The Records Start Coming And They Don’t Stop Coming

ICYMI: On Friday night, Grant Fisher destroyed the world indoor 5000m record with a jaw-dropping 12:44.09, taking down Kenenisa Bekele’s 12:49.60 mark, which had stood since 2004. This was Fisher’s third race in 12 days, his second world record in six days, and his third back-to-back PB. By the numbers, he ran 3:33.99 for 1500m, 7:22.91 for 3000m, and 12:44.09 for 5000m.

His most recent world record was one of several to fall in the past week and it wasn’t even the only world record to fall just within the weekend. Jacob Kiplimo shattered a world record two days later in the half marathon, running an insanely fast time of 56:42 at the Barcelona Half Marathon. With the continuing discussion among fans as to why everyone is getting faster, Grant Fisher himself offered a possible answer: the momentum coming off the Olympics along with Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s pursuit of fast times raising the caliber of performance across the board.

For Fisher, that 5000m was the end of his indoor pursuit of fast times as he is now taking time to prepare for Grand Slam Track and the rest of the outdoor season. But Kiplimo, on the other hand, is continuing his preparation for the London Marathon—this very well could be just the beginning of what’s to come next.

How To Watch Track This Weekend

For this week, give your laptop a gentle, reassuring pat. You won’t need as many tabs on your browser, just YouTube, a FloTrack subscription and a cable subscription log-in/Peacock. But do fire up the ol’ alarm clock app and grab a cup of coffee—the starting times are a bit all over the place.

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U.S. Indoor Championships

This week, the big meet is the USATF Indoor Championships, which will take place on February 22 and 23 at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island. This meet will determine who will represent the United States at the World Indoor Championships, which will be contested next month in Nanjing, China, from Friday, March 21 to Sunday, March 23.

Here are three events I’m particularly excited to see:

60m dash:

In the absence of last year’s World medalists Christian Coleman and Noah Lyles, I’m looking forward to a generational battle between the rising stars and decorated veterans. The veterans include Ronnie Baker, the third fastest man in the history of the event, and 2016 World Indoor gold medalist Trayvon Bromell, who has steadily progressed in his comeback from another Achilles injury. At the Millrose Games, 22-year-old Marcellus Moore beat Bromell in a personal best of 6.56, to cement himself as the newcomer to watch.

On the women’s side, 2022 World Indoor silver medalist Mikiah Brisco wants to return to the global stage. To do so, she’ll have to beat former Tennessee star Jacious Sears, who won the 60m at this year’s New Balance Indoor Grand Prix and Millrose Games to kick off her first season as a professional.

800 meters:

U.S. indoor record holder Josh Hoey is the clear favorite after his 1:43.90 at the Millrose Games. He’s not just running fast but beating major stars like Grant Fisher over 1500m and Bryce Hoppel over his signature event in the process. Outside of Hoey, it’s not super clear who will likely prevail. One notable entry here is 2024 NCAA champion Shane Cohen, notorious for a jaw-dropping final kick that can catapult him from the back of the pack to victory. Does it work indoors? Could he put on a show for the Wottleheads? We’ll hopefully find out on the diminutive Ocean Breeze homestretch this weekend.

On the women’s side, we’ve also got a relatively wide-open affair. Some of the contenders to look out for are Ajee’ Wilson, Olivia Baker, Nia Akins, and Sage Hurta-Klecker. Wilson was the 2022 World Indoor gold medalist but has not been in that form thus far this season. Baker and Akins are each looking to make their second World Indoor team. This one could be a toss-up as all four of these athletes have run between 2:00 and 2:02 this season.

3000 meters:

The 3000m requires a perfect mix of strength and speed, which is why it attracts the likes of Olympic steeplechase silver medalist Kenneth Rooks, Olympian (and U.S. #2 all-time miler) Hobbs Kessler, 4x NCAA champion Katelyn Tuohy, Olympian Whittni Morgan, and World Indoor Medalists Emily MacKay and Nikki Hiltz.

