2 min readIn a blistering 1500 meters at the Oslo Diamond League meet, 22-year-old Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran 3:27.95 for the win, a personal best, a national record, and an area record (Europe).
Mohamed Katir, 25, of Spain was second in 3:28.89.
And 24-year-old American Yared Nuguse was third in a personal record of 3:29.02. He took 4 seconds off of his previous best, 3:33.02, from a Diamond League meet in May in Morocco.
Nuguse moved into third at the bell and that’s where he finished, thanks to a 55.4-second final lap. He just held off Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya, the Olympic silver medalist in 2021, who was fourth in 3:29.08.
Nuguse, who trains in Boulder, Colorado, with On Athletics Club, has been on a tear this year: During the indoor season, he set an American record for the mile with his 3:47.38 at the Millrose Games, the second-fastest indoor mile of all time. He also set an American record for 3,000 meters (7:28.24).
Nuguse is fast. That much is plain.
But is he the American record holder in the 1500 meters? That’s where things start to get complicated.
USA Track & Field (USATF) recognizes Bernard Lagat as the American record holder. Lagat ran 3:27.40 in August 2004 at a meet in Switzerland. But a few weeks later, he ran in the Olympics—and represented Kenya. He won the 2004 Olympic silver medal in the 1500 meters. He later represented the United States in the Olympics in 2008, 2012, and 2016.
World Athletics recognizes Nuguse’s performance in Oslo as the area record—the fastest time by a male from North and Central America. (That’s what the “AR” in the results next to his name means.) They don’t have an NR, for national record, there, however.
Nuguse’s agent, Ray Flynn, tried to explain in a text message to Runner’s World:
“USATF recognized Lagat’s 3:27 as the [American record] and as far as USATF [is] concerned, that is the AR,” he wrote. “At the time they only required you be a citizen to set a record. Since then, they have changed that rule, but when he ran the 3:27 that was their rule, so it stood.”
Flynn went on to explain that World Athletics did not recognize Lagat’s 3:27 as an area record, because he was still running for Kenya at the time. World Athletics, however, does not set the rules for individual federations and their national records.
That is why a time Lagat ran in 2005, when he was an American citizen and competing as an American, 3:29.30, was listed as the area record, and his 3:27 is listed as the American record.
“So Yared now has the area record but not the American record,” Flynn wrote. “This does not sound logical.”
In response to an email from Runner’s World seeking clarification, a USATF spokesperson wrote, “Lagat’s time is the ratified American record.”
Sarah Lorge Butler is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World since 2005. She is the author of two popular fitness books, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
