By Paul Snyder
February 17, 2017
The new world’s best, set by the squad of all HOKA One One athletes, now sits at 16:12.81. For you stat geeks, their approximate splits were as follows: Cabral, 4:04; Palmer, 4:01; Crawford 4:07, Merber 3:57.
Crawford, who gained notoriety among the esoteric world of track & field literati following an impressive post-graduation summer, came into the night with a 3:37.04 1,500m personal best, but without the name-brand recognition of his relay teammates, Olympian Donn Cabral, Ford Palmer, and Kyle Merber.
That should no longer be the case, as he walked out of the The Armory a world record holder.
Credit strong legs by all four men, despite a relative lack of competition. Blame it on the weak former record, 16:16.67, set in 1993 by the New York Athletic Club. Just don’t ignore Merber’s status as the Ferris Bueller of track & field world records. (The Long Island-native now holds two world records in rarely contested, distance-focused relay races, and has probably considered sneaking onto a float during a major U.S. city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade.)
Paul Snyder
Meme-disparager, avid jogger, MS Paint artist, friend of Scott Olberding, Citius Mag staff writer based in Flagstaff. Supplying baseless opinions, lukewarm takes, and vaguely running-related content. Once witnessed televison's Michael Rapaport cut a line of 30 people to get a slice of pizza at John's on Bleeker at 4am. You can follow Paul on Twitter at @DanielDingus.