Two classic distances, two new Australian records to Cam Myers and Haftu Strintzos.
Cam Myers lowered the Australian mile record to 3:46.04 in winning the prestigious Bowerman Mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, while Haftu Strinzos set a marathon best of 2:06:20 to win the Gold Coast Marathon.
He previously equally held the record with Olli Hoare at 3:47.48.
Myers’s record breaking performance didn’t come as a surprise, coming off the back of a world class victory and Australian record of 3:28.00 over 1500m last weekend in Paris.
However, it was the manner of victory as much as the time which was impressive in the USA: the 20-year-old showed a clean pair of heels to the USA’s top milers on 4 July, winning by over half a second from Olympic bronze medallist Jared Nuguse (3:46.61), Olympic finalist Hobbs Kessler (4th, 3:47.38) and Olympic champion Cole Hocker (6th, 3:47.57). Myers went to the lead with 600m to run and covered his final lap in 55.0 following even splits through the start line of 56.5, 56.6 and 56.7.
“Keeping the pace semi-honest just runs people out of it a bit. If I close well, the other guys need to close even better,” Myers told Letsrun.com after the race.
“I knew I was in a good spot when I took the lead with 600m to go and then didn’t feel any worse with 300m to go.”
Myers will now enter a training block ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow later this month.
“I feel like I’ve ticked off the times, so I;’ll just turn my focus to winning the races and that was the mindset I had today.”
In winning Myers became just the third man in history to win the two prestigious miles held in the USA in the same year: the Wannamaker Mile (indoors in February) and today’s Bowerman Mile.
The run moves him to ninth on the global all-time list: Rank Mark Competitor Venue Year 1 3:43.13 Hicham EL GUERROUJ Rome 1999 2 3:43.40 Noah NGENY Rome 1999 3 3:43.73 Jakob INGEBRIGTSEN Eugene 2023 4 3:43.97 Yared NUGUSE Eugene 2023 5 3:44.39 Noureddine MORCELI Rieti 1993 6 3:45.34 Josh KERR Eugene 2024 7 3:45.94 Niels LAROS Eugene 2025 7 3:45.94 Cole HOCKER Winston Salem 2026 9 3:46.06 Cameron MYERS Eugene 2026 10 3:46.32 Steve CRAM Oslo 1985
Haftu Strintzos became the first Australian male to win the Gold Coast Marathon since Lee Troop claimed line honours in 2006, shaving two seconds from Andy Buchanan’s national record set in Valencia in 2024.
The 26-year-old ran at perfect 3 minute/kilometre pace for almost the whole race, negatively splitting the halves (63:31/62:49) thanks to his fastest 10km stretch of the race (29:45) between 30km and 40km.
The run was Strinzos’s third marathon finish following a 2:11:27 in Sydney last year and a 2:26:20 in Valencia at the end of the year.
“Ecstatic. It hasn’t quite registered yet but I’m sure it will soon,” Strintzos said.
“This is a memorable moment, a breakthrough moment for me, and I’ve been working hard for this.
“I’m grateful for all the support I’ve gotten from my peers and my family. Super excited, there’s more to come.”
The performance is one of only two in the top 10 all-time by Australians set on home soil (the other being Liam Adams’s 2:08:39 on the same course) and the first time since 1967 that the Australian record had been set in Australia.
| Rank | Mark | Competitor | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2:06:20 | Haftu STRINTZOS | Gold Coast | 2026 |
| 2 | 2:06:22 | Andrew BUCHANAN | Valencia | 2024 |
| 3 | 2:07:31 | Brett ROBINSON | Fukuoka | 2022 |
| 4 | 2:07:45 | Patrick TIERNAN | Houston | 2024 |
| 5 | 2:07:51 | Robert DE CASTELLA | Boston | 1986 |
| 6 | 2:08:16 | Steve MONEGHETTI | Berlin | 1990 |
| 7 | 2:08:34 | Derek CLAYTON | Antwerp | 1969 |
| 8 | 2:08:39 | Liam ADAMS | Gold Coast | 2023 |
| 9 | 2:09:39 | Pat CARROLL | Oita | 1995 |
| 10 | 2:09:40 | Tim VINCENT | Frankfurt | 2024 |
