Nineteen-year-old Cameron Myers has delivered the fastest 3000m ever run by an Australian, producing a stunning 7:27.57 to win the men’s 3000m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix.
The performance was significant on multiple fronts. Myers erased Ky Robinson’s 7:30.38 Australian short track record and also bettered Stewart McSweyn’s long-national 3000m record of 7:28.02 from 2020, marking a major milestone in the young Australian’s rapid ascent.
In a race that demanded both composure and courage, Myers unleashed a devastating finish, closing with a 55.98-second final 400m over the last two 200m laps and covering the final kilometre in 2:24 to surge away from a world-class field. Ireland’s Andrew Coscoran claimed second in 7:30.97, while early pace-setter Graham Blanks (USA) held on for third in 7:31.97.
For Myers, Boston is a happy hunting ground, having run 7:33.12 in the same meet last year prior to his Australian record 3:47.48 mile in New York.
“I had the fitness… and I’m glad that I was able to come over here and run two good races, and hopefully a third after next week,” Myers told reporters after the race.
Feeding off the atmosphere
Starting alongside Blanks, a crowd favourite, only added to the occasion.
“Especially starting next to Graham, who’s practically a local boy, I feel like I was able to feed off that energy a little bit,” Myers said. “It’s a great track, a great atmosphere, and I like being here.”
That comfort translated into control. Myers acknowledged the fine margins involved in staying connected without drifting into a pace that doesn’t suit him.
“That 60-second pace… that’s where I struggle,” he explained. “It was just about hanging on so I could have enough to get over the top of him in the last two laps.”
A setback handled with maturity
The Boston breakthrough comes after a testing period that saw Myers withdraw from Australia’s World Cross Country team due to medical issues.
“I passed out in a a few runs… I don’t want to get too much into detail,” he said. “I had to get cleared by a cardiologist and neurologist, and I only got cleared the day before the team was meant to leave.”
Rather than disrupt preparations, Myers made the selfless call to step aside.
“If I can give Jack [Anstey] enough time to prepare, that’s going to do the team better than if I tell him three days before the race. I was just trying to do what was best for the team.”
Consistency first, always
Asked whether he feels he has moved to another level since last summer, Myers pointed to long-term development rather than any single breakthrough.
“It’s just another year stacking weeks at 130–140 kilometres and not having any injuries — touch wood,” he said. “It goes into my motto of consistency: prioritise the weeks over the workouts.”
That philosophy is now delivering results that resonate well beyond Australia.
World Indoors… or home soil?
Next weekend Myers competes in the Wanamaker Mile in New York, against a star studded field including 3-time winner Yared Nguse and Hobbs Kessler, who set a World Short Track record of 4:48.79 over 2000m at the same meet Myers competed in.
Despite his record-breaking form, Myers suggested his indoor campaign may not centre on the World Indoor Championships, with the Maurie Plant Meet looming large.
“Being an Australian, that’s almost one of the biggest meets in our domestic calendar, almost more than Nationals,” he said. “It means a lot to be there for the crowd.”
With tight scheduling either side of World Indoors, Myers and his team will assess whether both can be accommodated.
Chasing the final gear
Perhaps most telling was Myers’ candour about what still separates him from consistent global medal contenders.
“I can get to 100 to go, even 50 to go, but I don’t quite have that top-end gear yet,” he said. “That’s the next challenge.”
Some athletes, he acknowledged, possess an innate “X-factor.” Others must build it patiently.
“There’s gears you can develop by getting thinner and faster,” he said. “At the moment, that’s what I’m doing. I’ve just got to get better and see how that takes me.”
At just 19, with two Australian records falling in one night and developing the closing speed that can dismantle elite fields, Cameron Myers is well and truly arriving on the world stage.
Hall over Hull in women’s 3000m
World Cross Country gold medallists Linden Hall and Jess Hull lined up over 3000m, with Hall taking second place in a big personal best of 8:27.03, finishing ahead of Hull, who was third in 8:36.03. USA’s Elle St Pierre took out the race in 8:26.54, passing Hall in the final 200m to take victory.
Hull had taken up the pace when the pacemaker dropped out after 1200m and held the lead until 600m remaining, before fading as the pace quickened. The halfway point of the race was covered in 4:15.
The run was a 3-second personal best for Hall and just 3 seconds outside Georgia Griffith’s outdoor national record. The run also marks the first defeat of Hull by an Australian since the 2023 Diamond League final where Hall finished 5th to Hull’s 8th.
Sarah Billings finished 4th in the women’s 1500m in 4:01.79, half a second behind winner Dorcus Ewoi from Kenya (4:01.22).
