Bernard Lagat’s new American 1,500m record ratified 15 years later
The Kenyan-American's 3:27.4 from a meet in Zurich in 2004 has just become the new American record in the 1,500m
The American record in the 1,500m of 3:29 held by Kenyan-American runner Bernard Lagat, has been broken–by Lagat himself. The 3:27.4 he ran 14 years ago at a 2004 meet in Zurich, Switzerland was ratified earlier this month as the American 1,500m record. Lagat’s time is the second-fastest ever recorded, behind Hicham El Guerrouj’s 3:26 world record, set in 1998.
RELATED: Bernard Lagat, 43, to run TCS New York City Marathon
Lagat competed for Kenya at the 2004 Olympics in Athens shortly after the Zurich meet, and many were unaware that he held dual citizenship at the time.
In 2003, Lagat failed a drug test after a meet in Germany, but escaped sanctions due to the improper handling of his “B” sample, which was left unrefrigerated and therefore couldn’t be tested.
Lagat is a five-time Olympian and five-time world champion and holds the American records in the 1,500m, 3,000m and 5,000m. At age 43, he ran the marathon for the first time at the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon, finishing 18th with a time of 2:17:20.
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