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Back in 2019, a 20-year-old Notre Dame student-athlete named Yared Nuguse won the NCAA 1500-meter title by a lean. Talks of his potential grew and grew, and he kept meeting expectations. First he ran an NCAA record in 2021. Then he made the Olympic team that summer. The following indoor track season, he blasted a collegiate record in the 3,000 meters.
Nuguse was clearly on the path to success. But injuries ended his 2022 season abruptly, and there was worry about how he’d recover and then adjust to a professional running career.
If the last month has been any indication, Nuguse isn’t going anywhere. In fact, he’s just getting started. On January 27, the 23-year-old broke Galen Rupp’s indoor 3,000-meter American record at Boston University with a time of 7:28.24. Though it looked easy to spectators, who watched his long, hungry stride ate up the track effortlessly, the runner himself was slightly surprised. He mentioned to reporters that he actually felt more prepared to chase the American mile record rather than the American 3,000-meter record
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Flash forward two weeks to the 115th Millrose Games. With a deep field that included defending Wanamaker Mile champion Olli Hoare, news outlets hyped up a potential assault on Yomif Kejelcha’s 2019 world record of 3:47.01. Nuguse naturally came up in the conversation. Could he attack the American record?
On February 11, Hoare and Nuguse stepped on the track at the Armory in New York City alongside 10 other athletes and pacer Erik Sowinski, fully prepared to cross the halfway mark faster than they ever have before. Sowinski performed his job admirably, towing Spanish miler Mario Garcia Romo, Hoare, and Nuguse through 800 meters in 1:53.
Nuguse bided his time, allowing Garcia Romo to carry him through another 400 meters. With two and a half laps remaining, he struck. Hoare had the exact same idea but couldn’t match the decisiveness of Nuguse’s move. Using the very same loping cadence that carried him to a 3,000-meter record, he broke the field apart and charged over the final 400.
At that point, it was no longer a question whether he’d break the American record. Instead, onlookers wondered if the On Athletics Club athlete could snap the world record.
It looked like he might have it in the final 50 meters, but he ultimately felt short. Not by much, however—Nuguse ran 3:47.38, the second-fastest time in indoor history. He lopped two and a half seconds off of Bernard Lagat’s 3:49.89 record from 2005.
The Millrose crowd roared as Nuguse flashed a huge smile, as if he just let the crowd in on the secret that he’d been keeping from everyone: he’s not just the best in the U.S., but he’s one of the best in the world.
Chris Hatler is a writer and editor based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but before joining Runner’s World and Bicycling, he was a pro runner for Diadora, qualifying for multiple U.S. Championships in the 1500 meters. At his alma mater the University of Pennsylvania, Chris was a multiple-time Ivy League conference champion and sub-4 minute miler.
