Washington, February 13: Bernard Lagat set a new U.S. indoor record in the 2-mile run, breaking a 21-year old mark to become the American record-holder at the five distances from 1,500 meters to two miles.
Lagat finished in 8 minutes, 10.07 seconds during a college meet at the Armory on Saturday night, beating the mark of 8:15.02 that Doug Padilla set on Feb. 16, 1990, in Los Angeles.
The 36-year-old Lagat now holds the U.S. indoor marks in the mile and 2-mile, and 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000 meters. He is also the U.S. outdoor record holder for the 1,500, 3,000 and 5,000.
It was the first time the seven-time Olympic and world championship medalist had run 2 miles indoors as a professional. He earned a $10,000 bonus for winning the race and setting a new record.
The Kenyan-born Lagat now lives in Tucson, Arizona.
NCAA indoor 800-meter champion Robby Andrews of Virginia and former Stanford All-American Russell Brown were in the field as pacesetters.
Andrews dropped off after six laps and Brown took over pacemaking duties. He dropped off after the ninth lap and Lagat upped the pace over the final six circuits around the track.
The crowd began urging Lagat on with two laps left when it became clear he had a shot at setting a new mark. He kicked across the line just after he lapped Verzbicas.
——-Agencies