For 109 years the Millrose Games have been adding some competitive spice to the indoor track season, and the list of top athletes set to race on Saturday at the Armory in New York should provide another good dose of winter speed.
Fans unable to make it to the city can watch the meet on USATF.tv and ArmoryTrack.com from 2–4 p.m. and on NBC from 4–6 p.m.
Here are five things to watch at the 2017 Millrose Games:
The men’s two-mile race. Yes, the signature competition at Millrose is always the Wanamaker Mile, but the list of men lining up for two miles this year promises a high degree of entertainment. Matthew Centrowitz, 1500-meter gold medalist at the Rio Olympics, is stepping up in distance after winning the Wanamaker Mile three times. He’ll face Ryan Hill, 2016 world indoor championships 3,000-meter silver medalist, and Olympians Ben Blankenship, Donn Cabral, Mo Ahmed (Canada), and Andrew Butchart (Great Britain). Other notables to watch in the field: Lawi Lalang, Garrett Heath, Kemoy Campbell, and Ben True.
The women’s Wanamaker Mile. Shannon Rowbury, who was fourth in the 1500 meters in Rio, is going for her third consecutive win in this event on Saturday. She’ll be joined on the starting line by fellow Olympians Brenda Martinez, Kate Grace, and Dominique Scott-Efurd (South Africa). Sifan Hassan, Rowbury’s new Oregon Project training partner who represents the Netherlands, is also competing. Hassan is the 2016 world indoor 1500-meter champion and 2015 world outdoor bronze medalist in the same event. Many other notables are scheduled to race, including: Amanda Eccleston, Heather Kampf, Katie Mackey, and Leah O’Connor.
Here are five things to watch at the 2017 Millrose Games. The two youngsters are competing in the invited elite fields of the Wanamaker Mile. Hunter, 19, from Purcellville, Virginia, decided to embark on a professional running career after graduating from high school last year with the national high school mile record, which he lowered to 3:57.81 at the 2016 Millrose Games. Murphy is a senior at Lake Braddock High School in Virginia who will move on to the University of Oregon in the fall. She won the high school mile at Millrose last year in 4:41.84 and is the first prep athlete to be included in the women’s Wanamaker field since Alexa Efraimson (also racing on Saturday) in 2014. Editor's update: Murphy scratched the event on Thursday and will not race due to a "minor setback in training," We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back.
The men’s Wanamaker Mile. It’s not the Centrowitz-Nick Willis battle of yesteryear, but the men’s invitational mile will be competitive. Clayton Murphy, 800-meter bronze medalist at the 2016 Games, is the headliner. Other U.S. Olympians competing include Robby Andrews and Leo Manzano (1500-meter silver medalist in 2012). The aforementioned Hunter will also toe the line, along with Eric Jenkins, who won the Fifth Avenue Mile last year. Among the others contending are Johnny Gregorek, Kyle Merber, Henry Wynne, and Izaic Yorks.
Ajee’ Wilson and Cas Loxsom. In the past few weeks Wilson, 22, of Neptune, New Jersey, has shown top speed and will line up for the 800 meters on Saturday. Last week she turned in a 1:24.48 in the 600 meters at the Armory Track Invitational. It was a personal record for the 2016 800-meter Olympian and the fourth-fastest time in indoor track history as well as the second-fastest by an American. Meanwhile, Loxsom, 25, who trains with the Brooks Beasts in Seattle, broke the 600-meter indoor world record last weekend at the Penn State Invitational, running 1:14.91. He’s competing in the 1,000 meters at Millrose.