Australian teen beats Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s U16 1,500m record

At the 2023 Australian Track and Field Championships in Brisbane on the weekend, 16-year-old running phenom Cameron Myers continued his record-setting season with a second-place finish in the senior men’s 1,500m final in 3:38.02, beating Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s U16 world record of 3:39.92 by nearly two seconds.

Myers, who is still in high school, became the second-youngest Australian to reach a podium at the national track championships, winning silver and lowering his Australian U18 record. Myers had a share of the lead alongside Matthew Ramsden into the final 100m, but was overtaken by Callum Davies in a race to the line, winning in 3:37.92. (Davies is seven years older than Myers.)

There have been a few East African athletes who have run faster than 3:38 for 1,500m at 16, but their ages are not verifiable.

This is the second time this season that the young Australian has made headlines. In January, Myers became the second-youngest person to break the four-minute mile barrier, at 16 years and 259 days, setting a new U16 world record of 3:55.44. The only other athlete younger than Myers to go sub-four was the Olympic champion, Ingebrigtsen.

16-year-old phenom Cameron Myers places second in record time at the 2023 Australian Track and Field Championships.

His record-setting 1,500m time is only three and a half seconds off the 2023 World Championship standard of 3:34.20. 

In this 2023 track season, Myers has achieved personal bests in the 1,500m, mile and 3,000m. He is in his final year of high school at Lake Ginnindera College in Canberra, training with Australian distance coach Dick Telford. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Myers does not exceed training volumes of 80 kilometres a week and has a plan appropriate for an athlete of his age. 

posted Monday April 3rd
by Running Magazine