The following interview excerpt has been edited lightly for length and clarity. You can listen to the full episode with Yared on the CITIUS MAG Podcast.

CITIUS MAG: One of your first races of 2025 will be the Millrose Games where you're going back to try and win your third Wanamaker Mile title. What brings you back to the Millrose games every year?

YARED NUGUSE: My first Millrose mile was my first time that I was ever at Millrose. That experience was so much bigger and better than I thought it was going to be. Time and time again, I’ve come close to the indoor mile record. It always felt like if it was going to happen anywhere, it would be at Millrose. Plus the exciting atmosphere of Millrose has made it something that I always look forward to coming into the indoor season.

If we take a look at both of your mile races from Millrose, they were basically the same timewise. You ran slightly faster in 2023 with a 3:47.38. Last year, you ran 3:47.83. How did those two races compare in terms of their execution?

That was one of the first races of my pro career. I was really nervous for that race. I had my teammates, Mario [Garcia Romo] and Olli [Hoare] there with me. A lot of that race was more about seeing what I could do versus going for a specific time or goal. I wasn't super confident that I was going to win that race, but I felt really good and was able to [win]. I closed much harder than I thought I would have been able to. I definitely felt better in that race because I was competing for the win versus a time.

Last year was more like, ‘I want to get this time.’ I fell short. Yeah I won, but I had a bad taste in my mouth after. I would prefer to not go as much for a time, but you kind of have to make it happen otherwise you're not going to run fast.

You just learned that Josh Kerr is going to be in the race too. How much does that excite you?

That makes me really excited! Josh is obviously one of the best racers in the world. We all saw the Olympics and he won Worlds two years ago. Having him there is going to be a big factor for me. It’s Millrose, so it's not a crazy big deal, but you still want to win it if you can, especially when your best competition is there. It makes the race a whole lot more exciting.

I honestly wasn't sure if there were going to be a ton of people coming to this race with how late Worlds is. I'm really excited to find out that it’s a really good field and I'm very excited to see where we're all at this early in the season Hopefully we continue it for the rest of the season as well.

What have you picked up on the way Josh races? How do you two differ in terms of style and execution when it comes to the 1500m and mile?

That's a good question. One of the biggest things in my mind about Josh is how aggressive his racing style is. Not bumping into me sort of aggressive, but more like when he moves, he moves. It happens very quickly all of a sudden. If you're not ready for it or if you're not counteracting it before it happens, you're going to fall short in a really quick amount of time.

The biggest thing I’ve learned is to be ready for that move whenever he makes it and respond accordingly. I’m also known for having a strong kick, but for Josh, he doesn’t just push at the very end of the race. You don't know when it's going to happen so you have to be ready for it. I feel like I'm more of a slow burn, keep pushing, and gradually grind it out [type of racer]... I’m a little more calm in that regard. That’s the biggest difference though. We're pretty similar.

We have to discuss the Olympic 1500m final. Now that you've had months to reflect on that race, what stands out to you about the way that it was executed?

That race felt like everything I wanted in a 1500m wrapped up into one perfect race. It was an extremely fast race, which I feel like I forget about most of the time because I was so focused on it being the actual Olympics. It was a crazy fast race where we were basically going all out. Everyone was in it together, especially with that last dramatic kick where you still didn't know who was going to win with 200m to go.

Having an electric crowd and atmosphere around the race also made it a really memorable and great experience for me. People have been like, ‘You were so close to silver!’ But does it matter?

Listen to the full episode here.

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