By Chris Chavez
March 3, 2025
Team New Balance Boston’s Heather MacLean won the mile in 4:17.01 at Boston University’s Last Chance National Qualifier, making her the second-fastest American woman ever indoors and moves to No. 4 on the world all-time list. Only her teammate and training partner Elle St. Pierre (4:16.41) has run faster.
“When I saw we went through in 2:08, I was like, ‘OK. That was a little bit faster than we’ve been running this season,’” MacLean told CITIUS MAG after the race. “But I didn’t really think twice about it and just committed to the pace really. I don’t know what the pace (lights) were set at but it was just off the American record so I’m like, ‘I wish I could’ve kicked a little harder’ but 4:17 is not a bad place to be.”
MacLean split 3:59.60 through 1500m, which broke the 22-year-old American indoor record previously held by Regina Jacobs (3:59.98 in 2003).
MacLean decided to run at Boston University after finishing third in the 1500m final at last weekend’s U.S. Indoor Championships. Because U.S. champion Nikki Hiltz has opted to pass on their spot for the World Indoor Championships to prepare for Grand Slam Track’s debut on April 4th, MacLean was next in line for the spot on Team USA. However, MacLean did had not run under the World Indoor Championship qualifying standard of 4:03.00 for the 1500m or 4:22.50 for the mile.
“My only goal was the standard, which was 4:22. I’m pretty pleasantly surprised and excited. I think that sets me up well for Worlds, which is good.”
She now will join Sinclaire Johnson on Team USA for the 1500m. This is MacLean’s second World Indoor Championship team. She was 7th in the 1500m final at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and on Feb. 15th, 2025 finally broke five minutes for the mile.
