You might not be about to find Yared Nuguse engaging in any wars of words, but the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist explains why he expects to be a contender for the big middle-distance prizes again
Yared Nuguse wants to make something clear. He is not about to suddenly throw himself into the headline-making, hype-creating, tension-inducing trash-talking that has become such a big feature of men’s middle-distance running in recent years. What you can expect from the softly spoken American, however, is for him to be right in contention for the sport’s major honors once more in 2025.
You might not be about to find Yared Nuguse engaging in any wars of words, but the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist explains why he expects to be a contender for the big middle-distance prizes again
Yared Nuguse wants to make something clear. He is not about to suddenly throw himself into the headline-making, hype-creating, tension-inducing trash-talking that has become such a big feature of men’s middle-distance running in recent years. What you can expect from the softly spoken American, however, is for him to be right in contention for the sport’s major honors once more in 2025.
Yared Nuguse
Rather than making any resolutions every January, instead the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist who kept defending Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen off the Paris podium sets himself a theme for the 12 months to come.
“It helps to align my goals for what I generally want to be doing in that year,” he says. “For example, last year was a year of fulfillment. I wanted to go and fulfill the things that I felt I was capable of doing – seizing my moment and not being as afraid to take risks and do things that scared me a little bit. That was something I was able to do well at the Olympics, as well as in my normal day-to-day life.”
The theme for this year?
“Authenticity. I’ve always been a person who has wanted to be myself in every way that I present myself. A lot of the time I can hide a little bit or I’m not quite as forthcoming with who I am, just because I was always nervous about what people would think. But over the last couple of years, and especially this year, I want to focus on being unapologetically myself, doing the stuff I want to do, not caring what people think about it, and always being me because I’m the only person who can be me.”
Who is Yared Nuguse, in that case? He is an athlete who didn’t take up running until high school, when one of his teachers suggested he could be very good at it, and now admits to being “addicted” to the process of putting one foot in front of the other.
Yet his interests away from the track are many. Following the LA Olympics, he plans to go to dental school to fulfill another very different ambition, while his downtime is usually spent drawing, reading fantasy novels, and also looking after his pet tortoise, Tyro.
All of that means that when Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr, the arch-rivals who have made a second job out of tearing verbal strips from one another, you won’t find Nuguse stepping up to the microphone to throw his barbs.
Yared Nuguse and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Getty)
“People may expect some of that from me, but that wouldn’t be authentic to myself,” he says. “I’m not the kind of person to just start boasting about how confident I am about a race right before, or anything like that. Some people’s personalities are more like that, and mine is more to keep it to myself. I might think those things but I would never say those things. I’m not much of an entertainment person when it comes to track and field. I’m more just like my silly little self.
“I don’t pay as much attention [to the trash-talking] as other people do, but I think it’s been really fun and interesting to get a lot more interest and intrigue in track and field. But then having Cole upset all that at the Olympics was an even greater result – all of it is just like poetry.
“It’s been fun to be a part of that and not be at the center of it because, again, I wouldn’t want to be. I’ve enjoyed seeing it all shake out and I’m very curious to see how it continues this year, especially with Cole now as the Olympic champion.”
The watching athletics world feels the same. The Cole to whom Nuguse refers is, of course, Cole Hocker – another quiet American whose closing surge saw him cross the line ahead of world champion Kerr in the Stade de France.
“I was underestimated and Cole was underestimated,” says Nuguse of that race. “Cole beat me at the US trials [Nuguse was second], so I knew he was going to be good, but I feel like a lot of people were just not really paying attention to him because he hadn’t done a lot of international racing or winning at that stage before the Olympics.
“There was a lot of rivalry going on, so that’s why that was so hyped up, and those guys did race extremely well before the Olympics so it makes sense why they were as highly rated as they were. But that’s why we race these races. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Yared Nuguse (Getty)
One of the early indications as to how this year might shape up is about to arrive in the form of the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in New York. It’s an event Nuguse has won for the past two years but he will be coming up against Kerr, to whom he came second over 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow last March. Nuguse, second on the all-time list, set his indoor mile PB of 3:47.38 at the Armory in 2023, while Kerr’s PB is 3:48.87 from the previous year.
