7) An Ethiopian Man Broke the Steeplechase World Record
With the invention of super shoes and super spikes, distance
world records have been falling like flies in recent years. In addition to
Kipyegon’s world records this year, the women’s 5,000 world record was broken
twice and the men’s steeplechase record once. But the steeple record being
lowered from 7:53.63 to 7:52.11 by Lamecha Girma was the more significant
development for me.
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Why? Because a Kenyan-born man had held the record for 45
straight years.
On May 13, 1978, Henry Rono ran 8:05.4 to break the world
record of 8:08 set by Sweden’s Anders Gärderud. After Rono, six more Kenyan men
would break the record a total of seven times but now the for the first time
ever the record belongs to Ethiopia.
(Technically Brahim Boulami of Morocco held the world record
from 2001-04 but he was banned for EPO one year after setting the WR).
6) Jakob Ingebrigtsen Has a Season For the Ages But Loses
the 1500m World Title
Olymic 1500 and two-time world 5000 champ Jakob Ingebrigtsen
had an amazing season in 2023.
The times he produced were staggering as he ran European
records in the 1500 (3:27.95) and mile (3:43.73) and world records or bests in
the 2000 (4:43.13) and 2-mile (7:54.10). He also ran 7:23.63 for 3000 and won a
world title in the 5000 and Diamond League titles in the mile and 3000.
The one blemish was his lone loss of the year in the event
he cares the most about: the World Championship 1500 final where Josh Kerr beat
him and Narve Nordas almost did.
5) Noah Lyles Wins the 100/200 Double
Ever since Usain Bolt retired in 2017, track & field has
been looking for a new undisputed sprint king. Noah Lyles took that moniker
this year as in his first trip to Worlds in the 100 in Budapest, he did
something may thought he’d never do — win the 100m world title. He then backed
it up with this third 200m title
The NBC hype machine will be out in full force in 2024. Can
Lyles become an Olympic legend and become just the 10th man to win the 100/200
gold at the same Olympics and just the third in the last 50 years? Or did he
miss his chance at Olympic glory in 2020 due to COVID and might he end his
career with no Olympic golds as one idiot distance expert suggested?
It’s worth noting that while Lyles had his best season in
the 100m this year, his 200m running did suffer a bit.
Last year, he broke 19.7 seven times. This year, he only did
it three times. Last year, his top five 200m times averaged out to 19.49; this
year it was 19.64. Though it should be noted he ran more 200s in 2022 (eight)
than 2023 (six).
4) Sha’Carri Richardson Wins the 100m World Title
The medal count may say differently but Sha’Carri Richardson had an even bigger 2023 than Noah Lyles. In her first appearance at a global championship, she won the women’s 100 title in Budapest out of lane 9. I rank this higher than Lyles winning two individual golds as Lyles already was an established winner on the pro circuit. Richardson was not
Before 2023, Richardson moved the needle media-wise in the
US but now she’s moving the needle for all the right reasons. Always a
precocious talent, Richardson matured immensely both on and off the track in
2023.
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Most importantly, performance-wise, she peaked when it mattered
most for the first time as a professional.
This year she ran her seasonal best time of 10.65 into a
headwind (-0.2) in the World Championship final on August 21. In the previous
three seasons as a pro where there was a global outdoor championship, she
peaked much earlier as she ran her 100m sb on June 8 in 2019, April 10 in 2021,
and June 12 in 2022.
Oh, and she also ran great on the circuit, picking up
Diamond League wins in Doha, Silesia, and Zurich.
The Olympic women’s 100 in Paris next year has the potential
to be an all-time classic. It hopefully will feature the greatest female
sprinter in history in SAFP, plus the best Olympic female sprinter in history
in Elaine Thompson-Herah, the best 200m woman in history in Shericka Jackson,
and Richardson.
The upcoming offseason will be telling as that’s where
Richardson has often struggled in the past. Remember, in January 2023
Richardson was tossed off a plane and the year before that she revealed she’d
been abused by her girflriend Janeek Brown.
3) Yared Nuguse Breaks Out
No one in the world — and that includes Yared Nuguse and On
Athletics Club coach Dathan Ritzenhein — could have predicted at the beginning
of the year the season that Yared Nuguse just had.
In 2023, he ran big pbs at 800, 1500, mile, and 3000. In the
800, he improved from 1:48.29 to 1:46.30. He lowered his 1500 pb by 4+ seconds,
from 3:33.26 to 3:29.02, and his mile pb by 9.37 seconds, from 3:53.34 to
3:43.97. In the 3000, he improved by 9.90 seconds, dropping from 7:38.13 to
7:28.23.
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Along the way he picked up three indoor American records
(3:33.22 for the 1500, 3:47.38 for the mile, and 7:28.23 for the 3000) and two
outdoor American records (in the 1500 and mile) and won two Diamond League
meets.
