2024 Millrose Games Recap: 2 Mile World Record With National Records Galore
With the conclusion of the Millrose Games, the 2024 short track season has greatly intensified. Millrose always stacks the distance events and this year’s result was one to remember. National records galore across many different events, with the prime spectacle being Josh Kerr’s World Record over 2 miles.
In a quick recap, Yared Nuguse of the ON Athletics Club won the men’s mile in a time of 3:47.83, the third fastest time indoors in world history. Elle St. Pierre won the women’s mile in a new American Record of 4:16.41, breaking her own record by 0.44 seconds. The women’s 2 mile was spicy as the winner was eventually DQ’d for cutting in too early at the very beginning of the race. Laura Muir won as she came through in 2nd, smashing the British record along with Alicia Monson as she ran a new American Record.
Below I recap in-detail all of the distance events (800m & upwards) in ascending order of distance.
Women’s 800m: Wilson wins as Rogers struggles
The pre-race favorite and American 800m veteran, Raevyn Rogers, struggled today on the track as she finished dead last in a time of 2:02:49. Rogers, who represents the Nike UAC, is the reigning 800m Olympic silver medalist. Yesterday, Sweat Elite caught up with her coach, Pete Julian, who thought that it was reasonable for her to win today. The winner ended up being Allie Wilson of the United States. Wilson has never made a U.S. team, but finished in 4th in the 2022 U.S. Championships. Interestingly enough, Wilson was sponsored by adidas in conjunction with the Atlanta Track Club but has since parted ways with the club. Wilson’s tactics were spot-on as she entered the bell lap in second and was able to pass Atlanta Track Club’s Olivia Baker in the final 200m.
Although Rogers did not do well today, she did set a new 400m PB last weekend. If I was Coach Julian, I would not worry at all about this race. She should still be considered one of the favorites to make the 2024 Olympic Team.
Allie Wilson’s coach should be absolutely ecstatic with her performance today. Her ability to take down Rogers, Baker, and 2023 World Championship qualifier, Kaela Edwards, bodes well for Wilson. This might be the year she makes her first team.
Men’s 800m: Hoppel denies Kibet back to back wins
The men’s 800m race was a two man show from 400 meters onwards, after the pacer stepped off. Those two men were Bryce Hoppel of adidas and the U.S. as well as Noah Kibet of Nike UAC and Kenya. The 19 year old Kibet won this race last year and was the World Championships silver medalist in 2022. On the other hand, Hoppel finished last in 2023 but won the event in 2022. In the 2022 World Indoor Championships, Hoppel finished a spot behind Kibet to round out the podium. The two were battling each other today in the final 400m, as Kibet took the lead in the third lap and was fending off a hard battle from the American. Hoppel eventually took the win in 1:45.54 as he pulled away down the home stretch.
Hoppel should be very happy with his start to the season. He ran 2:16 over 1000m last weekend in Boston and following it up with a win at the Millrose Games is no light feat. Hoppel will now take his talents to Albuquerque, NM as he will look to finish in the top 2 in order to secure his spot for the World Indoor Championships.
Noah Kibet was already named to the Kenyan team for the World Indoor Championships and I’m sure Coach Julian will be devising a plan in order to raise his silver medal to a gold. That gold would be the very first for the Nike UAC if Kibet is able to pull it off.
The two men will definitely be seeing each other again soon, and next time will be with a global medal on the line.
Women’s Mile: 5 National Records
The women’s wanamaker mile did not disappoint in the slightest, as there were a total of 5 national records for the following countries: USA, Australia, Kenya, Sweden, and Spain.
The race played out fairly predictably, as the pre race favorites of Elle St. Pierre and Jess Hull worked their way to the front towards the end of the race. ESP was able to pull away from the Australian in the last 400m. St. Pierre closed in 61.33 over the final 400m, while Hull could only muster up 64.11. St. Pierre came barreling down the home stretch in order to break her own American Record. Susan Ejore of Kenya rounded out the podium, running 4:20.61 for the Kenyan national record.
This performance is extremely positive for ESP, as this is only her second race back from pregnancy. Last weekend she raced a 3,000m in Boston and just barely missed the AR in that race. Not every athlete is able to bounce back from pregnancy this well, but she holds herself to the highest standards along with the GOAT of female mile running – Faith Kipyegon. ESP’s 61.33 was the fastest final 400m by a long shot which is crucial in championship style racing come the Olympics.
The two other national records came for Yolanda Ngarambe of Sweden and Marta Perez for Spain. Ngarambe represents the Atlanta Track Club and Perez represents adidas. Both women were over the moon following their performances, running over to hug and scream with their respective coaches.
Pre-race contender, Josette Andrews of the OAC, did not perform up to her own standards today and fell off six places in the final 400m to finish 10th.
