This Weekend In Track: Grant Fisher Targets 5000m Indoor Record(s)

By Alex Predhome

Happy Valentine's Day to all the Trackheads who celebrate! If you’re trying to plan some “livestream and chill” dates, then you’re in luck—we have a few big invitationals coming up this weekend.  

Mid-February is a big time for track and field. Collegiate athletes are approaching their indoor peak before the championship season, jostling for position on the increasingly absurd NCAA qualifying lists and aiming for collegiate records. Professionals, on the other hand, are sharpening up for the indoor championship season, taunting rivals by breaking world records before the ink dries or merely aiming for safe World Championship qualifiers. 

As has been noted before, the indoor season is a bit atomized, and pros’ racing plans lack any real sort of common schedule. What does that mean for you, the viewer? With meets happening at various times and on different streams, you’ve gotta embrace your Inner Trackhead Sicko and know where to look to catch some fastness. 

But before we go into the weekend ahead, here’s a quick recap of a few noticeable performances from the Liévin meeting on Thursday. 

Jakob Strikes Back: The Double World Record

On Thursday, Jakob Ingebrigsten set a new world record in the mile of 3:45.14 and broke his own world record in the indoor 1500m with an official split of 3:29.63 in the process. Yared Nuguse's mile WR from the Millrose Games lasted just five days before Ingebrigtsen took 1.49 seconds off it. One takeaway likely to break the brains of track and field fans everywhere is that the times across the board continue to drop. When Ethan Strand set a new collegiate mile record of 3:48.32, he moved ahead of Hicham El Guerrouj on the all-time list, so it was understandable for fans to feel like no mark was truly safe. Then almost on cue, Yared Nuguse and Hobbs Kessler became the first indoor sub-3:47 runners, towing a field full of sub-3:50 performances along with them. Now, we see an immediate response from Jakob in an effort to reassert himself as the top dog in the middle distances. While fans will likely flood Twitter and the message boards with tin-foily explanations for why everyone is getting faster, one thing is particularly clear: everyone is getting faster. 

Other Quick Hits From Liévin 

• Death, Taxes and Grant Holloway: Those appear to be the three constants in life. Grant Holloway remains unbeaten in the 60m hurdles since 2014, which is an almost unparalleled level of sporting dominance. He won the prelims comfortably in 7.44 and then stormed to a commanding win in the finals, setting a world lead with a time of 7.36.

• Freweyni Hailu maintained her position as world leader in the 3000m, running 8:19.98 for a decisive victory over former training partner Gudaf Tsegay to move to No. 3 all-time indoors. 

• The women’s 60 meter hurdles continues to be one of the best events on the track, largely because the best women routinely face off head-to-head—that was certainly the case in Liévin. Ackera Nugent took over the world lead from Masai Russell by 0.01 seconds, winning in 7.75. 

How To Watch Track This Weekend

We’ve noted the headache that comes with the atomization of the indoor season and all the requisite streaming services, but here’s the situation: if you have FloTrack and a cable subscription log-in, you can watch most of these. Also, all of these meets will have live results. Brace yourself for a multiple-tabs-open situation on your browser.

Boston University David Hemery Valentine Invitational

Up first, we have BU’s David Hemery Valentine Invitational. Here, you’ll want to keep your eye on two-time Olympic medalist and newly minted indoor 3000m world record holder Grant Fisher, who is going after yet another world record, this time in the indoor 5000m. He reportedly requested to be paced through at 12:42 pace. (The time to beat is Kenenisa Bekele’s 12:49.60 from 2004.) There is a good chance that Fisher is alone in the final kilometer or two but he’s coming off of 7:22.91 3000m and 3:33.99 1500m performances. Should he falter, the next time to beat is Woody Kincaid’s American record of 12:51.61, which Fisher just missed by 0.23 seconds this time last year.

Let’s keep an eye on the following individuals in the other distance events: 

On the women’s side, the distance races look stacked. The 3000m field includes collegiate indoor 5000m record holder Doris Lemngole of Alabama, Australian 10,000m record holder Lauren Ryan, 2023 USATF 5K national champion Annie Rodenfels, Olympian Marta Pen Freitas, as well as past and current NC State stars Sam Bush and Grace Hartman. The 5000m will include Linden Hall, coming off a 3000m PB on this track two weeks prior, facing off with American pros Emily Venters, Vanessa Fraser, and Val Constien, Emily Infeld in her debut in a Brooks kit, the oft-raced Nozomi Tanaka, and a handful of top collegians.

How to watch: The BU David Hemery Valentine Invitational will be streamed on FloTrack with a subscription ($29.99/month) on February 14th (men) and 15th (women). The stream starts at 9:00 am E.T. each day. Fisher’s world record attempt is estimated to start at 6:40 pm E.T. on Friday.

