Sam Ruthe (Photo Instagram)
Sixteen-year-old Sam Ruthe of New Zealand ran away with the world U-18 mile record at the John Thomas Terrier Classic, his first race in an indoor track.
Ruthe, competing indoors for the first time in his career, clocked an outright world U18 best of 3:48.88. Not only does that performance make him the third-fastest U20 athlete of all time – despite having almost three more years in that age group – it also places him 11th on the senior world short track all-time list, just 0.01 behind 2023 world champion Josh Kerr.
He also smashed the national short track record of 3:51.06, which had been held by Nick Willis since 2016, and the outright national record of 3:49.08, set outdoors back in 1982 by John Walker, the 1976 Olympic 1500m champion.
Seven days earlier, Ruthe ran 3:53.83 in Whanganui, New Zealand, setting the Oceania U18 record. One week before that, on January 17, he clocked 1:45.86 for the indoor 800 metres—also an Oceania U18 record. On December 20, the teenager ran 13:40.48 for 5,000 metres, once again rewriting the Oceania U18 record books.
Pieter Sisk of Belgium finished second in 3:50.31 for a new national record and taking third was Davis Bove of the US in 3:51.08, also in a new personal best time.
Ruthe ran an incredibly well-judged and even-paced race, tracking Sisk for most of the way. Sisk led by half a second at the half-way point and remained just ahead of the New Zealand teenager at the bell, but he was unable to maintain that pace on the final lap. Ruthe, meanwhile, hit the front and closed with a 28.38-second circuit to cross the finish line in 3:48.88.
Britain’s Isabelle, meanwhile, took two-and-a-half seconds off her short track PB to win the women’s 800m in 1:57.43, elevating her to eight on the world short track all-time list.
USA’s Roisin Willis led through 200m (27.74) and 400m (56.95) with Boffey in third place behind Gladys Chepngetich. Boffey moved up into second place at the bell, with Roisin still holding the lead (1:27.65), but the Briton strode to the front and kicked away to win in 1:57.43.
Boffey’s winning time took almost two seconds off her outright PB of 1:59.30, set outdoors in 2023. She now sits just two places behind compatriot Keely Hodgkinson, the Olympic champion, on the world short track all-time list.
Willis held on for second place in 1:57.97, breaking Ajee Wilson’s North American short track record. Chepngetich finished third in 1:58.81, taking 0.02 off Pamela Jelimo’s Kenyan short track record.
Elsewhere in Boston, Annika Reiss won the women’s mile in 4:24.38. Katie Snowden took the women’s 3000m in 8:39.89 while Ireland’s Darragh McElhinney won the men’s event in 7:38.96.
