NUGUSE, MORRIS WIN WET NEW BALANCE FIFTH AVENUE MILE
By Rich Sands, @sands
(c) 2025 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved - Used with permission.

NEW YORK (07-Sep) — Disappointed to have missed a spot on Team USATF for the upcoming World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Yared Nuguse found a different way to end his season on a high note, winning a thrilling New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile road race in Manhattan. Gracie Morris was the surprise winner of the women’s division, using a well-timed kick to secure victory. The races were held in light rain, capping a day of mass participation, age-group and specialty heats featuring more than 8,500 participants at the New York Road Runners-organized event.

MORRIS NAILS HER TIMING

The women’s elite race went off first, and defending champion Karissa Schweizer, who ran 4:14.8 to equal the event record last year, immediately went to the front down the 20-block straight-line, downhill course. A two-time Olympian in the 5000 and 10,000 meters, she knew she would need to rely on her strength up against a field of established middle-distance runners. She admitted that her enthusiasm, combined with the course’s initial downhill slope, may have caused her to push the pace a bit too hard. Leading Morris by 10 meters, Schweizer earned the race’s $1,000 halfway leader bonus.

Morris, fifth in this event last year, continued to track Schweizer while remaining several steps ahead of a pack that included Dani Jones, Gabbbi Jennings, Eleanor Fulton and Kayley DeLay. Shortly after the three-quarter mile mark Morris began to close the gap on Schweizer, who still looked strong but was beginning to strain. With about 300 meters to go Morris decisively surged into the lead. She remained unchallenged to the finish and won comfortably in 4:15.5.

“I knew I needed to stay patient and that I could get her,” said Morris, who joined the Puma Elite Running Team in North Carolina a year ago after graduating from Texas Christian University. “And right around 1200 I knew that’s a key point in this race, so I just started pressing.”

Morris finished 9th in the 1500 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships in early August and then won the Sir Walter Miler (track mile) a week later, smashing her track personal best with a 4:23.74 clocking. “This is one the best seasons I have had, just confidence wise and having consistency. I don’t feel like I’ve had a bad race,” she said. “I really wanted to win this one and use this momentum to go into next year.”

Behind her, Kayley DeLay broke free from the pack and tracked down Schweizer, edging ahead for second place just before the finish, 4:17.4 to 4:17.6. Fulton (4:18.9) and Laurie Barton (4:20.6) rounded out the top five.

“I’m happy with this,” said Schweizer, who finished a disappointing sixth in both the 5000 and 10,000 at the U.S. championships. “It’s been a weird year. I feel like this race and my 5K in Brussels [where she clocked a season’s best 14:39.30] showed that I’m not as far off as I thought.”


NUGUSE'S PRIDE HELPED CARRY HIM TO THE WIN

The men’s race played out quite differently, with a huge pack running together in the early going. No significant moves were made until Flavien Szot bolted to the front just in time to earn the halfway leader bonus. (He would eventually finish 12th.)

The pack quickly caught the Frenchman. Nuguse --who opened his season in New York City in February with his third straight victory in the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games-- was at the center of the road, with his expected chief rivals, Josh Hoey and Hobbs Kessler, to his right, while Luke Houser and Amon Kemboi were on his left. Hoey, the runner-up here in 2024 and this year’s world indoor champion in the 800 meters, nudged briefly ahead, but could not gain any separation.

With a quarter mile to go, Parker Wolfe swung wide on the right and edged into the lead, appearing poised for an upset. But a cluster of men remained on his heels and just steps before the line Nuguse found one more gear and broke the tape in 3:47.7, becoming the first American man to win this race since Eric Jenkins in 2016.

“I feel like a lot this year I haven’t really had the kick I wanted, and I think with that downhill energy and also this being my very last race, I really just wanted to leave it all out there,” said Nuguse, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1500 last summer in Paris. “When Parker passed me that just ignited something within in to really leave it all out there.”

Wolfe (3:48.1) held off Drew Hunter (3:48.1) for second, followed by Ireland’s Nick Griggs (3:48.4) and Kenyan Festus Lagat (3:48.4). Kessler (3:49.6) came home 10th and Hoey (3:51.9) finished 13th.

The win gave Nuguse a nice boost after his season took a shocking turn at the U.S. championships, where he was relegated to fifth place in the 1500. The On Athletics Club star’s bid to earn a wild card into the World Championships by winning the Diamond League Final in Zurich on August 28 fizzled out when he finished seventh, leaving him off of the national team for Tokyo. “After what happened in Zurich I was a little bummed that that was the end of my season, but Fifth Avenue only asked me [to run here] after that race,” he said. “I liked the idea of racing a fun race. I wanted to win, but I wanted to have an enjoyable [experience] and I heard that Fifth Avenue has really fun vibes.”

Wolfe also found redemption with his performance. An injury cut short his senior season at the University of North Carolina this spring, but he rallied to place 6th in the 5000 at the USATF Championships on minimal training. “I thought I had it until the last 10 meters,” he said of his bold move today. “I started tying up a little bit. I’m very happy to feel that gear be there. It’s been a while since I’ve really had that. I felt like myself racing again, so that was awesome.”

Morris and Nuguse both recorded the third fastest times in event history and pocketed $5,000 in prize money for their victories.


PHOTO: Yared Nuguse winning the 2025 New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile (photo by John Nepolitan for Race Results Weekly)

PHOTO: Gracie Morris winning the 2025 New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile (photo by John Nepolitan for Race Results Weekly)

PHOTO: Gracie Morris and Yared Nuguse celebrating their 2025 New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile victories (photo by John Nepolitan for Race Results Weekly)

ENDS