By David Monti | Race Results Weekly

In a span of about 25 minutes, two world indoor (short track) records went down at the 31st edition of the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix at THE TRACK at New Balance, the first of eight Gold-level meetings of the 2026 World Athletics Indoor Tour.  The first was achieved by 2023 world road mile champion Hobbs Kessler in the men's 2000m where he ran 4:48.79.  The second was by Josh Hoey in the men's 800m where he broke the nearly 29 year-old record of 1:42.67 held by Wilson Kipketer of Denmark set in March, 1997.  Hoey clocked 1:42.50.

"Yeah, definitely," said Hoey, 26, when a reporter asked him if he knew he could break the record today.  "Actually, we hit a little bit of a hiccup coming into the race.  I had some tearing in the hamstring from an MRI.  But we bandaged it as best we could and it wasn't too bad, thankfully.  So I was able to get in the training I needed and give this a go.  I'm pretty excited."

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Hoey was paced by his older brother, Jaxson, who was tasked with going through 400 meters in 50 seconds.  Remarkably he ran 50.02, much to his younger brother's delight.

"I heard fifty-point-oh and I almost started laughing," said Hoey, smiling broadly  "I talked with Jaxson about that and he hit it beyond perfectly."

Hoey had to manage the last two laps alone with only the green pace lights for company.  He was running right at the front edge of the lights, meaning he was still on record pace.

"I could see the lights out of the corner of my eye and they kept teasing me," said Hoey.  "It gave me a little bit of extra motivation because I didn't think I had it at the end.  I was pretty excited."

Behind Hoey, Filip Ostrowski of Poland and Ryan Clarke of the Netherlands finished second and third in 1:44.68 and 1:44.72, respectively.  Both men set personal bests and Clarke set a Dutch indoor record.

Kessler's record didn't come from a time trial like Hoey's.  Instead, the 22 year-old had to do battle with 2024 double-Olympic bronze medalist Grant Fisher.  The two athletes followed the pacemaking of triathlete-turned-miler Davis Bove through 1600m in 3:52.96 (about 3:54 for the mile).  The pace was hot.

"I just set a new PB for the mile," Bove told Race Results Weekly after the race.

After Bove retired, Kessler stayed behind Fisher until the backstretch of the final lap, when he moved past his 2024 Olympic teammate.  Fisher dug deep, but could not match Kessler's closing speed.  According to the meet's electronic timing system, Kessler ran the final 100 meters in 13.02 seconds to Fisher's 13.66.

"I knew when the pacer stepped off I had to keep it going," Fisher told reporters.  "I kept it going as long as I could, but I just didn't have that burst of speed at the end.  Hobbs went around me and I went to go, but I just didn't have that extra gear today."

Kessler's mark broke the previous record of 4:49.99 set by three-time Olympic gold medalist Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia in Birmingham in 2007.

"It was hard," Kessler told reporters.  "It went out fast.  My coaches said run this like a mile.  Weather the storm.  So that's what I tried to do; sit in the discomfort.  When I went, go hard, go to the finish.  It worked and I'm over the moon."

Fisher was timed in 4:49.48 (also under Bekele's record), and Belgium's Peter Sisk set a national record of 4:52.41 in third.  Britain's Jake Wightman, the 2022 world 1500m champion, had run with the leaders in the early laps but drifted back after the fast pace proved too much for him in the closing laps.  Still, he set a British record of 4:53.69 mostly off of base training.

"I went with it, but I'm just not ready," Wightman told Race Results Weekly.  "I was hoping it would be like 55 pace most of the way, but I think those guys running so quick yesterday (at the Hokie Invitational in Virginia where Cole Hocker ran a USA record of 4:52.92) helped the barrier, didn't it."

There was more fast running --and exciting competition-- in the men's 3000m.  Two-time NCAA cross country champion Graham Blanks followed the pacemaking of Irishman James Dunn through 1600m in 4:02.46.  At first Morgan Beadlescomb, Irishman Andrew Coscoran, and Australian teenager Cameron Myers followed closely.  But Blanks got a small gap on his rivals when he dropped the lap times into the 29's, and had a one-second lead at 2000m.  Beadlescomb was in second and Myers third.

