High in Virginia had set a national prep record of 60.49 seconds while finishing a full two seconds ahead of Wilson.
Wilson told NBC Sports’ Johnson on Sunday that the loss to Salvodon had motivated the “mess out of me” and “I’m trying to be the best I can be now. I’m ready now.”
Another prep best: Senior Sadie Engelhardt of Ventura High in California set a national high record in the girls’ 1,500 meters while on her way to finishing seventh in the women’s mile in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
The North Carolina State-bound Engelhardt’s 4:29.34 clocking in the mile was the second fastest prep time ever run behind a 4:28.25 clocking by junior Mary Cain of Bronxville, New York, in 2013, but Engelhardt’s 4:11.53 split at 1,500 meters bettered the prep record of 4:11.72 that Cain had run during her record mile.
Heather MacLean of the U.S. won the women’s mile in 4:23.32, with Susan Ejore-Sanders of Kenya placing second in 4:23.55 and American Sinclaire Johnson finishing third in 4:23.58.
Back on track: Shelby Houlihan of the U.S. was a runaway winner in the women’s 3,000 meters in the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville last Saturday while running in her first race since serving a four-year suspension for previously testing positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid that is often used to increase muscle mass.
Houlihan had maintained that the positive result might have come from pork that was in a burrito she ate the night before she tested positive. But her suspension was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and it ran until Jan. 13 of this year.
She clocked 8:31.56 on Saturday while finishing 34-plus seconds in front of senior Anika Thompson of the University of Oregon, who placed second in 9:05.75.
The 30-year-old Houlihan followed pacesetter Krissy Gear of the U.S. for the first 1,400 meters of the race before Gear dropped out and Houlihan was basically on her own.
After Gear came through the first kilometer in 2:53.26 and 1,400 meters in 4:01.83, Houlihan hit two kilometers in 5:44.99 after running her second 1,000-meter segment of the race in 2:51.45.
She then picked up the pace further while registering splits of 6:52.88 at 2,400 meters and 8:00.13 at 2,800. She ran her final 200 in 31.43 seconds while running her final kilometer in 2:46.57.
A runnersworld.com post stated that Houlihan wrote the following in a text to the publication: I thought it went well. I was really nervous going into it, but it felt really good to get back out there. I’m happy with that time, as it’s what I was going for. I felt a little rusty but also, very strong. The crowd and energy were awesome and everyone was super kind and supportive!”
Houlihan, who set an American record of 3:54.99 in the 1,500 meters while finishing fourth in the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, in 2019, hopes to compete in the 3,000 in the World indoor meet in Nanjing, China, from March 21-23 by placing among the top two finishers in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Staten Island, New York, from Feb. 22-23.
Putting one out there: Anthaya Charlton of the University of Florida and the Bahamas added 38 centimeters to her personal best in the long jump when she won that event with a leap of 6.98 meters (22 feet 10¾ inches) in the Razorback Invitational last Friday.
Charlton’s mark, which came on her first jump of the competition, was the longest in the world this year, a Bahamian record, and moved her to second on the all-time collegiate list behind the 7.03 (23-0¾) effort that Florida’s Jasmine Moore had leapt in winning the NCAA indoor title in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2023.
The mark also crushed Charlton’s previous best of 6.60 (21-8) from last year.
The Gator senior, who had placed fourth in the NCAA outdoor meet last year, leaped 6.85 (22-5¾) on her second attempt on Saturday before passing her final four attempts.
Claire Bryant, a former teammate of Charlton’s at Florida, finished second in the Razorback Invitational with a leap of 6.70 (21-11¾).
Capping off a busy January: Senior Chloe Timberg of Rutgers University moved to second on the all-time indoor collegiate list in the women’s pole vault when she cleared 4.72 (15-5¾) in winning the event in the Scarlet Knight Open in New York City last Friday.
Timberg, who won last year’s NCAA outdoor title, cleared 4.72 on her second attempt before she missed three times at 4.75 (15-7), which would have tied the collegiate record set by Demi Payne of Stephen F. Austin in 2015.
Timberg made a total of 16 attempts during the competition at the Nike Track & Field Center at The Armory.
She cleared 4.18 (13-8½) and 4.28 (14-0½) on her first two jumps before needing three tries to get over 4.38 (14-4½).
She then cleared 4.48 (14-8¼) on her second attempt to clinch the victory before she made 4.59 (15-0¾) on her first try and 4.65 (15-3) on her third.
That was followed by her second-attempt clearance at 4.72 while she was competing in her fourth meet of the month. She had finished fifth, first, and second in her previous three competitions.
Quick 600: Alex Amankwah of Ghana moved to fifth on the all-time performer list in the men’s 600 meters when he ran 1:14.90 while winning that event in the Penn State National Open in University Park, Pennsylvania, last Saturday.
The 32-year-old Amankwah turned back a field that included the Penn State senior duo of Darius Smallwood, who placed second in 1:15.49, and Olivier Desmueules, who finished third in 1:15.59.
