Run a Faster Mile Just Like Faith Kipyegon.
The 25-year-old has dominated the middle distance circuit this indoor season, setting an American record in the 1,000 meters (2:14.48) in January and beating Grant Fisher to win the 1500 meters at the New Balance Grand Prix last weekend. On Saturday, Hoey added an American record in the 800 meters to his resume, taking down a strong field at the Millrose Games in 1:43.90.
Hoey broke Donovan Brazier’s indoor record of 1:44.21 from 2021. He led for the final 400 meters of the race once the pacer stepped off the track, ultimately beating out Bryce Hoppel—the outdoor record holder and fourth place at last summer’s Olympics—who ran 1:44.19.
Three seconds back, in sixth place in the seven-person race, was 16-year-old Cooper Lutkenhaus, a sophomore from Justin Northwest High School in the Dallas area.
Lutkenhaus took down the national high school record that belonged to—you guessed it—Hoey.
Finishing in 1:46.86, Lutkenhaus dipped under Hoey’s time of 1:47.67 from 2018. Hoey didn’t seem to mind.
“I always thought if I could get the big boy record and hand off the high school one, that would be the dream way to do it,” Hoey said. “So it was kind of a dream come true.”
If you’re a stickler for math, Hoey technically had both records at the same time—for 2.96 seconds—until Lutkenhaus came in behind him.
After the race, Lutkenhaus said Millrose was by far the deepest race field he’s been a part of. But that didn’t intimidate him. “I was just trying to go out there and run as fast as possible and then hopefully the time took care of itself, which it did,” he said.
Lutkenhaus stormed onto the scene last year, setting a freshman national record of 1:47.58 at the Brooks PR Invitational. Now, he’ll set his sights on one of the longest-lasting high school records: Michael Granville’s outdoor 800-meter mark of 1:46.45, which has stood since 1996.
But before then, that might not be Lutkenhaus’s only record this month. On February 28, he’ll attempt to break the outdoor 1,000-meter national high school record at his home track in Texas.
Kipchoge Has Mentored Kipyegon Ahead of Breaking4 Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
