NEW YORK CITY – Sunday's 118th running of the Millrose Games at the Nike Track & Field Center at the Armory lived up to the pre-meet hype with a slate of record-setting performances and scintillating matchups featuring an array of the world's top athletes.
Always one of the highlights of the meet, the men's Wanamaker Mile featured three-time winner and defending champion Yared Nuguse, who set a short-lived world record last year with his 3:46.63 winning time, and Hobbs Kessler, fresh off a world best and American indoor record in the 2000 at last weekend's New Balance Grand Prix in Boston. Ireland's Andrew Coscoran had the lead after the pacer dropped out, going through the halfway point in 1:53.04 ahead of Australian teen sensation Cam Myers and Nuguse.
That trio stayed in order for the next quarter mile with less than a half-second separating them. Midway through the penultimate lap Myers pushed into the lead and a 56.02 final quarter put him across the finish in 3:47.57, the ninth fastest time ever indoors. Nuguse and Kessler claimed the next two places, with Nuguse recording the sixth fastest time ever by an American at 3:48.31 and Kessler the No. 9 performance with his 3:48.68.
The fastest finish came from Nico Young, who used a 55.86 last 440y to shatter his lifetime best in fourth with a 3:48.72 that elevated him to No. 9 on the world all-time performer list and No. 4 on the American all-time performer list. Coscoran also dipped under 3:50 with his 3:49.54 in fifth.
Texas high school star Cooper Lutkenhaus added more world and American U20 indoor bests to his resume with a 1:14.15 win in the men's 600, putting him at No. 5 on the all-time world and American performer lists. Jenoah Mckiver sped through the first 400 in 47.89 to lead at the bell and was rewarded with a 1:14.77 for his efforts to move him into the No. 7 all-time world and American performer slots.
Coming into the men's 800, Northern Arizona's Colin Sahlman was well down the list of indoor lifetime bests, but that didn't matter a bit as he tore down the final 50 meters to stun the field with a collegiate record 1:44.70. Spain's Mohamed Attaoui was at the front with one lap to go, going through 600 in 1:18.04, but there was no denying Sahlman coming off the final bend as he went wide to record the biggest win of his young career. His time made him the fifth fastest American ever indoors.
Proving once again that you just can't let Cole Hocker have a clear path to the finish if you want to beat him, the Olympic 1500 champion and World Championships 5000 gold medalist cranked out a 56.45 final quarter mile to win the men's two mile crown in 8:07.31, the third fastest ever by an American.
Heralded as a race with potential to elicit anther world record, the early tempo was a bit off record pace as the field went through the first mile in 4:08. New Mexico's Habtom Samuel staked his claim when the pacemaker dropped out but was soon overtaken by Graham Blanks.
Blanks was at the front heading into the final half mile, just ahead of Australia's Ky Robinson, with Hocker third. World record holder Josh Kerr of Great Britain settled in on Blanks' shoulder and waited patiently before going wide and challenging for the lead. Parker Wolfe made a big move at the bell but couldn't hold on as Hocker went by and then Kerr, who ended up second in 8:07.68. Wolfe took third in 8:07.83 to become the No. 4 all-time American performer.
Blanks took over the No. 5 spot on that list with an 8:08.60 in sixth, while Cooper Teare's 8:08.91 put him at No. 6 and Drew Hunter's 8:10.91 gave him the No. 8 slot.
Winning their first Millrose Wanamaker Mile crown, Nikki Hiltz covered the final quarter mile in 60.95 to become the third fastest American woman ever with a 4:19.64 that turned back Australia's Jessica Hull, the silver medalist in the 1500 at the Paris Olympic Games. Hiltz was fourth through the quarter mile in 63.72 and went by the halfway point in 2:10.14 in sixth. Moving up through the tightly packed field, Hiltz was third at 1320 yards in 3:18.69 behind Sinclaire Johnson and Hull and nobody could resist their sprint to the finish.
Lauren Harris bettered the American record in the women's mile race walk, knocking almost eight seconds off the ratified record with her 6:10.31. Debbi Lawrence set the existing record of 6:18.03 in 1992. Nick Christie captured the men's mile walk in 5:52.94.
A pace that got progressively quicker in the women's 3000 produced a collegiate record for Alabama's Doris Lemngole, who sprinted to the lead on the final lap and won in 8:31.39. Lemngole, who placed fifth in the 3000 steeplechase for Kenya at the World Athletics Championships last year, was in third going into the penultimate circuit and covered the final 200 in 30.93 to clip 3.81 seconds off the previous collegiate record of 8:35.20 that was set in 2023 by Katelyn Tuohy of North Carolina State.
Pacemaker Sadie Sargent pulled the field past the kilometer mark in 2:53.53 and the mile in 4:37 before stepping aside to let BYU's Jane Hedengren take over at the front. Hedengren, setter of multiple American U20 records last year as a high schooler in Utah, kept the lead briefly before Japan's Nozomi Tanaka made a bold move to the front. Hedengren retook the lead with two to go and held on for third in 8:34.98 behind Great Britain's Hannah Nuttall, who set a lifetime best of 8:32.94 in second. That time moved Hedengren to No. 2 on the all-time collegiate performer list.
Two days after setting an American indoor record of 1:57.97 in the 800 at Boston University's Thomas Terrier meet, Roisin Willis won the women's 600 in 1:24.87 to take over the No. 7 slot on the all-time U.S. indoor performer list. Stanford's Juliette Whittaker was second in 1:25.64 to claim the No. 3 spot on the collegiate all-time performer list.
Ethiopia's Tsige Duguma, the Olympic Games bronze medalist at 800 meters in Paris two years ago and winner of the 2024 World Indoor title, came away with the victory in the women's 1000 in 2:35.50 to set an Armory record. Addy Wiley was second in 2:35.77, moving her to No. 10 on the all-time U.S. indoor performer list, while Maggi Congdon was third in 2:35.91.
Cordell Tinch, who won his first global 110 hurdles title last summer in Tokyo, surged from the second barrier on the way to victory in the men's 60 hurdles, stopping the clock at 7.52. Daniel Roberts got off to his patented rocket start and had the lead through two hurdles before Tinch went past him as Connor Schulman nabbed the runner-up spot in 7.57, with Roberts third in 7.61.
Repeating the podium order from last week's New Balance GP in Boston, Jamaica's Danielle Williams, a two-time world outdoor 100 hurdles gold medalist, took the women's 60 hurdles in 7.90 ahead of world indoor record holder Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas in 7.96 and Christina Clemons in 7.97.
Also scoring a second straight win was Dina Asher-Smith of Great Britain, who edged past Jacious Sears to take the women's 60 in 7.10. Sears had a very slight lead through 55 meters and claimed second in 7.12, with Texas high school star Mariah Maxwell third in 7.26. In almost identical fashion, Jamaica's Ackeem Blake won the men's 60 to add to his New Balance victory last week, clocking 6.55 after a so-so start. Jordan Anthony was the top American in third at 6.64.
In field event action, Chloe Timberg grabbed the women's pole vault win with a clearance at 4.60/15-1, and Jamaica's Rajindra Campbell dominated the men's shot out with a world-leading 21.77/71-5.25 to win by almost two feet over Joe Kovacs, who took the runner-up spot at 21.21/69-7.