Yomif Kejelcha, an Ethiopian distance runner, broke the world record in the men’s indoor mile at the Boston University Track and Tennis Center Sunday.
Kejelcha ran a time of 3 minutes, 47.01 seconds as part of the Bruce Lehane Invitational Mile. The previous record of 3:48.45 was set by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj in 1997.
Juan Estela, distance running chair of the BU running club, was at the TTC when Kejelcha broke the record and said it was an exciting event to witness.
“As someone who follows the sport of track and field, getting the opportunity to see such high-level competition is really exciting,” Estela said.
Estela said the crowd was heavily invested in the outcome of the race.
“Even when people weren’t cheering, you could sense the excitement, you could even sense the tension, because there was the possibility of him not succeeding,” Estela said. “He did do it, and then everyone just erupted into cheers.”
Kejelcha, who is 21 years old, attempted to break the world record at the Millrose Games in New York City in February but fell short by just 0.01 seconds, according to the website LetsRun. His time is the ninth fastest mile ever run, indoors or outdoors.
Bruce Lehane, for whom the race is named, was a Division I track coach at Boston University, Estela said. When Lehane passed away in 2017, the invitational mile was named after him.
“Historically this invitational mile has been very very exciting just because they do get some of the best pro running athletes to come,” Estela said.
He added that in addition to Kejelcha, there were many other highly skilled runners competing in the race.
“It’s really fascinating to see just how much professional runners have trained themselves to not only run fast,” Estela said, “but part of the battle is to just like push through any barriers of pain and discomfort.”
