This Day in Track & Field, January 24, In front of 10,000 fans, Joie Ray wins first of & 1 1/2 mile titles at Millrose (1917), by Walt Murphy

2026 Winter Middle Distance Training (800m-5,000m), Monday, January 27, 2026, Week 4, Day 2, Tuesday is a Tempo Day!

This Day in Track & Field, January 25, Glenn Cunningham outkicks Joe Mangan in Boston (1936), Born on this Day: Steve Prefontaine, by Walt Murphy

2026 Winter Middle Distance Training (800m-5,000m), Monday, January 26, 2026, Week 4, Day 1, An Easy Day!

Walt Murphy’s News and Results Service ([email protected])

This Day in Track & Field–January 24

1917—Running in front of 10,000 fans in Madison Square Garden, Joie Ray, leading from the gun, won the first of his 7 Wanamaker Mile-and-a Half titles at the Millrose Games. His winning time of 6:45.0 for the popular (at the time) distance was the fastest ever run in the U.S., indoors or outdoors.

Ted Meredith, recovered from a recent bout of pneumonia, held off Joseph Higgins to win the 600-yards in 1:14.6. Meredith was the gold medalist in the 800 meters and the 4×400 relay at the 1912 Olympics.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/01/25/102313996.html?pageNumber=10

1925–Paavo Nurmi was beaten for the first time on his U.S. tour, but he still set two more World Records. Running in a handicap 2000-yard race at the Brooklyn College A.A. meet at the Thirteenth Regiment Armory in Brooklyn,NY, Nurmi finished a step behind countryman Gunnar Nilson, who had a 100-yard head-start, but still got credit for new marks at 1-1/8 miles (4:58.0) and 2000y (5:00.8).

However, Nurmi also lost two records, as Ville “Willie” Ritola won the 5000-meters in 14:39.4 to better Nurmi’s 18-day old mark of 14:44.6. Ritola also beat Nurmi’s record for 2-3/4 miles with his en-route time of 13:01.0 and improved his own mark for 3-miles (14:11.6).

Ville Ritola, Paavo Nurmi, photo by Olympic.org

Another world mark was set by a Georgetown lineup of Ed Brooks, Jack Holden, Willie Sullivan, and George Marsters, which won the 2-mile relay in 7:47.4. Fordham’s John Gibson, who would later set a World Record in the 440y-hurdles and would become the coach at Seton Hall (1945-1972), won the 1/4-mile in 52.8.

Other notable winners included Harold Osborn in the High Jump (6-4 [1.93]) and Loren Murchison in the 100-Meters (11.4). Osborn won gold medals in the High Jump AND the Decathlon(!) at the previous year’s Olympics in Paris, while Murchison would win 14 (at least-still checking) Millrose sprint titles during his career.

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/01/25/101635808.html?pageNumber=107

1969–Ron Clarke, Australia’s prolific record-breaker, picked up the indoor 3-mile best when he ran 13:12.6 in Oakland, California.

1969—Willie Davenport, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist in the 110m-Hurdles, set a World Indoor Record of 13.5 for the imperial event (120y) in Houston. He would equal the Outdoor Record of 13.2 in the 110m-Hurdles during the summer.

1970––Australia’s Ralph Doubell, the 1968 Olympic gold medalist at 800-meters, set a World Record of 2:05.5 for 1000-yards on Albuquerque’s fast 10-lap board track. The previous mark of 2:06.0 was set in 1962 by New Zealand’s Peter Snell. It was the 2nd year in a row that the fun-loving Doubell (see below) set a record on this track, having set a new standard of 1:47.9 for 880-yards in 1969. Finishing 2nd to Doubell was Kansas State’s Ken Swenson, who set an American Record of 2:07.7. A step behind Swenson was Tom Von Ruden, the previous record holder.

From Sports Illustrated’s Vault:

“Ralph Doubell flew into Los Angeles late last Wednesday afternoon. It had taken 24 sleepless hours to transport his mammoth hangover from Australia to California, which is tough even on an Aussie, and so he forgot about his playboy image and went to bed. Sixteen hours later the handsome Olympic 800-meter champion arose, worked his way through four bottles of German beer, one Bloody Mary, three glasses of rose’ and 237 pages of Portnoy’s Complaint, and then retreated once more into the feathers. By Friday he was feeling much better. Since he was to run the following night in the Sunkist Invitational he was tapering off with Coke.

“I feel the attitude of American runners about not drinking is very strange,” he said. Then, grinning, he added, “Most Australians do. Just last Friday I went out with my coach and we got stoned on champagne. Of course, you can’t do that all the time, just about once every fortnight.”

