Grant Fisher, Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr Testing 8 Minute Barrier In Historically Deep 2 Mile; Yared Nuguse Going For Fourth Consecutive Wanamaker Title; Cooper Lutkenhaus, Bryce Hoppel, Joe Kovacs Among Other Stars Competing

By Oliver Hinson of DyeStat

John Nepolitan photos

The 118th Millrose Games are set for Friday, Jan. 30, and Sunday, Feb. 1, at The Armory in New York City, and to no one’s surprise, the professional fields for this year’s event are absolutely stacked. 

With 16 pro events on the schedule and hundreds of the best athletes in the world entered, it’s not at all far-fetched to say that multiple world records could fall. Here’s a breakdown of every men's event:

(Start times are Eastern Standard Time)

Friday, Jan. 

Men's Weight Throw - 2:30 p.m.

UCLA’s Michael Pinckney highlights this year’s weight throw. The senior and native New Yorker is ranked ninth in the NCAA in the event with a season’s best of 22.33 meters (73-3.25). Last year, he finished fifth in the discus at the NCAA Championships with a throw of 61.39 meters (201-5).

Pinckney’s teammate, Simon Skoumal, is also in the field. The grad transfer from Columbia boasts a personal best of 18.59 meters (61-0) in the weight throw.

Other names include Columbia's Parker Kim, RJ Decker and Evangelos Fradelakis.

Sunday, Feb. 1

Men's Norb Sander 60m Hurdles - 4:09 p.m.

After Devynne Charlton and Danielle Williams battle in the women’s hurdles, Cordell Tinch, Dylan Beard and Daniel Roberts will face off in the men’s hurdles. 

Tinch is one of two 2025 world champions competing this weekend at The Armory. The 25-year-old had a breakout season last year, dropping his personal bests from 7.50 to 7.43 in the 60 meters hurdles and 12.96 to 12.87 (fourth fastest all-time) in the 110 meters hurdles. From the Rome Diamond League on June 6 to the Worlds final on Sept. 16, he didn’t finish lower than second in a race.

Beard also progressed a lot last season, bringing his bests down from 7.44 to 7.38 in the 60s and 13.10 to 13.02 in the 110s. He won this event at last year’s Millrose Games with his 7.38 performance, which was the world lead at the time and was only bested by Grant Holloway in Lievin, France, a month later. In the outdoor season, Beard took third at USAs and advanced to the semifinals of the World Athletics Championships. Last weekend, he took fourth at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, clocking a 7.58 performance.

Roberts, a three-time national champion and Olympic silver medalist, will be looking for redemption after a lackluster season in 2025 that never really got off the ground and was cut short due to an Achilles injury. He never finished higher than fourth in a race last year and only managed a season’s best of 13.30 in the 110s. However, he’s less than 18 months removed from running 13.09 in the Olympic final and earning second place behind Holloway.

Other top names in this race include Jamal Britt and Cameron Murray.

Men's Prevagen 60m - 4:23 p.m.

Defending champion Marcellus Moore will duke it out with The Bowerman winner Jordan Anthony and Jamaican record holder Ackeem Blake in this star-studded race.

Moore had a great indoor season in 2025, winning each of his first three races and then taking fourth in the 60 at the USATF Indoor Championships. Outdoors, he dipped under 10 seconds in the 100 for the first time in his career, running 9.96 at the Bob Vigars Classic in June, and he took eighth at the USATF Outdoor Championships.

Blake, who has the fastest 60 personal best in the field of 6.42, did not race indoors last year. He did, however, finish third in the 100 at the Jamaican Outdoor Championships and set a new personal best of 9.88 seconds, leading him to advancing to the semifinal at Worlds. Last weekend, he won the 60 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in a time of 6.53.

Anthony, the defending NCAA champion in the 100 for Arkansas, signed with adidas after a breakout 2025 campaign. He lowered his personal bests from 6.54 to 6.47 in the 60, 10.16 to 9.95 in the 100, and 20.35 to 19.93 in the 200. His mark in the 100 would have been even faster if not for a small gust of wind; he clocked a 9.75 in the NCAA West Regional with +2.1 wind, just barely over the legal limit.

