Kejelcha smashes world indoor mile record

YOMI-KEJELCHA

Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) wins the Wanamaker Mile in 3:48.46 – 0.01 off the world record of 3:48.45 set by Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) in 1997 – during the 112th Millrose Games at The Armory. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) wins the Wanamaker Mile in 3:48.46 – 0.01 off the world record of 3:48.45 set by Hicham El Guerrouj (MAR) in 1997 – during the 112th Millrose Games at The Armory. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha broke the world indoor mile record when he clocked three minutes 47.01 seconds during an invitational meet in Boston on Sunday.

The 21-year-old smashed the 22-year-old record of 3:48.45 set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1997.

Kejelcha had come within one-hundredth of a second of the record when he clocked 3:48.46 at the Millrose Games in New York last month.

The twice world indoor 3,000m champion was also targeting the indoor 1,500m record but narrowly missed it with a 3:31.25.

That made Kejelcha, who is coached by Alberto Salazar, the third-fastest in the event behind compatriot Samuel Tefera’s February world record of 3:31.04 and El Guerrouj’s 3:31.18.

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