1976—Poland’s Władysław Kozakiewicz cleared 17-11 ¾ (5.48) in Warsaw to set a World Indoor Record in the Pole Vault.

2004–Past and future stars were present at NY’s Armory for the New Balance Games, which featured a great duel between high schoolers Galen Rupp and Josh McDougal in a special 2-mile. Here’s what I wrote in Eastern Track at the time:

“With more than a dozen Hall of Famers (including Armory veterans Al Oerter, John Carlos, Larry James, and Bob Beamon) were on hand for the official opening of the National T&F Hall of Fame, and potential future candidates running on the track, it was a great day to be a track fan in NY.

(From the NY Times: There were 17 of the 197 members of the Hall. In the back row on the stage during the ceremony, Frank Shorter sat between Mal Whitfield and Alberto Salazar. To their left, Al Oerter sat between Billy Mills and Coach Mel Rosen.

Jim Beatty, Chandra Cheeseborough, John Carlos, Bob Beamon, the racewalker Ron Laird, Grete Waitz and Hal Davis were there, as were three Villanova heroes: Don Bragg, Larry James and Charlie Jenkins. The widows of Mike Larrabee and Greg Rice also attended.”)

After the HOF ceremonies were completed, the elite portion of the meet took center stage.

The Elite Women’s Mile was won for the 2nd year in a row by Great Britain’s Hayley Tullett, who ran 4:27.28, the fastest time in the world so far this year. Running her own race in the back of the pack was Saratoga soph Nicole Blood, who went through splits of 68.5, 2:19.1, and 3:34.2 before finishing up in 4:48.82, a personal best and the fastest girls’ prep time of the year.

Then came the NY Road Runners “Record Challenge” 2-mile. There had been some pre-meet talk on the internet about Oregon’s Galen Rupp going after Gerry Lindgren’s legendary 40-year old H.S. Record of 8:40.0, but expectations had been lowered (but not by much) as racetime approached.

Adding spice to the mix was the late addition of Josh McDougal, the home-schooled prep from Peru,NY. Rupp and McDougal had finished 2nd and 4th, respectively, at December’s Foot Locker X-Country Championships, and each had already run a quick mile this season (Rupp-4:10.95, McDougal-4:13.79).

Kenyan Patrick Nthiwa, the eventual winner (8:39.50), was by himself in the latter stages of the race, but all eyes were on the “race-within-a-race”.

With marathon legends (and Hall of Famers) Alberto Salazar (Rupp’s coach) and Frank Shorter cheering them on from trackside, Rupp led McDougal by a step or two through most of the race (64.7.2:10.8, 3:16.6, 4:23.4, 5:29.4, 6:36.3) before McDougal went ahead with a 1/4-mile to go (7:44.9).

McDougal pulled away from his West Coast rival in the final two laps and finished with a time of 8:50.40, easily breaking Brian Dalpiaz’s 1-year old Armory and NY State Record of 9:01.92. His time was also faster than John Gregorek’s NY outdoor record of 8:50.7 (1978). Rupp finished well in 8:54.45.”

McDougal would later outduel Rupp in a memorable battle at the 2007 NCAA X-Country Championships. While injuries cut short McDougal’s career, Rupp, the silver medalist in the 10,000-meters at the 2012 Olympics, and the bronze medalist in the marathon in 2016, is now one of the world’s best distance runners.”

Dyestat Coverage(Includes photos of the 2-mile race)

https://archive.dyestat.com/3us/4in/newbalance/index.htm

Stars Come Out

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/sports/track-and-field-stars-come-out-for-hall-of-fame-dedication-at-armory.html

Donna (Dye) On The Side (Great Photos)

Hall of Fame: http://archive.dyestat.com/3us/4in/newbalance/donna-fame/index.htm

Meet: http://archive.dyestat.com/3us/4in/newbalance/donna/index.htm

2009-Oklahoma State freshman German Fernandez ran 3:56.50 in Fayetteville to set a World Junior Indoor Record in the Mile.

https://www.worldathletics.org/news/news/german-fernandez-runs-fastest-ever-junior-ind

http://www.big12sports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=10410&ATCLID=3666751

Results: https://www.flashresults.com/2009_Meets/indoor/RazorbackInvite/index.htm

2014-Mary Cain, a senior at Bronxville(NY) H.S. won the mile at the Terrier Invitational at Boston University in 4:24.11 (#5 All-Time U.S./at the time). She got credit for an American Junior Indoor Record (missed the World Junior Record by .01s!), but not a H.S. Record, since she had already signed a professional contract. However, she did remain as the H.S. Record holder, since she ran 4:28.25 the year before as a junior! She also set an American Junior Indoor Record of 4:06.63 for 1500-meters en-route.

