Josh Hoey had shown tremendous form recently, and many felt he was the clear favourite at the US indoor Championships. But he displayed such a tremendous run that he surpassed expectations once again.

Right from the start Hoey went into the lead and kept driving forward. The halfway split was recorded as 50.36, fast for any race, and certainly for an indoor race. Brandon Miller was hanging on, but over the last lap Hoey was way too strong and finished way ahead in a stunning 1:43.24!

It's yet another American record, improving his own mark by 0.64 seconds. Within a few weeks Hoey has lowered that record by almost a full second. His time is also the second fastest ever seen, with only the legendary Wilson Kipketer ever having run faster, when he set the World Indoor record at 1:42.67 way back in 1997.

Next stop for Josh will be the World Indoor Championships in Nanjing. If he can maintain this level for a few weeks more it is very hard to see anyone stopping him from winnnig the World Indoor gold medal.

    Result:
 1  Josh Hoey              USA   1:43.24
 2  Brandon Miller         USA   1:44.26
 3  Wes Ferguson           USA   1:44.92
 4  Isaiah Harris          USA   1:45.64
 5  Jonah Koech            USA   1:45.82
 6  Shane Cohen            USA   1:46.73

The famous Millrose games provided yet another fast indoor race. Josh Hoey had improved himself spectacularly in 2024 and showed how he can be major force on the 800m. When he took the lead Bryce Hoppel, who finished fourth in the Olympic final in Paris last year in a new American record, settled in behind him. It seemed a matter of time before he would seize the lead and secure victory.

Not so. Although Hoppel ran a new personal best in a time faster than the previous American record, Josh grimly held on and not only finished first, he also beat Donavan Brazier's American record by 0.31 seconds.

His time of 1:43.90 lifts Hoey to number three on the all time indoor list, behind legend Wilson Kipketer and Elliot Giles. It was only the third time in history that three athletes ran below 1:44 in a single indoor race. And in sixth place young talent Cooper Lutkenhaus, just seventeen years old, ran a world best for the under eighteen category.

    Result:
 1  Josh Hoey           USA   1:43.90
 2  Bryce Hoppel        USA   1:44.19
 3  Jonah Koech         USA   1:44.82
 4  Mark English        IRL   1:45.15
 5  Alex Amankwah       GHA   1:45.82
 6  Cooper Lutkenhaus   USA   1:46.86
 7  Shane Cohen         USA   1:47.01

The Diamond League final in Brussels was the last race of a long season. It was a star-studded field, but the evening was chilly, so really fast times were not to be expected. But Wanyonyi seemed intent on winning the evening and finishing his season on a high.

The pacemaker did a decent job, but Marco Arop followed so eagerly that he passed the pacemaker just before the bell already, in 49.28. Arop may have hoped for a repeat of what happened in Silesia, but this time he was unable to run away from the field. Instead Wyclife Kinyamal, Djamel Sedjati and Emmanuel Wanyonyi stayed in close contention.

As they went into the final bend Wanyonyi seemed to lose touch a little, and Kinyamal seemed to run out of steam completely, so it was Sedjati who challenged for the lead, and as Arop was tiring Sedjati worked himself into the lead. But on the last fifty meters Wanyonyi suddenly sprinted forwards and overtook Sedjati with just two or three strides to go.

Another win for Wanyonyi in a near perfect season. Olympic Champion, Diamond League champion, he ran 1:41 four times (which had never been done before) and is now joint number two on the all time list. And he only just turned twenty last month!

    Result:
 1  Emmanuel Wanyonyi    KEN   1:42.70
 2  Djamel Sedjati       ALG   1:42.86
 3  Marco Arop           CAN   1:43.25
 4  Gabriel Tual         FRA   1:43.67
 5  Eliott Crestan       BEL   1:43.74
 6  Wyclife Kinyamal     KEN   1:44.00
 7  Andreas Kramer       SWE   1:44.30
 8  Tshepiso Masalela    BOT   1:44.34
 9  Ben Pattison         GBR   1:44.64

In Lausanne the race had turned out to be a battle between Marco Arop and Emmanuel Wanyonyi. But in Silesia the race followed a completely different pattern. Although in both cases Arop was following the pacemaker pretty closely.

But when the pacemaker dropped out Arop ran away at full speed, and no other runner was either willing or able to follow. Arop opened up a big lead, over ten metres, and did not seem to slow down at all. Into the final bend the gap was still there. Onto the final straight and still none of the others was able to get any closer. It was Arop all the way!

And so Arop finished all on his own, and set yet another 1:41 mark, the third of his career. Wanyonyi led the others home, but it was only 1.37 seconds behind Arop - in 800m terms that's almost like finishing next week. Perhaps some runners are getting tired after a long season, but in any case, Marco Arop was simply brilliant.

    Result:
 1  Marco Arop             CAN   1:41.86
 2  Emmanuel Wanyonyi      KEN   1:43.23
 3  Bryce Hoppel           USA   1:43.32
 4  Eliott Crestan         BEL   1:43.48
 5  Wyclife Kinyamal       KEN   1:43.54
 6  Gabriel Tual           FRA   1:43.73
 7  Max Burgin             GBR   1:43.73
 8  Hobbs Kessler          USA   1:43.97
 9  Andreas Kramer         SWE   1:44.32
10  Aaron Cheminingwa      KEN   1:44.60
11  Mohamed Attaoui        ESP   1:44.96
12  Bartosz Kitlinski      POL   1:45.56