Along with Ingebrigtsen and Hocker, those two form a formidable quartet that looks likely to have the final say in where the big prizes will end up this year. Yet, with athletes such as 2022 world champion Jake Wightman on the comeback trail, young Dutchman Niels Laros growing in stature, and another American, Hobbs Kessler, also improving and racing at Millrose, the threats are numerous.
The year will come to a climax with the World Championships in Tokyo in September and it’s telling that Asbel Kiprop, who was banned for doping in 2019, was the last man to win successive world 1500m titles when he took gold in 2015. Since then Elijah Manangoi, Timothy Cheruiyot, Wightman, and Kerr have all taken the crown.
“It’s insanely deep, and that’s what’s made this point of 1500m running so much fun,” says Nuguse of the current landscape. “It’s the best that it’s been in many, many years and it has just made me feel grateful to be a part of it.
Yared Nuguse pips Josh Kerr (Getty)
“You don’t want to look back and be like: ‘Man, my era of 1500m running kind of sucked!’. I’m going to look back and think: ‘This was a crazy time for 1500m running’.
“The Olympics was the most evidence of how close the four of us were and I think every race for us is going to be different, it’s just the little things that are going to determine who wins. But all of us are definitely in contention [for the world title] and I’m going to believe in myself now, especially after last year.
“So much of it is confidence and just believing that you can do that. I’m sure all of us are thinking we’re going to win this and I’m no different. We’re all good enough to do it so it’s just a matter of who wants it most and who makes the right play on the day.”
Nuguse will also take confidence from the man who has been guiding him since 2022. He is part of the Boulder-based On Athletics Club (OAC) led by Dathan Ritzenhein and, under the watchful eye of the two-time Olympian, has not only won global medals but also become the American record-holder over 1500m and the mile.
“My relationship with Dathan has always been good,” says the 25-year-old. “From the beginning, it felt like he knew what he was doing and was able to train me well without overdoing it, which I appreciate. I’m not quite the ‘hundreds of miles a week distance runner kind of guy’, so it helps that the coach understands that and believes in you the way that you believe in yourself a lot of the time.
“He’ll tell me: ‘You can win this race. You’ve got to just believe in it and make it happen, and it’s good hearing it from someone else who knows how I’ve been training and knows how good I am because, a lot of the time, it carries a little more weight. I’ve always appreciated Dathan.”
Nuguse will also be part of one of the most talked about additions to the athletics calendar this year – Grand Slam Track. He, Kerr, and Hocker are all signed up to compete in the four-event series that will see them all tackle both the 800m and 1500m.
For the former, racing the short distance will be another sizeable step outside of his comfort zone.
Yared Nuguse and Hobbs Kessler (Getty)
“I’m very excited to see how Grand Slam goes because I feel like it’s something completely new,” he says. “In my second year [as a pro] I thought: ‘Wow, you just do the same things over and over again. The same races, and the same people, but I think the Grand Slam turns that on its head a little bit.
“I get to race the guys who I know are the best and hone my racing skills against them versus just straight out time trialing like most other races I do are. I think I’m better at the 800m than I give myself credit for. I have a lot of confidence in the 1500m, but not so much in the 5000m or 800m but that’s okay because I know I am fit.
“I think a lot of the time 800m races are just very aggressive and I bogged down in a lot of aggressive kind of races. So maybe I’ll finally learn to get at least a little aggressive myself and not get caught up at the back, but we will see. I’m excited. I think I’m going to do well. It’ll help me hone a little more speed and more racing tactics because even though I have learned a lot, I think there’s always more to learn.”
Nuguse’s opponents should take note, though. There is an ever-growing body of evidence to suggest that the quiet man is capable of making a big noise.