Finishing 2^nd to Cain was Dartmouth senior Abbey D’Agostino, who ran 4:28.31 for the mile and 4:09.77 for 1500-meters, which was a Collegiate Record at the time! Her mile time was the =3rd-fastest by a collegian at the time. 3^rd in the race was early leader Jordan Hasay, Cain’s training partner, in 4:28.37.

www.letsrun.com/news/2014/01/mary-cain-just-misses-world-indoor-junior-mile-mark-01-sets-new-american-record-424-11/

http://www.runblogrun.com/2018/12/mary-cain-reconsidered-1.html

2015—It had already been an exciting season for the College Women’s Pole Vault. Arkansas senior Sandi Morris had set a Collegiate Indoor Record of 15-1 ½ (4.61) on January 16, while Demi Payne, a junior at S.F. Austin, topped that a day later by clearing 15-2 ¼ (4.63) at Texas A&M in front of her family. That mark betterd the outdoor record of 15-1 ½, set by Arkansas’ Tina Sutej in 2011.

Payne put an exclamation point on the season (at least as far as marks go) by setting two “absolute” Collegiate Records on this date in Albuquerque, first clearing 15-3 (4.65) and then an incredible 15-7 (4.75). Only legends Jenn Suhr and Stacy Dragila had ever vaulted higher among Americans. (Morris gained a measure of revenge by winning the NCAA Indoor title in March, with Payne no-heighting…Payne would beat Morris to win the NCAA Outdoor title). Both made it to the World Championships in Beijing, Morris tying for 4^th place, while Payne didn’t make the final.

Morris had won silver medals at the 2016 Olympics, the 2016 World Indoor Championships, and the 2017 World Outdoor Championships, before winning gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships. She added two more silvers to her collection at the 2019 and 2022 Worlds.

A junior at Kansas at the time (with a best of 13.10/4.22), Payne’s 2013 season ended early when she found out she was pregnant. The Texas native moved back home to be closer to her family to get their support during her pregnancy.

She gave birth to daughter Charlee Taylor on October 22, 2013, and enrolled at Stephen F. Austin. WIth the

encouragement of her father, she was back training five days after giving birth!

Her dad is Bill Payne, an All-American vaulter at Baylor who competed at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden (Didn’t make the final) and had a best of 19-2 ¾ [5.86/1991]).

Post-script: Payne was hit with a 4-year ban after testing positive for a banned substance in March, 2016.

2015 Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wk3GOObTCA

http://www.newsweek.com/sandi-morris-and-demi-payne-pole-vaulting-342192

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hopOOQYPcM

2021—Ryan Crouser opened his 2021 season in a big way by setting a World Indoor Record of 74-10 ½ (22.82) in the first round of the Shot Put at the American Track League meet in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The previous mark of 74-4 ¼ (22.66) was set by Randy Barnes in 1989. Crouser also had a 2^nd mark that surpassed Barnes’s record: 74-5 ¾ (22.70).

Crouser would later get the Outdoor World Record as well with his toss of 76-8 ¼ (23.37) at the U.S. Olympic Trials in June, and would win his 2^nd Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in August. (He would later win World titles in 2022 & 2023, and a 3^rd Olympic title in 2024, as well as improving the WR to 77-3 ¾ [23.56] in 2023).

Grant Holloway won the 60m-Hurdles in 7.35 to equal his own American Record. He would set a World Record of 7.29 the following month and would win the silver medal in the 110m-Hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics. He went on to win his 2^nd & 3^rd World outdoor titles in 2022 & 2023, Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, and lower his WR to 7.27 in 2024.

https://worldathletics.org/news/feature/ryan-crouser-shot-put-world-indoor-record

Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57rqdlFZC0g

Born On This Day*

Sembo Almayew-Ethiopia 21 (2005) Bronze medalist in the Steeplechase at the 2025 World Championships…2023-12^th…

2021 WC (1^st round)

5^th at the 2024 Olympics

2024 World Junior/Under-20 Champion…silver medalist in 2022

Set the current World Youth/Under-18 Record of 9:09.19 in 2022 when she was 17

Named World Athletics Rising Star in 2024

PBs: 4:11.23i (2023), 8:35.04 (2023), 14:41.75 (2025), 8:58.86 (2025/#15 All-Time)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sembo_Almayew

https://worldathletics.org/athletes/ethiopia/sembo-almayew-14968520