NUGUSE SMASHES AMERICAN RECORD FOR THE MILE: 3:43.97
By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2023 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved – Used with permission.
  NOTE: This story was written remotely –Ed.
(16-Sep) — It took over 16 years, but Alan Webb’s American record of 3:46.91 for the mile was finally broken. In fact it was smashed.
On the first of two days of the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore., which also serves as the Wanda Diamond League Final this year, Yared Nuguse of the On Athletics Club crushed Webb’s mark by nearly three seconds in the Bowerman Mile, clocking 3:43.97. The 24 year-old, who was the NCAA 1500m champion for Notre Dame in 2019, also ran the #4 time in history, putting him ahead of all-time greats like Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, Steve Cram of Great Britain, and Daniel Komen of Kenya.
“I felt really, really good starting out and… I just really focused on having a strong finish at the end,” Nuguse told sideline reporter Lewis Johnson in his post-race television interview with NBC Sports.  “I did just that. That was an amazing time; a lot closer to the world record than I thought.”
Unlike Webb –who set his record at a small meeting in Brasschaat, Belgium, where his nearest competitor finished some ten seconds behind– Nuguse had the benefit of racing the world’s #1 male middle distance runner, Olympic and world champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway. In fact, the race was set up for Ingebrigtsen to achieve a fast time, and perhaps the world record. In yesterday’s press conference Ingebrigtsen said to Nuguse that he should “stick to me as long as you can,” and that is exactly what Nuguse did today.
Behind pacemakers Cameron Myers of Australia and Erik Sowinski of Iowa City, Iowa, the race got off to a fast start. Myers split the first quarter in 55.4 seconds with Sowinski, Ingebrigtsen and Nuguse close behind. Myers continued to lead for the second lap, but pulled aside before the finish line where Sowinski took over. The second lap went at 56.3, and it was clear that Ingebrigtsen was looking to close his season by breaking Hicham El Guerrouj’s 1999 world record of 3:43.13.
“I wanted to race where I could challenge myself to really set out at a decent pace, somewhat conservative, and then I go as hard as I could the last two laps to try to run as fast as I could,” Ingebrigtsen told the flash quotes team at Hayward Field.
Sowinski retired about 900 meters into the race and Ingebrigtsen became the best possible pacemaker…
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