Myers, 19, who was forced to miss the World Athletics Cross Country Championships on January 10 due to what he said was "a small medical issue" was tracking Blanks and trying to save enough energy for the final sprint.  At about 2100m he moved into second place on the backstretch.

"A strength-based buy like Graham can click off 60-second laps," Myers said.  He added: "I was just about hanging on so I could have just enough to get over the top of him in the last two laps."

Beadlescomb faded (he would finish seventh), and Myers locked-on to Blanks.  The American's form began to stiffen.

"I just had a little too much to work on in that last 400 when they started closing," Blanks lamented.  "I had a hard time kind of picking it up.  Until that last 800 I was doing pretty well."

At about 2700m Myers went around Blanks, ran his final lap in 27.56, and ran a world-leading 7:27.57.  His time was also an Australian indoor record and a meeting record (previous 7:29.09 by Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia in 2024).

"It was good," said a shirtless Myers who will contest the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games next Sunday.  "I had the fitness.  I was disappointed not to do World Cross, but I was glad to be able to come over here and run two good races, and hopefully a third after next week."

Coscoran, the event's defending champion, got around Blanks, too, and finished second in 7:30.97.  Blanks was third (7:31.97), and Irishman Nick Griggs ran a national indoor record of 7:32.79 in fourth.  Villanova University's Marco Langon ran 7:34.56 in fifth, a personal best and the #4 mark of all-time by an NCAA athlete.

In the women's 3000m two-time Olympian Elle St. Pierre made a smashing return from maternity leave.  Letting Australian Olympic silver medalist Jess Hull set the pace in the second half of the race, St. Pierre passed Hull with about 500m to go and scooted to a world-leading 8:26.54 to get the win.  Hull was also passed by her Australian Olympic teammate Linden Hall who clocked a personal best 8:27.03.  Hull took third in 8:36.03.

"I'll be honest, I was surprised," St. Pierre said when asked about her high level of fitness so early in the year.  "It's only eight months since I had my baby and I've just kind of getting the miles in and getting a lot of base work.  I went to altitude camp.  I was a little surprised at how I felt."

In the other distance events, Irishman Cian McPhillips won the 600m in 1:16.37 over reigning world indoor 800m champion Bryce Hoppel and 2019 world 800m champion Donavan Brazier.  Roisin Willis, who just turned pro with New Balance after an abbreviated NCAA career at Stanford University, won the women's 800m in 1:59.59, an early world leader and a personal best.  Tokyo world championships 1500m silver medalist Dorcus Ewoi of Kenya just held off USA mile record holder Sinclaire Johnson by 1/100th of a second to win the women's 1500m in 4:01.22, an indoor personal best and another early world leader.

"This was my first race so I really didn't know where I am in my training," said Ewoi, who followed her Puma Elite Running teammate Gracie Morris through most of the race.  She added: "I know everybody's fast and I know they're coming for me."

Johnson, who ran her first-ever race under her new sponsor Hoka, felt good about her effort.

"I was definitely anticipating this race in this brand new uniform," said Johnson, who also holds the USA record for the road mile (4:21.66).  "So, I'm really happy with that, I think.  I always want to win, but Dorcus is a world silver medalist.  I'm in good company."

Finally, in the junior boys and girls international miles (essentially high school races), Caleb Winders of Bloomington, Ind., and Braelyn Combe of Corona, Calif., got the wins in 4:02.56 and 4:38.97, respectively.  Winders will run for the University of North Carolina next fall and Combe for the University of Arkansas.

The next stop for the World Athletics Indoor Tour - Gold is the Millrose Games next Sunday at The Armory in New York City.  A massive snowstorm set to hit the northeast on Sunday will keep many athletes in Boston until they go down to New York later in the week (instead of going home in between).

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