The Wanamaker Mile is a prestigious indoor mile race (1,609.344 m) for elite middle distance runners held annually at the Millrose Games in New York City. Alongside Oslo's Dream Mile and Eugene's Bowerman Mile, the Wanamaker Mile is among the world's premier mile races. It is the signature and concluding event of the Millrose Games, and is named in honor of department store owner Rodman Wanamaker. Ray Flynn, the Irish record holder in the mile and the current meeting director of the Millrose Games, has also competed in the Wanamaker Mile.
It was at the Millrose Games that Coghlan earned the nickname "Chairman of the Boards" (from the surface of the track being made of wooden boards). O'Sullivan has run 11 sub-four-minute miles in the Wanamaker.
The Wanamaker Mile has been won by over 40 different men, including Glenn Cunningham, Kip Keino, Tony Waldrop, Filbert Bayi, Steve Scott, Noureddine Morceli, Bernard Lagat, Yared Nuguse, Matthew Centrowitz Jr., Dave Patrick, Marcus O'Sullivan, Ron Delany, and Eamonn Coghlan.
History
The Millrose Games were first held in a local armory in 1908, being organized by the employees of Wanamaker's New York City department store. The employees formed the recreational Millrose Athletic Association. "Millrose" was the name of the country home of Rodman Wanamaker in Cheltenham, Pennsylvania. When this local armory overflowed, the Millrose Games were moved to Madison Square Garden in 1914. In 1926, the race was shortened to one mile, and thus the Wanamaker Mile was born. The winner of the 1926 race was James J. Connolly, who had represented the United States at the 1920 and 1924 Olympics.
The first time the Wanamaker Mile was won in a sub-four minute time was by American athlete Tony Waldrop in 1974, in 3:59.7.
Madison Square Garden, which possessed a 146-meter track, a much faster 200-meter mondo track. By 2018, the start time had been moved to late afternoon when it was nationally televised live on NBC.
thumb|[[Yomif Kejelcha in the 2019 Wanamaker Mile.]]In the 2019 Wanamaker Mile, Yomif Kejelcha won in 3:48.46 to miss Hicham El Guerrouj's then-world record of 3:48.45 by just one hundredth of a second. Kejelcha would later go on to break El Guerrouj's indoor mile world record by almost 1.5 seconds in Boston, with a time of 3:47.01.
In the 2023 Wanamaker Mile, Yared Nuguse ran an American record time of 3:47.38, missing Kejelcha's 3:47.01 mark by .37 seconds. In 2024, Nuguse defended his Wanamaker Mile title, in a time of 3:47.83, but did not run faster than he did in 2023.
In the 2025 Wanamaker Mile, Nuguse broke Kejelcha's world record of 3:47.01, clocking a new world record of 3:46.63. Finishing behind Nuguse was Hobbs Kessler in 3:46.90, also under the previous record. Cameron Myers set a world under-20 record and Australian record of 3:47.48, while Azeddine Habz set a French record of 3:47.56, and Andrew Coscoran set an Irish record of 3:49.26. Nuguse's world record lasted for 5 days, until Jakob Ingebrigtsen ran 3:45.14 in Liévin, France.
Sponsors
The sponsors of the Wanamaker Mile have varied over the years, with the NYRR often supporting the race. In 2023, the Rudin family sponsored the event in the 115th Millrose Games.
Records
In 2010, Bernard Lagat surpassed Eamonn Coghlan's record of seven Wanamaker Mile victories with his eighth victory. Prior to Coghlan, Glenn Cunningham was among the first men to dominate the event, winning six out of seven Wanamaker Miles from 1933 to 1939.
Annual champions
Key:
Meet record (bolded)<br>1500 meter race (women only)
Men
{| class="wikitable"
! Year
! Athlete
! Country
! Time
!Ref
|-bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
! colspan="5" |Armory Era
|-
|2026
|Cam Myers
|
|3:47.57
|
|-bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|2025
|Yared Nuguse
|
|3:46.63
|
|-
|2024
|Yared Nuguse
|
|3:47.83
|
|-
|2023
|Yared Nuguse
|
|3:47.38
|
|-
|2022
|Ollie Hoare
|
|3:50.83
|
|6:55.6
|-
|1920
|Joie W. Ray
|
|6:52.2
|-
|1919
|Joie W. Ray
|
|6:51.0
|-
|1918
|Joie W. Ray
|
|6:57.8
|-
|1917
|Joie W. Ray
|
|6:45.0
|-
|1916
|John W. Overton
|
|6:53.0
|-
! colspan="5" |Wanamaker 2-Mile
|-
|1915
|Sydney Leslie
|
|9:20
|
|-
|2025
|Georgia Bell
|
|4:23.25
|
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|2024
|Elinor St. Pierre
|
|4:16.41
|
|-
|2019
|Konstanze Klosterhalfen
|
|4:19.98
|-
|2018
|Colleen Quigley
|
|4:30.05
|-
|2017
|Sifan Hassan
|
|4:19.89
|-
|2016
|Shannon Rowbury
|
|4:24.39
|-
|2015
|Shannon Rowbury
|
|4:24.32
|-
|2014
|Mary Cain
|
|4:27.73
|-
|2013
|Sheila Reid
|
|4:27.02
|-bgcolor=pink
|2012
|Jenny Simpson
|
|4:07.27
|-
! colspan="5" |Madison Square Garden Era
|-bgcolor=pink
|2011
|Sara Hall
|
|4:15.35
|
|4:14.9
|-bgcolor=pink
|1980
|Mary Decker
|
|4:00.8
|-bgcolor=pink
|1979
|Francie Larrieu
|
|4:15.0
|-bgcolor=pink
|1978
|Jan Merrill
|
|4:19.7
|-bgcolor=pink
|1977
|Francie Larrieu
|
|4:15.8
|-bgcolor=pink
|1976
|Jan Merrill
|
|4:15.2
|}
See also
- Mile run world record progression
- Four-minute mile
- Dicksonpokalen
- Dream Mile
- Emsley Carr Mile
- Bowerman Mile
References
External links
- Wanamaker Mile Champions List
- List of All Wanamaker Mile Finishers (1926-2022)
- The Wanamaker Mile: More than 50 years of History