Week That Was: London Shined, Diamond League Kicks Off, Penn Relays Excites, High School Phenoms

Welcome to this week’s Week That Was — where we put the past week’s biggest running and track & field action into perspective.

Past editions of our Week That Was can be found here. Don’t forget to check out our Track Talk Podcast.

Got a tip, question, or comment? Call us at 844-LETSRUN (538-7786), email us letsrun@letsrun.com, or post in our forum.

Last week’s biggest event was the fantastic 2025 London Marathon, and we were on-site to cover it extensively. If you haven’t yet, catch up on our in-depth breakdowns of the men’s and women’s races — because below, we’re moving on to other non-London stories.

• 2025 London Marathon: Tigst Assefa Wins War of Attrition, Holds on to Break Women’s-Only WR in 2:15:50, Wins $305,000
• 2025 London Marathon: Sabastian Sawe Makes a Statement with Dominant 2:02:27 Victory
• All LRC London Coverage

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Stat of the Week I

6 – number of individual 2024 Olympic gold medallists who competed in the inaugural Grand Slam Track meet in Kingston from April 4-6.

8 – number of individual 2024 Olympic gold medallists who competed in the 2025 Wanda Diamond League opener in Xiamen, China, on Saturday (they won nine golds as Beatrice Chebet won two), with only two of those eight being field eventers.

What’s the point I’m trying to make? The Diamond League is a very good product. Its only problem is it — like most track meets not named the Olympics or Worlds — isn’t a hugely popular product on TV.

The opener in Xiamen was a very good meet and it’s not like the gold medallists in Xiamen didn’t have competition as three of them lost. Two of Kenya’s greatest champions ever were in great form as double Olympic champ Beatrice Chebet looked absolutely UNBEATABLE as she closed in 26.6 to crush Gudaf Tsegay in the 5000 while Faith Kipyegon just missed the 1000 WR. In the hurdles, Karsten Warholm looked supreme in setting a 300m hurdles world record as Grant Holloway ran awfully in the short hurdles. Double Olympic champ Soufiane El Bakkali was beaten in the steeple.

We broke down the meet in our Supporters Club podcast. Join today for all the LetsRun coverage.

In case you want the full list of gold medallists at each meet, here it is:

GST Kingston: Marileidy Paulino, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Gabby Thomas, Masai Russell, Cole Hocker, Emmanuel Wanyonyi. 2016 Olympic gold medallist Dalilah Muhammad also competed.
Xiamen: Letsile Tebogo, Grant Holloway, Soufiane El Bakkali, Mondo Duplantis, Faith Kipyegon, Beatrice Chebet (x 2), Valarie Allman, Yaroslava Mahuchikh. 2021 Olympic gold medallists Hansle Parchment and Karsten Warholm also competed.

*Xiamen results
*MB: Official 2025 Xiamen Diamond League Live Discussion Thread
*LRC Xiamen YouTube recap

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Stat of the Week II

0.23 – number of seconds by which that Faith Kipyegon missed Svetlana Masterkova‘s 1000m world record of 2:28.98 that has stood since 1996, when she opened her 2025 campaign with a 2:29.21 in Xiamen.

4:00.08 – time for the mile if Kipyegon had somehow managed to keep her pace going for an extra 609 meters.

Embed from Getty Images

On Wednesday of last week, Nike announced that Faith Kipyegon will go for a sub-4:00 mile at the end of June in Paris. As you probably can tell based on those stats, I think she has NO chance of doing it. On Saturday night, I wrote a whole column explaining why:

• Sorry track fans, Faith Kipyegon isn’t breaking 4:00 in the mile – Can we live in the real world and not la-la land?
• MB: Faith Kipyegon Breaking4 attempt confirmed -will go for sub-4 mile in Paris on June 26th.

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Nathan Green & Washington x2 at Penn

The Washington Huskies with Nathan Green, the 2023 NCAA 1500 champ on anchor, won both the DMR and 4 x mile relays at the 2025 Penn Relays.

Nathan Green Wins DMR for Washington at Penn (Phil Bond photo)

Green split 3:55.15 to win the DMR and 4:06.10 to win a rainy 4 x mile (54-flat last lap, with most of that in the last 200). After the DMR, a messageboard poster looked at the anchor splits and was dumbfounded that the 3:48 miler Gary Martin of UVA and 3:33 1500 runner Liam Murphy of Villanova weren’t able to split faster to give their teams the victory, writing:

Martin split 3:48.12 and 3:50.09 in DMR’s indoors. Had he split 3:52.15 today, they would have won. Was not remotely over for him.

Murphy’s converted mile PR (from his 3:33.0) is 3:50.04. A 3:52.34 would have won it for them. Definitely a stretch, but potentially could have been manageable. The 4 and the 8 really killed them.

I totally disagreed with that take. The UVA and Villanova anchors both got the stick roughly three seconds behind in the DMR. For all practical purposes, the race was over. Green is a stud and he’s not coughing up a three-second lead.

