3 RACES, 3 WINS, 3 AMERICAN RECORDS. Yared Nuguse made the most of his indoor season, solidifying his position as one of the U.S.’s best milers and establishing himself as a serious contender on a global stage.
“I would rate my indoor season as 10 out of 10,” says the 23-year-old Notre Dame alum. “With the expectations I had for indoors, I really wanted to do well. But winning all those races with such fierce competition, it just shows that I’m in a really good spot right now.”
After opening the campaign with a 3000 AR of 7:28.24 in Boston on January 27, Nuguse won the Millrose mile with another national record on February 11 (3:47.38, along with a 1500 AR of 3:33.22 en route), then wrapped things up on February 22 with a well-timed kick to top a strong 1500 field in Madrid (3:33.69).
“I’ve always really liked indoors,” he says. “It started mostly in college with the DMR, that was the main reason why I loved indoors so much.”
And though the emphasis in professional running is on outdoor championships, Nuguse enjoys using undercover racing to break up winter training and as a barometer for what to expect later in the year. “I still think indoors is fun, just to see where you are at a certain point,” he explains. “The outdoor season is very long and hard, but it feels nice to have this indoor season and then a break from racing before getting back into it for outdoors.”
When he stepped onto BU’s famed oval the 3000 record was not on his mind. “Being my first race of the season, I was expecting low 7:30s,” he says. Instead, he moved to No. 9 on the all-time world list (pushed down to No. 10 later in the season), improving his PR by almost 10 seconds. His previous best, a Collegiate Record at the time (7:38.13 last year), was also set at BU.
At Millrose, Nuguse and his OAC teammates Olli Hoare and Mario García were targeting sub-3:50 times and national records. The U.S. indoor best of 3:49.89, set by Bernard Lagat in ’05, was top of mind for Nuguse.
To maximize their chances, the trio even recruited Millrose pacer Erik Sowinski to do some training sessions with them in Boulder, simulating various follow-the-leader configurations. Sowinski delivered in the Armory with a 1:52.99 split at the half. The pace lagged a bit after the rabbit supreme stepped off, but Nuguse moved ahead of Hoare and into the lead with two…
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