One world record, two American records, and several more national records fell in the women’s races at the iconic Armory track in New York City.
Living up to its reputation as the most distinguished indoor competition on the calendar, the 116th Millrose Games on February 11 produced historic performances across the track, signaling that we are in for a record-breaking year as the Olympic Games approach.
The 60m hurdles set the tone for the historic day. Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas executed a flawless start off the blocks and stormed to a world record time of 7.67 seconds — 0.01 seconds faster than the previous record set by Sweden's Susanna Kallur 16 years ago. Her performance improved upon her previous personal best of 7.75 seconds.
The Wanamaker Mile is a storied race, and this year did not disappoint. Four years after setting the American indoor mile record on the same track, Elle St. Pierre made a victorious return to The Armory. Running away from the rest of the field, the new mother crossed the finish line first in 4:16.41, which lowered her own American record by 0.44 seconds.
“I’m just really happy to be here, really proud,” St. Pierre told NBC Sports after the race. “I did that for all the moms out there.”
After pacer Sadi Henderson stepped off the track at the halfway mark, Australia’s Jessica Hull pushed the pace from the front. St. Pierre remained hot on her heels, opting to reverse her strategy from the February 4 New Balance Indoor Grand Prix 3000m — a race where St. Pierre had led for the majority only to be outsprinted by Hull in the final steps.
St. Pierre’s determination to avenge her previous matchup with Hull was written across her face as she made the decisive move to pass the Australian at the bell, grinding out a final lap in approximately 29.48 seconds. Hull crossed the finish line 2.62 seconds later, setting a new Australian record of 4:19.03. A slew of national records fell in their wake. Susan Ejore was third across the line, setting a Kenyan record of 4:20.61, and was closely followed by Yolanda Ngarambe in fourth place, who set a Swedish national record of 4:23.68. American Dani Jones finished fifth — with a new personal best of 4:23.80 — just in front of Marta Perez, who broke the Spanish record with a time of 4:23.88.
Harvard’s Maia Ramsden, the reigning NCAA 1500m champion, ran 4:24.83, the second-fastest NCAA time ever, behind only Katelyn Tuohy’s collegiate record of 4:24.26. Proving that she can compete with the pros, Ramsden produced a six-second personal best and came within less than a second of Kim Smith’s 2008 Kiwi national record of 4:24.14 to claim the second-fastest spot on the New Zealand all-time list.
The two-mile race was just as thrilling as the mile. Last year’s Wanamaker Mile winner Laura Muir of Great Britain ran a gritty race, attempting to separate herself from a breakaway front pack — consisting of Alicia Monson of the U.S. and 19-year-olds Medina Elisa and Melknat Wudu of Ethiopia — with about 300m left. Elisa successfully responded to Muir’s gutsy injection of pace and crossed the finish line 0.45 seconds ahead of Muir. However, Muir came away with the official win because Elisa, who is running her first indoor track season, was disqualified for cutting in too early at the beginning of the race, which had a double waterfall start.
On her way to victory, Muir, who usually specializes in the 1500m as the Tokyo Olympic Silver medalist in that event, set a British and European record with her time of 9:04.84. Wudu recorded a second-place finish in 9:07.12. Monson, who finished third, set an American record of 9:09.70 after a slow start to the year as she recovered from COVID-19 and its impact on her training. Monson now holds four American records — the 3000m indoors, 5000m, 10,000m, and now the indoor two mile.
Nikki Hiltz, the 2023 U.S. indoor and outdoor 1500m champion, also impressed with a fourth-place finish and a new personal best of 9:15.80 in a race twice the distance they usually run. This result catapulted Hiltz to third on the U.S. two-mile all-time list.
“It really pushed me out of my comfort zone and we got a lot of data out of that. I’m proud of myself for doing it,” Hiltz told Citius Mag after the race.
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