When teenager Cameron Myers crossed the line in third place in the mile race at the Maurie Plant Meet at Albert Park in Melbourne on Thursday night, he had no idea history had been made.
The 16-year-old ran a time of three minutes, 55.44 seconds, which was a world record for 16-year-olds. It was so quick he beat the time held by Tokyo Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was nine days younger than Myers when he ran 3:58.07 in May 2017.
“I didn’t have any idea,” Myers told The Age and Sydney Morning Herald
“It wasn’t until someone came up to me and told me the time that I got to understand what had happened.
“It was cool, but I expected to go under, but not that far under.”
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The run has been a huge taking point in the athletics world, with some suggesting Myers could be on the way to becoming as celebrated as Ingebrigtsen, who is one of the stars of sport.
“I don’t think it changes much for me,” Myers said.
“It is about how you progress to the open ranks.
“It’s only an age world record. It’s cool to have, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”
Myers was invited as a 14-year-old to respected athletics coach and academic professor Dick Telford’s group of five top-level runners. The group included Tokyo Olympic 1500-metre runner Jye Edwards but Telford admitted Myers’ improvement had even shocked him.
“I’m used to dealing with youngsters and I never, ever like to make predictions about 14-year-olds because lots of things happen between 14 and 18 in terms of maturity and improvement,” Telford said.
“He’s been running with guys a lot better than him, including Jye Edwards, who ran in the last Olympics in the 1500 metres. Cam sort of lifted himself then.”
Myers won the Albie Thomas 1 Mile Australian championship last December and has improved his 1500-metre personal best by 12 seconds since January.
He is planning to run in the Sydney Track Classic in March and the Australian track and field championships in Brisbane at the end of March.
Telford said scores of US colleges were trying to attract Myers, and it would be a challenge to keep him in Australia.
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