Amankwah, who has run 1:44.71 for 800 meters outdoors, was in third place when Desmeules led the field through the first lap in 23.83 seconds and the second in 48.43. But he closed better than anyone as he ran his last 200 meters in 26.04, compared to the splits of 26.50 for Smallwood and 27.16 for Desmeules.
Smallwood’s performance completed a high-quality double as he had won the 800 in a personal best of 1:46.28 on Friday.
Mayer’s European record falls: Sander Skothiem of Norway, the runner-up in the decathlon in last year’s European Athletics Championships, set a continental record when he won the men’s heptathlon in a combined events meet that was held in Tallinn, Estonia, last Saturday and Sunday.
The 22-year-old Skothiem totaled 6,484 points to eclipse the previous European record of 6,479 set by France’s Kevin Mayer in 2017 and finish more than 500 points ahead of Rasmus Roosleht of Estonia, who placed second at 5,940.
Skothiem’s total also moved him to fifth on the all-time performer list.
The Norwegian totaled 3,627 points on Saturday when he produced marks of 7.04 seconds in the 60-meter dash, a booming 8.19 (26-10½) in the long jump, 15.00 (49-2½) in the shot put, and 2.06 (6-9) in the high jump.
He then compiled 2,857 points on Sunday when he ran the 60 high hurdles in 8.04, cleared 5.25 (17-2¾) in the pole vault and ran 2:37.85 for 1,000 meters.
His time in the 1,000 was more than three seconds faster than Mayer’s 2:41.08 effort in his heptathlon best and it led to Skothiem scoring 36 more points in the event than the Frenchman.
Skotiem’s total bettered his previous national record of 6,407 that he had compiled while finishing second in last year’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
In the one-day women’s pentathlon held on Sunday, Saga Vanninen of Finland placed first with 4,843 points, and national records were also set by second-place Kate O’Connor of Ireland with 4,683 and third-place Jana Koscak with 4,478.
The 21-year-old Vanninen ran 8.32 in the 60 hurdles before clearing 1.79 (5-10½) in the high jump, putting the shot 15.27 (50-1¼), leaping 6.48 (21-3¼) in the long jump, and running 2:11.70 in the 800.
Her yearly world-leading total topped her previous national record of 4,677 that she had set when she won the silver medal in last year’s World indoor championships.
Meeting in the middle: George Mills, who represented Great Britain in the men’s 1,500 meters and 5,000 in the Olympic Games last summer, set a national record of 7:27.92 in the 3,000 when he won the event in the Meeting de L’Eure in Val-de-Reuil, France, on Sunday.
Mills, who had been eliminated in the semifinals of the 1,500 and finished 21st in the final of the 5,000 in the Olympics, finished nearly 12 seconds in front of second-place Bastien Augusto of France, who ran 7:39.77.
After following two different pacesetters for nearly the first nine laps of track, Mills took over the lead at the 1,800-meter mark and pass two kilometers in 5:03.22. But he began to pick up the pace after that and clocked 2:24.70 for the final 1,000 meters while recording the fastest time in the world this year and moving to ninth on the all-time performer list.
His time also made him the second-fastest European ever and bettered the British record of 7:30.14 that Josh Kerr had run in last year’s Millrose Games in New York City when he was on his way to an indoor world best of 8:00.67 for two miles.
Following the meet, a post on Mills’ Instagram account read as follows: 7:27
3000m British Record Dullstroom gets you fit. Thanks to the OAC Europe team for what goes on behind the scenes
Another world-leading mark: Jessica Schilder of the Netherlands went from third place to first in the final round of the women’s shot put in the Meeting de L’Eure when her 19.85 (65-1½) effort topped her previous best in the competition by more than a meter.
Sarah Mitton of Canada, the defending World indoor champion, placed second at 19.75 (64-9¾), followed by two-time defending World outdoor champion Chase Jackson of the U.S. at 19.43 (63-9).
The 25-year-old Schilder did not have a great series as her first put measured 18.65 (61-2¼) before she fouled on her second attempt and hit 18.59 (61-0) on her third. She followed that with fouls in the fourth and fifth round before producing her winning effort on her final attempt.
Two for two: Chris Nilsen of the U.S. posted a pair of victories in the men’s pole vault last week when his 5.85 (19-2¼) clearance in the Meeting de L’Eure came two days after he after he made 6.01 (19-8½) in the Perch’Xtrem in Caen, France.
The 27-year-old Nilsen had cleared 5.50 (18-0½), 5.60 (18-4½), 5.70 (18-8¼) and 5.80 (19-0¼) on his first attempts in the Perch’Xtrem before passing at 5.85 (19-2¼). He needed three tries to get over 5.90 (19-4¼) before passing at 5.95 (19-6¼) and making 6.01 on his first attempt.
He then missed three times at 6.10 (20-0), a height that only three men have ever cleared.