All told, he ran five Diamond League meets and in one season
easily surpassed a career’s worth of finishes for past US mile greats like Alan
Webb or Matthew Centrowitz as he finished 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 1st, and 2nd in those
meets.
His only non-top 3 finish of the year came in the biggest
race of the year — the world final, where he just 5th. Ritzenhein revealed to
us over the weekend that Nuguse was a little under the weather in the first two
rounds of Budapest. He made a point of telling us he felt fine in the final and
didn’t want to use that as an excuse for him.
Well, if Ritz won’t use it as an excuse I’ll have to do it
for Nuguse. If you watched him run 3:43 on Saturday, it’s hard to fathom that
Nuguse wasn’t a little under the weather in the Budapest final even if he
didn’t feel sick.
2) Niels Laros Breaks Out
In sports, whenever we see the greatest ever, it’s easy to think nothing like them will ever come along again. That’s true whether it’s Babe Ruth, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, or Tom Brady. The reality is, someone else always eventually comes along similar to that level, whether their name is Shohei Ohtani, Novak Djokavic, LeBron James or Patrick Mahomes.
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The athletics world had been waiting for 35+ years for someone like Jakob Ingebrigtsen to come arounda European-born man that could consistently battle for distance golds and world records. And now it looks like we may have another one just a few years later.
At the start of the year, LetsRun.com messageboarders knew who Dutchman Niels Laros was, but the average track fan did not. Now they do.
The 18-year-old Laros had a PHENOMENAL 2023. He also ran
4:49.68 for 2000 and on Saturday, on the very same track where Alan Webb ran a
3:53.43 mile at the age of 18 years and 4 months, Laros ran 3:48.93 in the mile
at the age of 18 years and 4 months.
If Laros was an American, he’d hold the US high school
records at 800, 1500, mile, 3k, and 5k.
Want to know more about Laros? He appeared on our podcast
earlier this summer: Meet Niels Laros, The 18-Year-Old Dutch Sensation Who Has
Run 1:45.8 for 800m and 13:23 for 5,000m. In Budapest, his parents told us that
just a few summers ago Laros was in the back seat of the car listening to the
podcast dreaming of being great. Now, at 18, he is great…and could get even
better in the years to come.
1) Faith Kipyegon Takes Her Brilliance To Another Level
Coming into the year, Faith Kipyegon was already the
greatest women’s 1500 runner ever as she’d won two world and two Olympic titles
in the event. The only thing missing from her resume was a world record, and in
2023 she broke them in the 1500 (3:49.11) and mile (4:07.64). Ten of the 20
fastest 1500 times ever recorded belong to Faith Kipyegon.
.png "WTW: Counting Down the 7 Greatest Storylines From The 2023 Star Track Season")
Kipyegon celebrates her 1500 title in Budapest. Photo by
Christian Petersen/Getty Images for World Athletics)
And she’s now picked up a new event, the 5000, where she set
a world record (14:05.20, since broken) and won a world title in 2023. The only
question now is was this the greatest season ever for a distance runner (h/t to
the House of Run podcast), male or female, and is she the greatest female
distance runner ever?
As for the first question, Haile Gebrselassie had a number
of crazy good years. Which of the three years where set both 5,000 and 10,000
WRs was the best? It’s hard to say.
In 1995, Haile G went 9-0 on the track (4th at World XC),
won the 10,000 world title and destroyed the world records in the 5,000 (which
he took down by 10+ seconds, from 12:55.30 to 12:44.39) and 10,000 (he lowered
it from 26:52.23 to 26:43.53), plus set a world’s best in the 2 mile (8:07.46).
His 1997 season was eerily similar to 1995 but he ran even
faster. He went 11-0 in events between 3,000 and 10,000 and set an indoor 5,000
WR (12:59.04), outdoor 5,000 WR (lowering it from 12:44.39 to 12:41.86) and
outdoor 10,000 WR (lowering it from 26:38.08 to 26:31.32). He also set a
world’s best at 2 miles (8:01.09) and won the 10,000 world title.
Which year was better for Haile: 1995 or 1997? It’s hard to
say as while he ran much faster in 1997, he didn’t bring the WRs down as much.
But 1998 was Geb at his absolute peak in terms of times
although there was no Worlds/Olympics to win. Undefeated in races above 800m
(15-0), indoors he ran 3:31.76 for 1500, a 4:52.86 world record for 2k, and a
7:26.15 WR in the 3k. Outdoors, he ran WRs at 5,000 (12:39.36, previous record
of 12:39.74) and 10,000 (26:22.75, previous record of 26:27.85) plus ran 7:25
twice in the 3,000.
He also was undefeated in 1999 and 2000.
As for the latter question, Tirunesh Dibaba has had a pretty
good career, winning three Olympic golds, five Worlds golds, and four World XC