How To Watch: CITIUS MAG has reached out to USATF and NBC for clarity on how to watch the races on Saturday but no streaming service was provided as of Friday morning.

On Thursday evening, LetsRun’s Jonathan Gault reported that RunnerSpace’s contract with USATF to host USATF.TV’s streams on their platform was done at the end of 2024. It appears that Saturday’s action will be streamed on a new app/site hosted by JoyMo. We have reached out to USATF for confirmation but there’s currently a countdown clock that says a stream will start at 10:50 a.m. ET. For $9.99, you can stream Saturday and Sunday’s sessions along with the USATF Masters Indoor Championships.

The second day of the U.S. Indoor Championships will be streamed on Peacock and NBC on Sunday, Feb 23 from 1:00-3:00 pm E.T.

More of a 2025 USATF Indoor Championships Preview here.

Handy Links: Accepted Entries | Meet Schedule | Live results

BU Terrier DMR Challenge / Last Chance Meet

The BU Terrier DMR Challenge/Last Chance Meet will be held at Boston University on Friday, February 21. North Carolina, Harvard, Georgetown, and Providence are entering teams in the distance medley relay with hopes of qualifying for the NCAA Indoor Championships. In addition to the DMR, this meet will also feature Olympic 1500m gold medalist Cole Hocker and teammate Cooper Teare, who’ve opted out of contesting the U.S. Indoor Championships to run the 5000m with the 2025 World Championship qualifying standard of 13:01.00 in their crosshairs.

How To Watch: You can view the livestream on FloTrack with a subscription ($29.99/month) on Feb 21 at 7:00 pm E.T.

Handy Links: Live Results | Entries List | Meet Schedule

Seville Marathon

Last year, the Seville Marathon was one of the fastest marathons of the year with 12 men running 2:08 or faster and 24 women breaking 2:28. This year also promises fast times along the famed streets of Spain—a country that can’t seem to stop producing insanely fast road times, from Valencia to Barcelona.

For road racing fans, we have the long-awaited marathon debut of 2021 Olympic 10,000m champion Selemon Barega this weekend. Barega owns a half marathon personal best of 57:50 and beat Jacob Kiplimo (who just smashed the half marathon world record) in last year’s Olympic 10,000m final.

Handy links: Race Website

How To Watch: You can view the livestream here on YouTube on Saturday, February 23 starting at 2:15 a.m. E.T.

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Daegu Marathon

The premier marathon in South Korea receives World Athletics Gold Label status this year, and on Sunday, February 23 (or the 22nd, depending on your time zone), a talented field hits the streets of this flat, fast course.

On the men’s side, this one looks fairly competitive up front, headed by Tanzania’s Gabriel Gerald Geay, who has a 2:03:00 PB and who finished second in the 2023 Boston Marathon, Kenya’s Stephen Kiprop (2:03:37, 4th at 2024 Berlin Marathon) and Ethiopian Addisu Gobena, who out-leaned (and out-elbowed) Conner Mantz to win the Houston Half Marathon.

The women’s field isn’t quite as star-studded, so with $160,000 going to the winner of the women’s race, an athlete who is not a household name is going to walk away with a payday that trumps that of the Boston Marathon. Let’s keep an eye out for Ethiopian Olympian Tigist Girma, who has a 2:18:52 PB, as well as fellow Ethiopian Bosena Mulati, who has a 2:19:00 PB and previously finished 3rd at Berlin last year.

Handy links: (Alleged!) Results Page

How To Watch: You can view the livestream here on YouTube on Saturday, February 22 starting at noon E.T.

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One Good Song For Your Weekend

If you’re like me up here in the Northeast, you’ve been navigating and trying to train through a really harsh and seemingly neverending winter. This particular combination can generate clashing emotions of excitement, dread, and angst. So, here’s a song that navigates all of that. I’m biased towards this one since it’s told from the perspective of an Eagles fan (Go Birds).