An alternative storyline comes in the form of Maia Ramsden of Harvard and New Zealand. Ramsden was bitterly close to both the collegiate and New Zealand national records. Her 4:24.83 was just shy of 4:24.26 and 4:24.14 respectively. However, it was an unbelievable effort to stay with the professionals from the young Kiwi.
Men’s Mile: Nuguse Wins in 3rd Fastest Time Ever
The hype going into this race was unparalleled, as everyone thought the mile world record was going to go down. Unfortunately, that did not happen. However, we did have a great race as Nuguse ran 3:47.83.
The top 3 really separated themselves from the field from the get go, that being Nuguse, Kessler, and Mills. Those three were directly behind the pacer from the start and only barely let up the pace during the 3rd 400m split. Nuguse closed the hardest of the three and was able to hold on for the win.
This race showed the great potential for Hobbs Kessler to make the 2024 Olympic team. He ran a PB of 3:48.66. He won the NB Grand Prix 1500m last weekend and came back to beat all but 1 of a stellar field. Ron Warhurst has a special runner on his hands, and with two full years of professional racing experience underneath him, Hobbs will likely be in contention come May for the 1500m team.
George Mills caught up with Sweat Elite yesterday before the race and only raced the wanamaker mile in order to “have fun.” The Brit said post race that he “was never really able to settle into the pace.” I’m sure Mills’ goal was to win the race, but this was still a positive result for the 1500m/5,000m runner. Mills is a part of an era in British mile running that is bonkers. Mills is accompanied by two 1500m world champions in Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr as well as Neil Gourley and Adam Fogg. Mills told Sweat Elite post race that he does not want to put all his eggs in one basket and that he is “both” a 1500m and 5,000m runner. Mills will now go back to South Africa to train for 8 weeks before racing again in May.
In my opinion, the breakout star of the day has to be Adam Fogg of UA Mission Run Baltimore and Great Britain. He came in with a 3:53 mile PB and ran 3:49.8 today. Fogg was barely making the NCAA final in college at Drake University, and is now one of the top milers in the world. His goal will be to win the British 1500m championship in the coming weeks in order to make the World Indoor Championship team.
Women’s 2 Mile: Winner DQ’d as US & British NR Fall
While at first it seemed as though the 19 year old Ethiopian phenom, Medina Eisa, was the winner of the women’s 2 mile, she was quickly DQ’d for cutting in too early. The 19 year old was impressive nonetheless throughout the race as she was able to pull away from the front pack of four women in the last 200 meters and beat Muir to the line.
However, Muir is the official winner of the race in 9:04.84. Muir came to get the 3,000m indoor world championships standard and she did just that. The Brit made it a race over the final laps, sticking with Monson, Eisa, and the other 19 year old Ethiopian Melknat Wudu. She then made a move to the front with a couple laps to go. Muir made a last minute change to run the 2 mile and it paid off.
On the American side, Alicia Monson set a new AR of 9:09.70. Monson was the woman that really made the race quick as she pushed on when the pacer stepped off. She led a majority of the race, but unfortunately did not have the wheels over the final 400m to win. The AR looked out of reach, but she was able to hold on to break the record by 0.58 seconds.
Another impressive performance was by Nikki Hiltz, who ran the third fastest time ever by an American of 9:15.80.
Men’s 2 Mile: Josh Kerr World Record 8:00.67
Josh Kerr called his shot in November and pulled through today. The British 1500m World Champion broke Mo Farah’s old record by 2.73 seconds. Kerr’s season seems to be going perfectly as planned, especially in comparison to last year.
The race was perfectly paced from the start of the race as Grant Fisher and Josh Kerr were directly behind the rabbits throughout. The rabbit stepped off at 2,000m and then Fisher started dropping 60 second laps. Kerr was able to feed off Fisher and passed him in the final lap. Kerr’s close of 56.97 was able to put him under. An interesting point is that the race was purposely run with a negative split. Kerr’s second mile was 3:57!
Fisher broke the AR in the 2 mile, starting off very strong post Bowerman TC. His coach Mike Scannell should be ecstatic with his effort today and he showed that he will be a player come time for USAs and the Olympics in the 10,000m. This type of speed for Fisher will help him in the 10,000m when it comes time to kick with the likes of Joshua Cheptegei, Selemon Barega, and Jacob Kiplimo.
Another huge star is Keita Satoh of Japan and Komazawa University. The true sophomore has an NIL deal with ON Running and broke the NR of Japan running 8:14.71. Satoh has run 13:08 over 5,000m as well. Look out for him in the future.
Other national records that were broken included George Beamish for New Zealand and Morgan McDonald for Australia. Beamish had the fastest last lap of the whole entire field, finishing his final 400m in 55.20. Another notable result was Cole Hocker, who ran 8:05.70 which is under the old AR but since Fisher beat him today he does not have a record to his name. Hocker looks to be in great form as he heads to the U.S. Championships in Albuquerque next weekend.
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