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What To Watch This Weekend: Dr. Sander Invitational, New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, Camel City Elite
We’re still riding the high from the Millrose Games but this upcoming weekend is also a jam-packed one with marquee races taking place in Berlin, Manhattan, Staten Island and Winston-Salem. CITIUS MAG will have boots on the ground at the Dr. Sander Invitational and the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (which is usually held in Boston’s Reggie Lewis Center but has been moved to Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze facility for the second consecutive year) is part of the seven-meet World Athletics Indoor Tour. Athletes are looking to snag some points in their respective disciplines (Women: 400m, 1500m, 60m hurdles, high jump, long jump | Men: 60m, 800m, 3000m/5000m, pole vault, triple jump, shot put) for the $10,000 grand prize and a wild card entry for the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in March.
Consider this your guide on what to watch for this weekend…
ISATF Indoor Berlin (Feb. 4)
– 100m Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs will race for the first time since winning gold in Tokyo. He will be running the men’s 60m dash. While he’ll likely use this as a rust-buster, he told the AFP that his “objective for the indoor season” is Dwain Chambers‘ 60m European record of 6.42. Jacobs’ personal best is 6.47 from his 2021 European Indoor Championship victory.
– Olympic pole vault champion Mondo Duplantis opened his season with a 6.02m win at the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe in Germany. He has not been beaten indoors since January 2019.
– Olympic long jump champion Malaika Mihambo will pick up right where she ended her 2021 campaign after a runner-up finish at the ISATF Berlin outdoor meet. She has spent the past few weeks tuning up her speed with a few 60m races but will open her jumps season just a day after turning 28.
Dr. Sander Invitational (Feb. 4-5)
– Newbury Park High School (Cali.) is bringing its star boys core of Lex Young and Aaron Sahlman to run the men’s 3000m. Their high school record is also the national record — Lex’s older brother Nico Young ran 7:56.97 at the Millrose Games in 2020 to take down Drew Hunter’s previous 7:59.33 record. At December’s RunningLane XC Championships, Colin Sahlman and Lex Young got under Dathan Ritzenhein’s 14:10.40 cross country 5K best. Ritzenhein’s 8:13.1 is currently No. 8 on the all-time high school boys top 10 indoor list.
– Empire Elite’s Dani Aragon headlines the women’s mile to open her outdoor campaign. Juliette Whittaker is also in the field and is coming off a 4:47.14 victory in the high school girls mile at the Millrose Games.
Camel City Invitational (Feb. 4-5)
– Rachel Schneider walked away from this meet in 2018 $12,000 richer, thanks to her victories in the women’s 3000m and mile (40 minutes apart) and then pulled off the Winston-Salem heist again in 2021. She’s entered in both events again this weekend after missing the Millrose Games due to a COVID-19 setback. She will be challenged in both events by her training partner, Elly Henes.
– We got a flash of Ajee’ Wilson’s 800m brilliance at the Armory last weekend. She’s back at it this weekend on the same track where she ran 1:59.26 in 2019. That time still stands as the fastest 800m mark on a flat 200m track.
– Clayton Murphy looks to rebound in the men’s mile after finishing last in the Wanamaker Mile in 4:05.27. He won the 800m at this meet in 2019 and 2020.
New Balance Indoor Grand Prix (Feb. 6)
Women’s 1500m (12:27 p.m. ET)
We get a slight rematch between Heather MacLean, Cory McGee and Nikki Hiltz from last week’s Wanamaker Mile. MacLean had the best performance last week with her 4:28.05 for seventh place. She won this race at last year’s meet with McGee and fellow New Balance Boston teammate SÃofra Clerigh-Buttner behind her.
We got the chance to watch Hiltz and Josette Norris tune up for this weekend’s race at The Armory on Wednesday. Check out our short workout highlights:
Marta Pérez, Spain’s Olympic 1500m finalist, has the fastest personal best of the field with her 4:00.12 from Tokyo and just ran 4:07.52 at the World Indoor Tour meet in Karlsruhe.
Men’s 3000m (12:50 p.m. ET)
Luis Grijalva’s 7:41.21 personal best was lost behind the crazy finish between Cooper Teare, Cole Hocker, and Geordie Beamish in the Millrose Games men’s 3,000m. He’s running it back against a heavily international contingent that includes Spain’s Adel Mechaal (7:36.57 PB) and British duo Andrew Butchart (7:40.85 PB) and Jake Wightman (7:50.96 PB). Maybe Grijalva gets the slight edge since he doesn’t have to travel as far for the race.