Handy links: Men’s Schedule | Women’s Schedule | Men’s Entry Lists | Women’s Entry Lists | Live Results 

Tyson Invitational

This meet will feature the long-awaited season debut of Brianna Lyston in the 60m. Lyston won last year’s NCAA Indoor title in the event. Look for several national record holders to go head-to-head in the 400m including Amber Anning of the UK, Nickisha Pryce of Jamaica, and Salwa Eid Naser of Bahrain. Honestly, this may be a better field than what we see at the World Indoor Championships.

How to watch: The Arkansas Tyson Invitational will be contested on February 14-15th and will be streamed on the SEC Network+ (ESPN). You can access Friday's livestream here starting at 3:25 PM ET and Saturday’s livestream here starting at 1:25 PM ET. Keep tabs on the results here.

Washington Indoor Husky Classic

For the West Coast runners and fans, the Washington Indoor Husky Classic looks to match the hype of BU. 

On the men’s side, let’s keep an eye on the 3000m, which is so stacked that they had to split it into two heats. You have multiple Olympians like Nico Young, Jack Rayner, and James Corrigan, as well as former 3000m collegiate record holder Drew Bosley plus Colin Sahlman (who holds NCAA #2 all-time 1500m). NCAA Cross Country runner up Habtom Samuel and 2023 U20 XC individual champion Ishmael Kipkurui are also entered.

East coasters Ethan Strand and Gary Martin made definitive statements with their 3:48 miles at BU and the Armory, so now we await a response from Andy Powell’s Washington milers, who will get some help from a loaded field that includes Samuel and Young doubling back, Canada’s #2 all-time miler Kieran Lumb, Henry Wynne of the Brooks Beasts, Olympian Brian Fay, and NCAA 1500m champion Joe Waskom. 

The women’s middle distance events look to be no less deep. The 800m will have a field chasing the sub-2:00 barrier, that includes reigning NCAA champ Juliette Whittaker. 

Keep an eye on the distance medley relays as three of the top four all-time squads will be mixing it up: Washington, BYU, and Stanford. Northern Arizona will be looking to wield their distance depth into the mix as well.

How To Watch: The Washington Indoor Husky Classic will be contested on Feb 14-15th and will be streamed on Runnerspace ($12.99/month). The meet starts at noon P.T. on Friday, and at 10:00 am P.T. on Saturday. The women’s DMR goes off at 2:00 pm P.T. Friday and the men’s 3000m will go off at 4:50 pm P.T. Friday. 

Handy Links: Live results | Meet Schedule 

Tiger Paw Invitational

The Clemson Tiger Paw Invitational will be contested Friday and Saturday and should be one hell of a testing ground for sprinters in the 400m and 600m. Dina Asher-Smith and Julien Alfred will move up in distance to compete in the 400m. Rhasidat Adeleke will also slide up and make her debut in the 600. (Unofficial world record holder) Christopher Morales-Williams is set to compete against Elija Godwin and Matthew Boling in the 400m.

How To Watch: The meet will be contested on February 14-15th and is scheduled to run from 8:00 am to 2:35 pm P.T. on Friday and from 6:00 am to 1:20 am P.T. on Saturday. You can access Friday’s live stream here and Saturday’s live stream here. You can stream the event via the ESPN app or the Watch ESPN website. 

Handy Links: Live Results 

Keely Klassic

This meet lost a chunk of its shine after 800m Olympic champion—and the meet’s namesake—Keely Hodgkinson withdrew from Saturday’s meet due to a hamstring injury that she sustained in practice. This is the inherent risk of billing a major track event around one athlete and a world record attempt. Hodgkinson is not the only athlete to withdraw from the meet since it was touted as some sort of game-changer in British athletics. Jake Wightman, Amber Anning, Sam Reardon, and Ben Pattison are also no longer on the entry lists. The most compelling race to watch will likely be the women’s 1500m, where Georgia Bell will look to take down the British record of 3:59.58.

How To Watch: The meet starts at 7:05 am ET on Saturday. In the UK, the meet is available via the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport website. Viewers in America will be able to watch with a Flotrack subscription ($29.99/month).

ISATF Indoor Berlin

After Lievin, the next stop on the World Athletics Indoor Tour (albeit at the “silver” level) is in Berlin. This meet will focus on the 60m sprint, hurdles, long jump, pole vault, and the discus throw. Olympic 100m silver medalist Akani Simbine of South Africa makes his indoor debut in the 60m. He previously clocked an outdoor 60m of 6.53 back in 2023. 

How To Watch: This meet will be streamed live on FloTrack on Friday, February 14th with a subscription ($29.99/month). Competition will start at 12:10 pm E.T. 

Handy Links: Live Results 

Other meet live results: 2025 Adelaide Invitational | New Mexico Don Kirby Elite | Copernicus Cup

One Good Song For Your Weekend 

A solid track that reflects on success, worthiness, and ambition might come in handy as we head into the postseason. Maybe it could help hype you up before a big meet? Maybe it can help while you’re scheming about the outdoor season? Or maybe you listen to it, shrug, and tell yourself “Too early.” 

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