For those who trekked through snow-covered streets to the Nike Track & Field Center at the Armory in Washington Heights on Sunday to take in the 117th staging of the venerable Millrose Games, they bore witness to several stirring world record performances by some of the sport’s most prominent stars.
In the Games’ signature event, the Wanamaker Mile, Yared Nuguse reclaimed the coveted indoor world record for the United States for the first time since 1978, capturing the race in a time of 3:46:63. As the crowd urged on Nuguse, the 25-year-old native of Louisville, Kentucky, and University of Notre Dame product seemingly absorbed their energy, repelling the kick of second place finisher Hobbs Kessler, an American who clocked a scorching 3:46:90. Kessler’s time also bettered the previous world standard of 3:47:01 established by Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha in 2019.
“It’s absolutely insane,” Nuguse, the son of Ethiopian parents who both emigrated to the U.S., said to NBC Sports after his remarkable showing. “I haven’t had a world record yet in my career, and I always really wanted one just because I felt like, especially in the mile, I was good enough for it.”
The Armory track is considered one of the fastest in the world, and its reputation was upheld by not just Nuguse but other competitors, including American Grant Fisher, who broke the world record in the indoor 3,000-meters with a sizzling 7:22:91, less than a second ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics 1,500-meter gold medalist Cole Hocker.
Fisher, a Canadian and Stanford University alumnus, took home bronze medals in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races in Paris last summer, and needed every meter near the end of the Millrose 3,000 to hold off a furious closing effort by the American Hocker.
Sprinter Masia Russell continued to affirm her standing as the best women’s 60-meter and 100-meter hurdler on the planet, running a time of 7.76 seconds, the fastest by any women in 2025. The NCAA record holder in 100-meter hurdles (12.36), set in 2023 while attending the University of Kentucky, earned a gold medal in 100-meter hurdles at the Paris Olympics.