High school phenom Jake Odey-Jordan is also in the field. Two weeks ago, Odey-Jordan broke the British record in the 300 meters at the VA Showcase, running 32.64 to take second behind his teammate, Tate Taylor.

Men's Shot Put - 4:32 p.m.

Joe Kovacs, the second-best shot putter in history, is back at The Armory for the first time in three years. He’s competed three times at the Millrose Games and finished second all three time. This year, he’s back to open up what he says will be his first real indoor season. In past years, he’s competed at a couple meets in the winter, but this year, he’s got hefty goals: he wants to break the indoor world record of 22.82 meters and compete at the World Indoor Championships.

To win his first Millrose title this weekend, he’ll have to compete against Rajindra Campbell, the 2024 Olympic bronze medalist, Roger Steen, the 2025 World Indoor silver medalist, and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, the African shot put record holder with a personal best of 22.10 meters.

Men's Burgess Family Foundation 2 Mile - 4:49 p.m. 

This could be the race of the meet, if not the best race of the entire indoor season. Nearly everyone in this race could reasonably make an argument to be the favorite, but the big three are Cole Hocker, Grant Fisher and Josh Kerr.

Hocker is an Olympic champion in the 1,500 and a world champion in the 5,000, an icon of American distance running. Fisher is the indoor world record holder in the 3,000 and 5,000, the American record holder in the 2 mile and a two-time Olympic bronze medalist. Kerr is the defending champion and world record holder in this event (last run in 2024), and a world champion. 

Trying to speculate who has the upper hand in this event seems almost futile, but there are a few key things to notice.

First, there’s no telling what kind of shape Kerr is in. He suffered a grade two calf tear in the 1,500 final at the Tokyo World Athletics Championships last September, and he hasn’t raced since then. It’s unlikely that he would want to race without at least some kind of confidence, especially defending his own title, but he’s a wild card nonetheless.

Second, Fisher has wheels. Just a day after Hocker broke the indoor American record in the 2,000 with a 4:52.92 performance, Fisher responded, running 4:49.48 to dip under the world record (but he finished second to Hobbs Kessler, who ran 4:48.79 for the win and now owns the world record). Historically, Fisher has always been strong aerobically, but his closing speed has been his limiter in global championship races. Over the past few years, he’s made that a priority, and it’s paid off. 

Just a few years ago, Hocker may have held the upper hand in a 2 mile, but that’s not the case anymore. Last year, he and Fisher dueled in 3,000 at this meet, and Fisher outkicked him in the last lap to break the world record with a 7:22.91 performance. If Fisher is near the lead with a lap to go, he’s probably the favorite.

Now, what about the others? There’s Geordie Beamish, considered by some to be the best kicker in the sport. It’s likely that the race will go out near world record pace, and Beamish hasn’t consistently demonstrated that kind of fitness, but if that isn’t the case, the New Zealand record holder in the 3,000 certainly has a shot. He, too, is a world champion, in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Graham Blanks came into his own last year as one of the best young American distance runners. He broke 27 minutes in the 10,000 at the TEN in March last year, and he became the third American to break 12:50 in the 5,000 at the Oslo Diamond League in June. The New Balance star has a lifetime best of 7:29.52 in the 3,000.

Ethan Strand, the 2025 U.S. silver medalist in the 1,500 and the NCAA record holder in the 3,000, is also in the field, as well as Ky Robinson, the Australian indoor record holder in the 3,000.

The names go on forever. There’s Habtom Samuel, the 2025 NCAA cross country champion, Jake Wightman, the 2022 1,500 World Champion, and plenty of others.

Men's Nike 600m - 5:07 p.m.

The name that’s captivated the track and field world for the past year is back in the start list for Sunday: Cooper Lutkenhaus. 

Last year at this meet, Lutkenhaus broke the indoor high school record in the 800 with a 1:46.86 performance. After that, he went on to run 1:42.27 — the fourth fastest time in American history — in the outdoor season.

After making his indoor pro debut last weekend at the Dr. Sander Scorcher with a win and a U20 American record in the 800 (1:45.23), the 17-year-old will face Isaiah Jewett, Will Cuthbertson and others in the 600 on Sunday. In his post-race interview last weekend, Lutkenhaus said he ran a 600 time trial in 1:17 in the buildup to his indoor season. 

