Ollie Hoare celebrates birthday by winning Wanamaker Mile at Millrose Games

Josh Kerr’s move was just a little early, and birthday boy Ollie Hoare had other plans.

Hoare, an Australian who turned 25 Saturday, pushed passed his British rival entering the final turn of the men’s Wanamaker Mile at the 114th running of the Millrose Games at the Armory in Manhattan. Hoare won in three minutes, 50.83 seconds. Kerr, the bronze medalist in the 1,500 at last summer’s Olympics, was second in 3:52.27 and American Colby Alexander was third in 3:52.84.

"Going into this race, I was extremely confident that I could run fast and go with an extremely hard pace," Hoare said. "Josh Kerr [has] an amazing engine and someone that you really want to race with. We didn’t get many opportunities last year to race … For me, it was getting experience running against a top quality guy like that."

Kerr passed Hoare with two laps to go, looking to hold on the rest of the way.

"When he passed me, I was actually quite surprised," Hoare said. "I thought he would pass me with a lap to go and show what Josh Kerr does with that strength. But, I was pretty relaxed and I was confident that I could go again and I went again on the back straight around the bend and just tried to hold him off as much as I could."

American Elle Purrier St. Pierre won the women’s Wanamaker mile in 4:19.30, her second consecutive win in the event. Purrier St. Pierre won in 2020 in 4:16.85. There was no Millrose Games in 2021 because of the pandemic.

"Obviously, the last time I raced here, I set the bar pretty high," said Purrier St. Pierre, 26, who set the American indoor record with her 2020 win. "Coming back from that was going to be pretty hard to top, but I went in with confidence and just believed in all training that I’ve done. The pace felt a little bit fast from the start, so I didn’t necessarily feel all that good. But, I just tried to stay consistent with my pace and not let anybody get by."

The high school portion of the meet was altered by the blizzard. Among those who braved the conditions were Elmont's girls 4 x 400 meter team, who finished second in the Suburban girls relay in 4:01.16 and Northport's 4 x 800 team, who finished third in the girls race in 9:29.06. Huntington's Analisse Batista was second in the girls 600 in 1:32.85.