© Copyright – 2025 – Athletics Illustrated
Twenty-eight-year-old Jonah Koech ran a new personal best in the 1500 metre event at the 2025 USATF Track and Field Championships on Saturday.
Who?
Not Yared Nuguse, Cole Hocker, or Hobbs Kessler, each of whom is a global championship medallist?
Coached by Colm O’Connell
Jonah Koech (Kipruto) is from Kenya, but moved to the US in 2015 and ran for the University of Texas El Paso.
His talent was noticed early. In 2013, Koech attended St. Patrick’s High School in Iten, Kenya, where he trained under legendary coach Colm O’Connell. At the time, he had the opportunity to train with David Rudisha, the great 800m runner.
Jonah Koech and Ethan Strand STUN the favorites to punch their tickets to Worlds in the 1500m! 🤯
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) August 2, 2025
📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/P8OcuV0ItW
Koech entered Saturday’s race nursing a hamstring issue and declared that he was “75 per cent healthy.”
His performance of 3:30.17 is well off the American record of 3:27.40 by former Kenyan-turned-American Bernard Lagat, from his August 6, 2004, performance in Zurich, Switzerland.
However, as races can play out, Saturday’s was more tactical than a fast Diamond League meet. It was about dropping the kick over the closing stages of the race and holding off competitors for placement — the top three qualify for Worlds. Koech bettered four athletes who appeared to be faster than him, going in.
Ethan Strand ran the imperial mile (1609m) indoors in February, finishing in 3:48.32, which is a better performance. Also in February, Kessler clocked a 3:31.89. Hocker nearly broke the American record, clocking 3:27.65 during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. Nuguse ran nearly as fast in the same race at 3:27.80.
Koech, who only broke 3:40 a few times, was fresh from training in Kenya for a spell. While it is common for Kenyan athletes living in North America to head home for a training block, Koech lives at elevation in Colorado. His red blood cell count is probably very high, and Eugene, Oregon, where the Trials took place, sits at 131m above sea level. There is plenty of oxygen in the air in Eugene.
It was a very competitive race with three going sub-3:31, five under 3:32, and seven running under 3:33.
Athletics fans will be interested to see if he can keep this performance level up.
Elsewhere in the 1500m
Meanwhile, over in Great Britain, Josh Kerr cleaned the clocks of his fellow Brits in the 5000m event. He finished in the time of 13:44.73, not a world-class time, but he finished blowing kisses to the crowd and well in front of a hard-charging field. Finishing in second was Jack Kavanagh in 13:53.35. The gap was massive. Kerr is a two-time Olympic medallist and World Champion. His personal best in the 1500m is 3:27.79 from the 2024 Paris Olympics. The overdistance race was good for him, while he earned a bye in the metric mile.
The week prior, Kerr ran a controlled 3:29.37 during the London Diamond League meet.
Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen owns a pb of 3:26.73 from the 2024 Monaco Diamond League meet. While he has been defeated by Josh Kerr and Jake Whightman at the two recent world championships, he is a big factor and a multi-time Olympic medallist. In February, Ingebrigtsen ran a solid 3:29.63 performance.
Few others will be able to mix it up with the above-named athletes outside of Azeddine Habz of France and Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya.
But, Koech taking out Strand, Hocker, Kessler and Nuguse with a hamstring issue, may be a foreshadowing of a World Championships medal for the US in the 1500m event in Tokyo in September.
Meanwhile, there are national championships and World Trials going on around the world this weekend.
USATF 1500m results
| POS. | NAME | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jonah Koech – Under Armour [28] WCS | 3:30.17 PB |
| 2 | Ethan Strand – NIKE Swoosh TC [22] WCS | 3:30.25 PB |
| 3 | Cole Hocker – NIKE Swoosh TC [24] WCS | 3:30.37 SB |
| 4 | Hobbs Kessler – adidas [22] WCS | 3:31.12 SB |
| 5 | Yared Nuguse – OAC [26] WCS | 3:31.34 |
| 6 | Gary Martin – Virginia [21] WCS | 3:32.03 PB |
| 7 | Vincent Ciattei – Under Armour/Dark Sky Distance [30] WCS | 3:32.73 |
| 8 | Nathan Green – adidas [22] | 3:33.25 |
| 9 | Sam Prakel – adidas [30] | 3:33.70 |
| 10 | Joe Waskom – adidas [24] | 3:39.18 |
| 11 | Luke Houser – Atlanta TC Elite [24] | 3:39.44 |
| 12 | Eric Holt – PUMA/EMPIRE ELITE TC [30] WCS | 3:40.29 |
Featured image from X (Twitter) post by @janfigueroa07