In the 4 x mile, we saw why. Heading into the anchor leg, Green got the baton in fourth and he trailed three super fast guys by roughly 2.5 seconds as 3:48 milers Ethan Strand of UNC and Martin of UVA led by 2.62 and 2.59 seconds respectively and Murphy was 2.55 ahead.

None of the top three took it out hard. They ran their first 400 in roughly 62 flat and Green had caught them within 200. In the final 200, he showed he’s the best miler in the NCAAs in a championship race.*

It’s not that Martin, Strand, and Murphy are bad milers. But, like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, they aren’t pure milers like Green. I’d argue the trio are more 3k/5k runners who have run fast in the mile. In fact, Murphy always runs 3000/5000 at NCAA indoors, and Martin and Strand both were in the 3000 this year as well.

In a tactical, championship-style NCAA 1500 race, I’d be on Green over those guys nine times out of 10.

*I probably shouldn’t say Green is the best miler in the NCAA. It might be Abel Teffra of Georgetown. The NCAA indoor mile champ ran the DMR, got the stick five seconds back on anchor, and put up the #1 time on the day – 3:53.30. He also anchored Georgetown to the win the 4 x 800 with a modest 1:48.94 split. Teffra is a pure miler and thus needs to be feared outdoors in the 1500, as does Green. I don’t see how Murphy or Strand win the 1500 outdoors if that’s what they opt for.

And can I give some love to Cornell’s Pierre Attiogbe, who had the second-fastest anchor split in the DMR (3:53.52), helping the squad to a 7th place finish? Of course, I can as it’s my website. In the process, they erased the school record my Cornell squad had held for 20 years. For the record, we were 3rd, they were 7th ;).

Men’s 4 x Mile Race Video

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Quincy Wilson Splits 43.99 At Penn As Bullis Breaks The National HS Record, But A Word Of Caution….

The biggest high school news at Penn was that junior Quincy Wilson split 43.99 as his Bullis (Md.) School broke Hawthorne’s (Calif.) 40-year-old US high school record of 3:07.40 by running 3:06.31. That 43.99 broke his own 44.47 for fastest split in Penn HS history. That’s the good news. The bad news is they lost the race as Jamaica’s Kingston College ran 3:05.93.

Quincy Wilson split 43.99 at Penn (Phil Bond photo)

A word of caution to everyone who assumes Wilson will automatically be a world-beater. Don’t misunderstand me. Wilson, who sports a 44.20 pb and owns a 4 x 400 Olympic gold medal as he ran in the heats of Paris for the US last summer, is already world-class. But that doesn’t mean he’s going to end up being a top, top pro.

The star of that 1985 Hawthorne team was anchor Henry Thomas, who ran 45.09 in high school and regularly split in the 44s, including a 44.5 in the 3:07.40 NR race. Thomas’ lifetime pb, however, ended up being only .04 faster — 45.05.

Ten years later, Muir’s Obea More ran 45.14 in high school but never ran faster.

The second leg on that Hawthorne 4 x 400 ended up being the most famous. Mike Marsh only had the third-fastest split for his team at 47.7, but he ended up running 19.73 for 200 (when the WR was 19.72) and winning Olympic 200 gold in 1992.

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In women’s action at Penn, NCAA 1500m leader Margot Appleton split a record 4:21.46 on the DMR anchor 1600m leg — 0.01 faster than what Maia Ramsden split last year when Harvard set the Penn Relays record of 10:37.55 — to take UVA from 5th to 1st in 10:42.16.

Margo Appleton Leads Virginia to DMR Victory at Penn Relays (Phil Bond photo)

Appleton, who was 10th in the mile indoors, has already run 4:05.68 this year for the 1500 (and 15:25 for 5000). She’ll be looking to end her NCAA career with NCAA title #1 (her best finish so far is 3rd in the 1500 in 2023).

In the high school ranks, sophomore Blair Bartlett (Lawrenceville School, N.J.) waited patiently behind 2023 NXN champ Addy Ritzenhein before blasting to the lead of the 3000m with less than 200 to go. She put 6.5 seconds on a tired Ritzenhein to win in a meet record time of 9:13.60.

Blair Bartlett sets Penn 3000m record (Phil Bond photo)

*MB Penn Relays Distance Relays are loaded – Official 2025 Penn Relays Discussion Thread
*Penn Relays Results

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Krissy Gear x2 at Drake

Krissy Gear had quite the weekend at the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The 2023 US steeple champ used her big kick to take both the road and track mile titles, and both races featured Iowa native and world indoor silver medallist Shelby Houlihan. In the road mile, Gear set an American road record of 4:23.96, coming from behind to run down Houlihan (who faded to 4th). History repeated itself in the mile, as Gear used a 63.56 to run down Houlihan yet again and win, 4:23.69 to 4:23.84. Oregon’s Silan Ayyildiz ran an NCAA outdoor mile record of 4:25.50 for 4th. She now has both the indoor and outdoor records as indoors she ran 4:23.46 at BU.

