Why you need to watch the Bowerman Mile this year
If Paris 2024 was the grand finale to a dramatic 1500m season, then the 2025 Bowerman Mile is the first episode of the next season, leading up to the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo from 13-21 September, and then eventually, LA 28.
So if you only watch one middle-distance race this season before the Worlds, make it the Bowerman Mile.
This episode of the mile is stacked with athletes who could all plausibly take the crown.
Let’s start with the heat around Frenchman Azeddine Habz. Until recently, he flew a bit under the radar. That was, until he ran a 3:27.49 at the Paris Diamond League, the sixth fastest 1500m time ever run. And while there’s always the chance that kind of race was a perfect storm, Habz seems ready to prove he can do it again. He’s a front-runner by nature, which makes him both dangerous and unpredictable as he could burn everyone off from the gun or risk fading late. Either way, he’ll be at the heart of the action.
Then there’s American Bowerman mile record holder and Paris 2024 bronze medallist Yared Nuguse. Steady, smooth and deceptively lethal, he’s been consistently near the top of every big race this season, even if he hasn’t quite had that breakout win yet this outdoor season.
In 2023, Nuguse went toe-to-toe with Bowerman mile record holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen in this exact race and nearly pulled off an upset. If he times his final kick right, he could finally take the victory that’s eluded him. Ingebrigtsen, meanwhile, is not on the start list this year.
Speaking of timing things right, Cole Hocker is known for showing up when it matters most. The Oregon native has had a steady stream of podium performances this season, finishing second and twice third in the 1500m race in Grand Slam Track events. Don’t be surprised if the home crowd lights a fire under their reigning Olympic 1500m champion and he unleashes that signature finishing kick when it counts. That is, if it’s timed right.
And the depth doesn’t stop there. Hobbs Kessler has quietly been running big-time numbers and seems to be in the form of his life. Cameron Myers, the 19-year-old Aussie prodigy, has already broken the 3:30 barrier and could be this year’s breakout star. Grant Fisher, Olympic bronze medallist in the 5000m and 10,000m, is stepping down in distance to sharpen his speed ahead of the World Championships, and he’s just the kind of guy who could throw a curveball into the mix.
Add to this two former 1500m world champions in Britain’s Jake Wightman (2022) and Kenya’s Timothy Cheruiyot (2019), and the 2025 Bowerman Mile has all the makings of a classic.
To win this year’s mile, you will need more than just speed. It’ll be about tactics, timing, and guts. Who goes early? Who waits? Who has something left in the tank with 100 metres to go?
It’s the uncertainty, the possibility, the feeling that anything could happen that makes this mile so magical.