Two liners: Grant Holloway of the U.S., the two-time defending World champion in the men’s 60-meter high hurdles, won his season-opening race in that event with a time of 7.42 seconds in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Brighton, Massachusetts, on Sunday. Holloway, who has not been beaten in the 60 hurdles since his sophomore year in high school, won his qualifying heat in 7.47 before finishing .12 seconds in front of second-place Freddie Crittenden of the U.S. in the final. . . . . Masai Russell of the U.S., the Olympic champion in the women’s 100 hurdles, won the 60 hurdles in 7.80 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. It was Russell’s second victory of the season in the 60 hurdles as she finished a hundredth of a second in front of American Grace Stark and five hundredths ahead of world record-holder and defending World champion Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas. . . . . Rai Benjamin of the U.S., the Olympic champion in the men’s 400 intermediate hurdles, won the 300 in 32.21 in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Running indoors for the first time since 2021, Benjamin’s time left him nearly two tenths of a second in front of runner-up Vernon Norwood of the U.S., who ran 32.39. . . . . Bryce Hoppel of the U.S., last year’s World indoor champion in the 800, ran 1:46.04 to win that event in his season-opening race in the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. Hoppel trailed fellow American Abe Alvarado when he came throughn 600 meters in 1:19.40, but he took the lead entering the final curve and finished comfortably ahead of Alvarado, who placed second in 1:46.55. . . . . Senior Megan Hunter of BYU ran a personal best of 2:00.21 in the 800 while winning a women’s race that was loaded with talented collegians in the Boston University John Thomas Terrier Classic last Friday. Hunter’s time moved her to fifth on the all-time collegiate performer list, with second-place Makayla Page of North Carolina moving to sixth with her 2:00.57 clocking and fourth-place Victoria Bossong of Harvard now at the No. 11 spot with her time of 2:00.79. . . . . Senior Bella Pietrasiewicz of Dartmouth moved to third on the all-time collegiate performer list in the women’s 1,000 when she ran 2:39.85 while finishing third in the John Thomas Terrier Classic. Nozomi Tanaka of Japan won the race in a national record of 2:39.06 and Addy Townsend of Canada finished second in a personal best of 2:39.32. . . . . Senior Jenoah McKiver of the University of Florida ran the fastest time in the world this year in the men’s 400 meters when he ran 45.19 in the Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Arkansas, last Saturday. McKiver, who also ran a 44.18 anchor leg on a Gator team that won the 4 x 400 relay in 3:03.78, had set a world best of 1:05.75 in the 600-yard run in the Texas Tech Corky Classic two weeks earlier. . . . . Senior Fouad Messaoudi of Oklahoma State and freshman Simeon Birnbaum of Oregon moved to eighth and 10th, respectively, on the all-time collegiate performer list in the men’s mile when they ran 3:52.66 and 3:52.81 while finishing first and second in the Razorback Invitational. The top six finishers in the race, who were all collegians, set personal bests, including junior Reuben Reina of Arkansas, who finished third in 3:53.95. . . . . Shafiqua Maloney of St. Vincent and Grenadines became the first woman in the world to run under two minutes in the 800 this year when she clocked 1:59.87 in the Razorback Invitational last Friday. Maloney, who finished fourth in the 800 in the Olympics, had previously run a yearly world-leading time of 1:24.60 in the 600 two weeks earlier while racing on the same Randal Tyson Indoor Center track. . . . . Sophomore twins Hana and Amanda Moll of the University of Washington moved into a three-way tie for third on the all-time collegiate list in the women’s indoor pole vault when they each cleared 4.66 meters (15-3½) while finishing 1-2 in the Washington Invitational in Seattle last Saturday. Each of then cleared that height on their second attempt, but Hana placed first because she had fewer total misses during the competition. . . . . Thobias Montler of Sweden spanned a yearly world-leading mark of 8.23 (27-0) in the men’s long jump when he won the event in a meet in Belgrade, Serbia, on Jan. 29. Montler hit his winning jump in the fifth round of a competition in which two-time defending Olympic and World indoor champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece placed fourth at 8.05 (26-5).
Burundian sweep: Rodrigue Kwizera and Francine Niyomukunzi of Burundi posted runaway victories in the men’s and women’s races of the Cross Internacional das Amendoeiras em Flor in Albufeira, Portugal, on Sunday.
It was the 16th of 17 gold-level meetings on the World Athletics Cross Country Tour for the 2024-25 season.
The 25-year-old Kwizera won his fifth race in seven tour events after he broke away from Charles Rotich of Kenya at the start of the fourth loop on the five-lap course.
His lead was 11 seconds over Rotich and Thierry Ndikumwenayo of Spain at the end of the fourth loop and he widened his advantage on the final lap as his 27:02 clocking over the 9.28-kilometer course left him comfortably ahead of second-place Ndikumwenayo, who ran 27:17, and third-place Rotich, who timed 27:18.
Niyomukunzi won her second race in five outings this season and it was her first win after she had finished third, second, and third in her three previous contests.
The 25-year-old runner had opened a three-second lead on the field after the first loop of the five-lap race and her advantage grew to 28 seconds after two loops, 44 after three, and 47 after four.
She lost some of her lead on the fifth loop, but still had a 38-second margin of victory when she crossed the finish line in 31:44.
Bahar Yildrim of Turkiye finished second in 32:22, followed by Mariana Machado of Portugal in 32:23.