AFTER HISTORIC SEASON NUGUSE TO RACE KALAKAUA MERRIE MILE ON SATURDAY

AFTER HISTORIC SEASON NUGUSE TO RACE KALAKAUA MERRIE MILE ON SATURDAY
By Rich Sands, @sands
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved, used with permission. 

HONOLULU (07-Dec) – On January 1, Yared Nuguse posted a training photo on Instagram with the caption “2023 is the year of growth, plan accordingly.” Twelve months later, those plans went even better than the 24-year-old American middle-distance runner could have hoped for.

In his first full year as a professional, training with Dathan Ritzenhein’s On Athletics Club in Boulder, Colorado, Nuguse put together a spectacular season, breaking national records, winning races, and establishing himself as one of the best milers in the world.

Starting with a U.S. and North American record over 3000 meters (7:28.24) at the end of January and continuing with an emphatic victory in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games (setting another national and area record of 3:47.38), scoring his first USATF national title, racking up a pair of Diamond League wins, and finally obliterating the U.S. outdoor mile record in the season-ending Prefontaine Classic, it was an impressive year of fast running and savvy racing.

“My biggest highlight all around is just the consistency that I had all year,” Nuguse told Race Results Weekly in an interview here yesterday where he is preparing to race the Kalakaua Merrie Mile on Saturday. “Running 7:28 in January and then continuing to be on it until September was really comforting to me. The year before, my last year in college, I struggled with injuries popping up over and over again, so I really wanted to have a nice, consistent block. And I did just that.”

Did he ever. Using aggressive tactics, Nuguse was a fixture at or near the front of the pack in most of his 2023 races. He was rewarded with an American record in the 1500 at the Bislett Games in June, clocking 3:29.02 to finish third.

But it wasn’t all about record-breaking performances. Nuguse repeatedly showed the poise of a veteran, notably in winning the USA Outdoor Championships 1500 in July, pulling away from Joe Waskom and Cole Hocker in the final straightaway at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon. A few weeks later, he notched his first Diamond League victory in London, a feat he matched at the end of August at the prestigious Weltklasse meet in Zürich.

In between those victories, he finished fifth at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, a result that would have…