By Kyle Merber
May 31, 2023
The vibes were off in 2022 for Timothy Cheruiyot – who, correct, is not American. If it were not for the fact that your author is a former American miler then the next few paragraphs would focus exclusively on him. Last year, despite running 3:30 on three different occasions, something rare happened for Cheruiyot; he didn’t win a single meet.
That all changed on Saturday as he comfortably ran away from the field over the final 100 meters to establish a new world lead of 3:31.47, about a half second ahead of Reynold Kipkorir Cheruiyot. This all makes sense, since Timothy has already run 1:44 for 800m and 7:36 for 3000m so far this season. We’ll see soon enough if that will be enough to reclaim his 2019 dominance, which included a W over Ingebrigtsen.
This is all great! But you’ll excuse me if I was most fired up about the American performances behind the Kenyan duo – they were voted most likely to have this analysis sent to their inboxes. Following in third and fourth was Hobbs Kessler (3:32.61) and Cooper Teare (3:32.74). These results are not surprising on paper, but so refreshing to see.
It feels like it was just two years ago that some random 17-year-old kid without a World Athletics profile stumbled onto the track in Arkansas and ripped the national high school record. Later that year, Hobbs of course ran 3:34 and the world assumed the rest would come easy.
For any college freshmen except Hobbs, a pair of 3:36s would mark a praiseworthy first post-prep season, but that’s the problem with precocious performances: the lofty expectations that come with them! Now back spending time in Ann Arbor again under the watchful eye of coach Warhurst alongside the rest of the Very Nice Track Club, Kessler is clearly in a good place.
If we had to categorize all the athletes in the track & field kingdom, then the initial hunch of Carl Linnaeus would likely be to place Cooper Teare in the 5000m guy bucket. How quick we are to forget that he holds the NCAA record in the mile and is the US 1500m champion! Or maybe I’m just projecting my own preconceived notions on the entire running community? That’s what this entire newsletter empire is built on, after all.
Teare never had an opportunity to see where his fitness would have landed him last year at Worlds, having lined up with a stressie in his tibia. But in order to see how he matches up now, the road ahead will likely be even tougher, albeit less confusing. (We’re almost certainly going to be able to send our top-three finishers at USAs to Worlds, this year.)
That’s because with Yared Nuguse’s 3:33.02, there are currently three US men underneath the standard of 3:34.2, plus five more ranked in the top 42, and it’s still only May. The last time America had this many dudes running this quickly was 2010, when there were four men, led by Andrew Wheating, under 3:33.
And this current list doesn’t even include Craig Engels, who won his first race of the year after a few months out with achilles issues taking the second section of the 800m in LA in 1:47.32. Nor does it factor in Matt Centrowitz, whose progression right now puts him at 3:25 in two months, and who has somehow managed to claw his way back into fighting shape, running 3:36.64.
Not sure if this is finally the year the United States sweeps the global men’s 1500m podium, but having more than one guy in the final again would be a win.
Kyle Merber
After hanging up his spikes – but never his running shoes – Kyle pivoted to the media side of things, where he shares his enthusiasm, insights, and experiences with subscribers of The Lap Count newsletter, as well as viewers of CITIUS MAG live shows.