Men’s mile (1:32 p.m. ET)
Before Hocker and Teare rip a mile in Chicago next weekend at the Windy City Invitational, Beamish gets to set the bar. His personal best of 3:54.86 is from his win in the International Mile at last year’s Prefontaine Classic. We’ll see if Johnny Gregorek, Hobbs Kessler, Sam Prakel and the rest of the field let him sit in the back again before a kick in the final 200m. Colby Alexander, who is coming off a 3:52.84 personal best for third in the Wanamaker Mile, could be Beamish’s biggest challenger. How he’s still unsponsored is mind-boggling.
Men’s 60m Hurdles (1:41 p.m.)
Grant Holloway is set to open his season. His last time racing the 60m hurdles was his 7.29 world record in Madrid. This will be the first time Holloway, Devon Allen and Daniel Roberts are in the same race since they went 1-2-3 in the 110m hurdle final at the U.S. Olympic Trials. Allen won the 60m hurdles at the Millrose Games.
Women’s 3000m (1:47 p.m. ET)
The meet closes out its pro action with a possible stab at Karissa Schweizer’s 8:25.70 American record. ̶E̶l̶l̶e̶ ̶P̶u̶r̶r̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶S̶t̶.̶ ̶P̶i̶e̶r̶r̶e̶’̶s̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶a̶l̶ ̶b̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶8̶:̶3̶6̶.̶4̶1̶ ̶3̶,̶0̶0̶0̶m̶ ̶s̶p̶l̶i̶t̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶9̶:̶1̶0̶.̶2̶8̶ ̶t̶w̶o̶-̶m̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶A̶m̶e̶r̶i̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶r̶e̶c̶o̶r̶d̶.̶ ̶S̶h̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶s̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶l̶o̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶r̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶1̶5̶0̶0̶m̶ ̶o̶r̶ ̶l̶o̶n̶g̶e̶r̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶U̶.̶S̶.̶ ̶s̶o̶i̶l̶ ̶s̶i̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶ ̶f̶o̶u̶r̶t̶h̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶f̶i̶n̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶3̶0̶0̶0̶m̶ ̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶2̶0̶2̶0̶ ̶U̶.̶S̶.̶ ̶I̶n̶d̶o̶o̶r̶ ̶T̶r̶a̶c̶k̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶F̶i̶e̶l̶d̶ ̶C̶h̶a̶m̶p̶i̶o̶n̶s̶h̶i̶p̶s̶.̶
(UPDATE: On Saturday afternoon, organizers announced Purrier-St. Pierre has pulled out of the meet due to illness.)
After running 4:20.81 for second place in the Wanamaker Mile and moving into No. 3 on the U.S. all-time indoor mile list, Josette Norris has solidified her status as a real contender to make the team for the upcoming World Indoor Championships. Last week’s race at the Armory provided a little bit of clarity on where people’s fitness is at, and she’s in a better spot than a few Olympians.
Bowerman Track Club’s Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, who beat Purrier St. Pierre in the Tokyo Olympics 1,500m final and took fifth, has a 8:38.51 outdoor 3,000m personal best from a year ago. We’ll get our first sign of how the Bowerman Track Club training camp has been treating its athletes in Flagstaff.
Ethiopia’s Mekides Abebe, a fourth place finisher in the steeplechase at the Tokyo Olympics, looks to be making her indoor track debut. Her World Athletics profile shows that she has only ever raced the 3000m steeplechase on the track in her young career. Maybe consider her a dark horse contender due to the unknowns but it’s going to be hard to beat Debues-Stafford.
HOW TO WATCH THE DR. SANDER INVITATIONAL
Date: Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
Time: The meet goes from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with elite races from noon to 1:30 p.m.
Live Result, Schedule and Entries: You can find live results, start times and entries here.
TV: This meet is not being televised.
Live stream: You can watch the entire webcast on USATF.TV+, which requires a subscription. The noon to 1:30 p.m. portion will also air on Peacock.
HOW TO WATCH THE CAMEL CITY ELITE INVITATIONAL
Date: Saturday, Feb. 5, 2022
Time: The meet goes from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with elite events starting at 2:00 p.m.
Live Result, Schedule and Entries: You can find live results, start times and entries here.
TV: This meet is not being televised.
Live stream: You can watch online at JDLFastTrack.com, which requires a RunnerSpace +PLUS subscription.
HOW TO WATCH THE NEW BALANCE INDOOR GRAND PRIX
Date: Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022
Tickets: If you’re in the New York City area and want to head to Staten Island, tickets are available here.
Time: The meet runs from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Elite events will begin at noon.
Live Result, Schedule and Entries: You can find live results, start times and entries here.
TV: NBC
Live stream: You can also watch on the NBC Sports App from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET.
That’s it from me today. As always, thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, learned something new, or have any questions or commentary on anything featured in this issue, feel free to hit my inbox by replying or writing to [email protected]
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