Matthew Centrowitz ran 3:49.26 to improve on his mile personal best on Saturday night but fell well short of the American record of 3:46.91. Centrowitz made the attempt at breaking Alan Webb’s national record at Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon, and he was a little disappointed with not going faster.
The Olympic 1500m champion was staging his final competitive tune-up before departing to Japan for the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 event. It was also his first race since finishing second at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials last month.
READ MORE: Watch a replay of the race here
Paced by his Nike/Bowerman Track Club teammates, Amos Bartelsmeyer and Josh Thompson, and watched by a large gathering Centrowitz, who ran a good chunk of the race on his own, started at a fast pace under the lights, but all three athletes ran out of fume in the latter stage of the race.
Despite not breaking the American mile record, Centrowitz was able to improve on his own personal best of 3:50.53, set back in 2014, while moving up four spots from No. 9 to No. 5 on the U.S. all-time mile listing.
Sam Prakel finished second in 3:57.92 and Tripp Hurt ran 3:57.95 for third place.
Centrowitz will now look to rest up before the start of the men’s 1500m heats at Tokyo 2020 which get underway on Day 5 of the Olympic track and field schedule on August 3.
“I’m tired,” he said after the run on Saturday night on LetsRun.com. “I was definitely expecting a lot more. Happy to finally crack 3:50 for sure but I was looking for a little something quicker tonight for sure.
“I think the pace early on was really hot. I felt a little bit uncomfortable through 800 and it kind of showed for the last 600 meters.”