“I’ve been through so many very serious moments and races and experiences where I feel more confident coming into those spaces than I ever did when I first joined OAC as a professional runner,” he says. “I think a lot of the time I was nervous but now I’ve done a World Championships, I’ve done an Olympics, I got a medal, so it feels like nothing can surprise me anymore. It’s just growing a little older and wiser.”
Yared Nuguse
Rather than making any resolutions every January, instead the Olympic 1500m bronze medallist who kept defending Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen off the Paris podium sets himself a theme for the 12 months to come.
“It helps to align my goals for what I generally want to be doing in that year,” he says. “For example, last year was a year of fulfillment. I wanted to go and fulfill the things that I felt I was capable of doing – seizing my moment and not being as afraid to take risks and do things that scared me a little bit. That was something I was able to do well at the Olympics, as well as in my normal day-to-day life.”
The theme for this year?
“Authenticity. I’ve always been a person who has wanted to be myself in every way that I present myself. A lot of the time I can hide a little bit or I’m not quite as forthcoming with who I am, just because I was always nervous about what people would think. But over the last couple of years, and especially this year, I want to focus on being unapologetically myself, doing the stuff I want to do, not caring what people think about it, and always being me because I’m the only person who can be me.”
Who is Yared Nuguse, in that case? He is an athlete who didn’t take up running until high school, when one of his teachers suggested he could be very good at it, and now admits to being “addicted” to the process of putting one foot in front of the other.
Yet his interests away from the track are many. Following the LA Olympics, he plans to go to dental school to fulfill another very different ambition, while his downtime is usually spent drawing, reading fantasy novels, and also looking after his pet tortoise, Tyro.
All of that means that when Ingebrigtsen and Josh Kerr, the arch-rivals who have made a second job out of tearing verbal strips from one another, you won’t find Nuguse stepping up to the microphone to throw his barbs.
Yared Nuguse and Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Getty)
“People may expect some of that from me, but that wouldn’t be authentic to myself,” he says. “I’m not the kind of person to just start boasting about how confident I am about a race right before, or anything like that. Some people’s personalities are more like that, and mine is more to keep it to myself. I might think those things but I would never say those things. I’m not much of an entertainment person when it comes to track and field. I’m more just like my silly little self.
“I don’t pay as much attention [to the trash-talking] as other people do, but I think it’s been really fun and interesting to get a lot more interest and intrigue in track and field. But then having Cole upset all that at the Olympics was an even greater result – all of it is just like poetry.
“It’s been fun to be a part of that and not be at the center of it because, again, I wouldn’t want to be. I’ve enjoyed seeing it all shake out and I’m very curious to see how it continues this year, especially with Cole now as the Olympic champion.”
The watching athletics world feels the same. The Cole to whom Nuguse refers is, of course, Cole Hocker – another quiet American whose closing surge saw him cross the line ahead of world champion Kerr in the Stade de France.
“I was underestimated and Cole was underestimated,” says Nuguse of that race. “Cole beat me at the US trials [Nuguse was second], so I knew he was going to be good, but I feel like a lot of people were just not really paying attention to him because he hadn’t done a lot of international racing or winning at that stage before the Olympics.
“There was a lot of rivalry going on, so that’s why that was so hyped up, and those guys did race extremely well before the Olympics so it makes sense why they were as highly rated as they were. But that’s why we race these races. You never know what’s going to happen.”
Yared Nuguse (Getty)
One of the early indications as to how this year might shape up is about to arrive in the form of the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games in New York. It’s an event Nuguse has won for the past two years but he will be coming up against Kerr, to whom he came second over 3000m at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow last March. Nuguse, second on the all-time list, set his indoor mile PB of 3:47.38 at the Armory in 2023, while Kerr’s PB is 3:48.87 from the previous year.