Vincent Ciattei won both races for the men as well, in 3:54.55 and 3:39.40 (the men ran a 1500 on the track).

In the high school ranks, Oregon signee Quentin Nauman of Epworth Western Dubuque HS used his big kick to became the first Iowa schoolboy to sweep the 800, 1600, and 3200 at Drake. On Thursday, he used a 55.75 final 400 to win the 3200 by more than 3.5 seconds in 8:52.45. On Friday, a 53.95 final 400 gave him the 800 title in 1:51.76. Then on Saturday, in the 1600, he used a 56.24 final 400 to close out a final 800 of 1:55.91 to win by more than 2.5 seconds in 4:05.17.

*Drake Results
*Quentin Nauman Accomplishes Unlikely Distance Sweep In Span Of 72 Hours With Win In 1,600
*Vincent Ciattei (3:54.55) And Krissy Gear (4:23.98 American Record) Win USATF 1 Mile Road Championships In Des Moines

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US High Schooler Runs 9.98

The US keeps producing insane teenage sprint talent year after year. Last week, Georgia high school senior and University of Georgia commit Maurice Gleaton ran a wind-legal 9.98 in the 100 (wind of 0.0).

Georgia commit Maurice Gleaton runs 9.98 over 100m
byu/Sensitive_Dress_8443 intrackandfield

Two years ago as a 16-year-old, Gleaton won Nike Outdoor Nationals in the 200, was runner-up in the 100 and ran US 10th-grade records of 10.14 and 20.52. Last year, he won both the 100 and 200 at Nike about didn’t improve on his pbs. Now he’s gone sub-10.

The 5’10” Gleaton is also super hard to cover in football. Here he is catching a TD in the state championship game.

Maurice Gleaton (@MauriceGleaton_) has speed to burn. The Georgia track signee shows it on this 62-yard touchdown reception.

21-14 Milton one play into the second quarter pic.twitter.com/R48WTZnAHY

— Jed May (@JedMay_) December 18, 2024

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More Proof That Emmanuel Wanyonyi Is Really Good at the 1500/Mile / Alex Maier Wins In Germany

Last year at the adidas Adizero Road to Records event — a series of road races held at adidas headquarters in Germany — Emmanuel Wanyonyi won the mile easily over road mile world champ Hobbs Kessler and it really caught my attention. Now that he’s won the first GST 1500, it’s clear it was no fluke. Just in case you weren’t sure, over the weekend at the 2025 edition of Adizero Road to Records, Wanyonyi dominated Kessler and everyone else yet again, running 3:52.45 to runner-up Kessler’s 3:54.34.

Kessler had a great 2024 campaign as he made the US Olympic team in both the 800 and 1500 and finished 5th in the Olympics. But he’s still got quite a ways to go until he’s competing with the big dogs in the 1500. In Paris, he was closer to 10th (1.43 seconds) than he was to 3rd (1.65). Let’s hope he’s getting in a massive base right now as he skipped World Indoors and didn’t run Grand Slam Track #1 and isn’t running #2 this weekend in Miami. Surprisingly, the 3rd placer in the mile in Germany was US 10,000m Olympian Nico Young, who was only 0.16 behind Kessler (3:54.50).

Kessler and Young both beat a lot of “names.” World indoor 800 champ Josh Hoey was only 7th (3:59.57), Olympic 800 silver medallist Marco Arop was only 10th (4:04.93), two-time NCAA 1500 champ Joe Waskom was 11th in 4:07.50, and American 800 record holder Bryce Hoppel 14th in 4:12.36. Of course, perhaps those results unintentionally show you the flaw in the GST format — that many of the elite 800 guys are not good at the 1500/mile.

In longer events, Kenya’s 28:46 road 10k performer Agnes Ngetich became the first woman to break 30:00 in a women’s-only 10k (29:27), and in the men’s 5000, Yomif Kejelcha ran 12:54 and won by nine seconds.

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I get why adidas started this event in 2021 as we were coming out of COVID and they wanted everyone to know they had a super shoe they were proud of. Now all the brands have a super shoe they are proud of there are plenty of other opportunities to generate publicity rather than having a civil war at your headquarters the same weekend as the London Marathon and Diamond League opener.

For the record, London was won by two adidas athletes, who got them plenty of publicity.

BTW, Tigist Assefa earned USD 305,000 at the #LondonMarathon (not including her appearance fee, private bonuses, and contract bonuses from adidas):

55,000 for the win
100,000 for sub-2:16:00,
150,000 for the women’s world record

Photo by Bob Martin for London Marathon Events pic.twitter.com/snSDP1eAgt

— David Monti 🥑 (@d9monti) April 27, 2025

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Five hours northwest of the adidas event, American Alex Maier ran a big pb of 2:08:33 (previous pb of 2:11:24) to win the Düsseldorf Marathon on Sunday. David Monti thinks it’s the first victory by an American man in a European marathon of note since Galen Rupp won Prague in 2018.