Hicham El Guerrouj Tells Edward Cheserek to Focus on the 1,500 Meters and Mile

By Adam Kopet

Edward Cheserek ran the second-fastest indoor mile in history Friday at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational at Boston University, running 3:49.44.

Morocco's Hicham El Guerrouj holds the world indoor record at 3:48.45 from 1997.

El Guerrouj took to Twitter this weekend to give some advice to Cheserek, who is in his first year as a professional runner. He advised Cheserek to focus on the 1,500 meters and the mile.

Congratulations to Edward @KingCheserek. extraordinary performance. I advice you to focus only on the 1500m&mile https://t.co/kDbMn8i5nx

— Hicham El Guerrouj (@ElguerroujHicha) February 10, 2018

This advice would go against the strengths Cheserek has shown in the past, appearing to be more of a 5,000 and 10,000-meter runner. Cheserek won 17 NCAA titles, with most of those wins coming at distances of 3,000 meters or longer, including three NCAA Cross Country titles.

But then again, El Guerrouj holds world records at 1,500 meters, 2,000 meters and the mile. He also has numerous Olympic and IAAF World Championships medals. He might know what he is talking about.