Along with Ingebrigtsen and Hocker, those two form a formidable quartet that looks likely to have the final say in where the big prizes will end up this year. Yet, with athletes such as 2022 world champion Jake Wightman on the comeback trail, young Dutchman Niels Laros growing in stature, and another American, Hobbs Kessler, also improving and racing at Millrose, the threats are numerous.
The year will come to a climax with the World Championships in Tokyo in September and it’s telling that Asbel Kiprop, who was banned for doping in 2019, was the last man to win successive world 1500m titles when he took gold in 2015. Since then Elijah Manangoi, Timothy Cheruiyot, Wightman, and Kerr have all taken the crown.
“It’s insanely deep, and that’s what’s made this point of 1500m running so much fun,” says Nuguse of the current landscape. “It’s the best that it’s been in many, many years and it has just made me feel grateful to be a part of it.
Yared Nuguse pips Josh Kerr (Getty)
“You don’t want to look back and be like: ‘Man, my era of 1500m running kind of sucked!’. I’m going to look back and think: ‘This was a crazy time for 1500m running’.
“The Olympics was the most evidence of how close the four of us were and I think every race for us is going to be different, it’s just the little things that are going to determine who wins. But all of us are definitely in contention [for the world title] and I’m going to believe in myself now, especially after last year.
“So much of it is confidence and just believing that you can do that. I’m sure all of us are thinking we’re going to win this and I’m no different. We’re all good enough to do it so it’s just a matter of who wants it most and who makes the right play on the day.”
Nuguse will also take confidence from the man who has been guiding him since 2022. He is part of the Boulder-based On Athletics Club (OAC) led by Dathan Ritzenhein and, under the watchful eye of the two-time Olympian, has not only won global medals but also become the American record-holder over 1500m and the mile.
“My relationship with Dathan has always been good,” says the 25-year-old. “From the beginning, it felt like he knew what he was doing and was able to train me well without overdoing it, which I appreciate. I’m not quite the ‘hundreds of miles a week distance runner kind of guy’, so it helps that the coach understands that and believes in you the way that you believe in yourself a lot of the time.
“He’ll tell me: ‘You can win this race. You’ve got to just believe in it and make it happen, and it’s good hearing it from someone else who knows how I’ve been training and knows how good I am because, a lot of the time, it carries a little more weight. I’ve always appreciated Dathan.”
Nuguse will also be part of one of the most talked about additions to the athletics calendar this year – Grand Slam Track. He, Kerr, and Hocker are all signed up to compete in the four-event series that will see them all tackle both the 800m and 1500m.
For the former, racing the short distance will be another sizeable step outside of his comfort zone.
Yared Nuguse and Hobbs Kessler (Getty)
“I’m very excited to see how Grand Slam goes because I feel like it’s something completely new,” he says. “In my second year [as a pro] I thought: ‘Wow, you just do the same things over and over again. The same races, and the same people, but I think the Grand Slam turns that on its head a little bit.
“I get to race the guys who I know are the best and hone my racing skills against them versus just straight out time trialing like most other races I do are. I think I’m better at the 800m than I give myself credit for. I have a lot of confidence in the 1500m, but not so much in the 5000m or 800m but that’s okay because I know I am fit.
“I think a lot of the time 800m races are just very aggressive and I bogged down in a lot of aggressive kind of races. So maybe I’ll finally learn to get at least a little aggressive myself and not get caught up at the back, but we will see. I’m excited. I think I’m going to do well. It’ll help me hone a little more speed and more racing tactics because even though I have learned a lot, I think there’s always more to learn.”
Nuguse’s opponents should take note, though. There is an ever-growing body of evidence to suggest that the quiet man is capable of making a big noise.
“I’ve been through so many very serious moments and races and experiences where I feel more confident coming into those spaces than I ever did when I first joined OAC as a professional runner,” he says. “I think a lot of the time I was nervous but now I’ve done a World Championships, I’ve done an Olympics, I got a medal, so it feels like nothing can surprise me anymore. It’s just growing a little older and wiser.”
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