Niel Gourley of Great Britain, first place, and Sam Tanner of New Zealand, second place, react after the Men's Mile during the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on February 04, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo / Maddie Meyer, Getty Images
Niel Gourley of Great Britain, first place, and Sam Tanner of New Zealand, second place, react after the Men's Mile during the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix on February 04, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. Photo / Maddie Meyer, Getty Images
Just eight days after setting a new personal best in the mile, the rising star of New Zealand running has smashed that mark to become the third-fastest miler in the country’s history.
The 22-year-old from Pāpāmoa, who was sixth in last year’s Commonwealth Games 1500m final, ran 3:52.85 to finish second at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston on Sunday (NZ time). He finished just 10 milliseconds behind Great Britain’s Neil Gourley.
Tanner’s time is only bettered - indoors or outdoors - by Olympic medallists Sir John Walker and Nick Willis.
Walker’s personal best of 3:49.08, set in Oslo in 1982, stands as the national record, while Willis ran his personal best of 3:49.83 in 2014.
Willis also holds the New Zealand indoor mile record - 3:51.06.
Tanner’s performance in Boston comes hot on the heels of the Cooks Classic in Whanganui, where he took 0.41 seconds off his personal best to win his second national mile title.
Sam Tanner at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Photo / Photosport
In taking a further 1.71 seconds off that, he went from eighth on the all-time list to third, surpassing legendary names such as Sir Peter Snell and Rod Dixon.
Tanner became New Zealand’s second-fastest runner ever in the 1500m, behind only Willis, when he ran a three-second personal best of 3:31.34 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
The Tauranga Ramblers runner will get a chance to lower his mark in the mile even further when he lines up in the prestigious Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games indoors in New York next weekend.
Meanwhile, Tanner hasn’t been the only New Zealander impressing offshore.
Birmingham Commonwealth Games high jump gold medallist Hamish Kerr has almost eclipsed his personal best to win the World Indoor Tour meeting in the Czech Republic.
The 26-year-old, who also collected bronze at last year’s World Indoor Championships, took victory with a leap of 2.30m - just one centimetre shy of his lifetime best, set in Wellington in early 2021.
