Bernard Lagat winning the mile at the 2006 Millrose Games (© Kirby Lee)
A showdown between American Bernard Lagat and Australian Craig Mottram in the Wanamaker Mile will be among the highlights at next month's Millrose Games as the fabled meeting celebrates its 100th edition on 2 February.
A four-time winner of the event at New York's Madison Square Garden, Lagat, a two-time Olympic medallist at 1500m, will be looking to move up a notch among all-time winners on the tight New York track. A fifth victory would tie him with Marcus O'Sullivan as the third winningest miler in meet history, behind only Eamonn Coghlan and Glenn Cunningham. A perennial middle distance threat, the Kenyan-born Lagat produced a 3:29.68 season's best for 1500m in 2006, won a difficult 1500/5000m double at the U.S. championships, and last year defeated Kenenisa Bekele in the Millrose mile.
Despite a setback at last winter's Commonwealth Games, in which he tumbled in the 1500m final, Mottram nonetheless confirmed his credentials as one of the world's premiere racers in 2006. The 2005 bronze medallist at the World Championships over 5000m, the 26-year-old Australian retained his World Cup title in the 3000m in September with an upset victory over Bekele in Athens. He also lowered his personal best in the 1500m to 3:33.97. This will be Mottram's first appearance at the Millrose Games.
Reese Hoffa, the reigning World indoor Shot Put champion and No. 1 in the event in the IAAF World Rankings, will return to defend his Millrose Games crown. Last year, the 29-year-old reached a meeting record of 21.65 to beat a high calibre field, and produced the three best throws of the indoor season, topped by his 22.11 career best to claim gold in Moscow. Outdoors, he produced a 21.97 season's best.
Last month, organisers announced that Russian superstar Yelena Isinbayeva, the reigning Olympic, World and European champion and World record holder in the Pole Vault, would be making her U.S. debut.
Dozens of past champions and Millrose Games legends are expected to be on hand to help celebrate the meeting's centennial edition.
Barbara Huebner and Bob Ramsak for the IAAF