That mark won’t be nearly enough to win this race. Last year, Will Sumner won in a meet record time of 1:14.04 — but Lutkenhaus split a 1:18.13 en route to his 1:45 performance last weekend. He also said that he was in the best aerobic shape of his life, and he’s only started to sharpen very recently. He’s made a habit of showing up and showing out in big races, and there’s no reason to think he won’t do the same this weekend.

His main competition will be Jewett, who took second place last year in a personal best time of 1:14.17. He boasts a 1:43.85 lifetime best in the 800 and a 45.29 best in the 400 — he certainly has Lutkenhaus beat on the speed side — but he had a lackluster outdoor season (by his standards) in 2025, only winning one race and failing to advance to the 800 final at the USATF Outdoor Championships. He’s certainly a contender in this race, but the 17-year-old is on fire right now.

Men's Burgess Family Foundation 800 - 5:25 p.m.

Without newly minted indoor world record holder Josh Hoey in this race, there’s no clear favorite in this packed field, but the three strongest contenders are Bryce Hoppel, Donavan Brazier and Cian McPhillips. 

The three raced in the 600 last weekend at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, and McPhillips won that matchup convincingly, running a personal best 1:16.37 to beat Brazier by nearly a second. Brazier ran 1:17.20 for second, while Hoppel finished just behind at 1:17.24.

McPhillips transformed himself in 2025, starting the year with a 1:45.92 personal best and ending it with a 1:42.15 performance in the final of the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, putting him just one spot and two tenths of a second out of medal contention. He has all the momentum.

Still, Brazier and Hoppel are two of the best mid-distance runners in history. Hoppel is a World Indoor Champion, a seven-time US champion, and the American record holder with a lifetime best of 1:41.67. He’s proven himself to be one of the most consistent racers in the sport, running under 1:44 seven times last year.

McPhillips only did so twice — both in Tokyo. If the Irishman is on, he’s a threat, but Hoppel almost always delivers. He was second behind Hoey in this race last year and won it in 2024.

Brazier, meanwhile, is perhaps the biggest wild card. After nearly three years away from the sport, he had an improbable comeback season last year, running a personal best 1:42.16 in the final at USAs to win and become the third fastest man in American history. After finally getting time to have a proper training buildup, there’s no telling what he’ll do in 2026. 

Men's NYRR Wanamaker Mile - 5:51 p.m.

Despite being the premier race of this historic meet, the NYRR Wanamaker Mile doesn’t feel nearly as contested as some of the other events this year, like the men’s 2 mile. Yes, it is absolutely stacked, but if a three-time defending champion is in your race, it’s only fair to assume that said three-time defending champion will win again — especially when his name is Yared Nuguse.

Did Nuguse have his best outdoor season last year? No. He shockingly failed to make Team USA in the 1,500 meters, taking fifth in the USATF Champs final, and he didn’t perform as well as many would have thought on the Grand Slam circuit. He still showed flashes of greatness, though, like his 3:45.95 mile performance at the Prefontaine Classic, which likely would have been faster if he had paced himself evenly instead of trying to go for the world record.

It could be easy for some to count him out, especially given the influx of mid-distance talent throughout the U.S. and the world, but it’s difficult not to give him the benefit of the doubt. Just a year ago, he broke the indoor world record with a 3:46.63 performance to win his third Wanamaker Mile title. Why not four?

That being said, he’s got some big names to go up against. Hobbs Kessler might be the biggest; last week, he torched the world record in the indoor 2,000 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, clocking a 4:48.79. Like Nuguse, Kessler didn’t quite bring his 2024 magic to 2025 — after finishing fifth in the Olympic 1,500 meter final in Paris, he finished fourth at USAs last year, failing to make it to Tokyo — but he didn’t have a bad year by any means. He won the 1,500 and 3,000 at the USATF Indoor Championships, and he lowered his mile PB to 3:46.90 in Nuguse’s record-setting race at this meet.

He’s also clearly demonstrated that he’s back in form with his performance last weekend. If it’s a kicker’s race, he has the advantage.

Nico Young and Cam Myers are also contenders. Young has come into his own as one of the best Americans in the 5,000 and 10,000 in the past few years — he now owns the outdoor American record in the former — but it’s interesting to see him step down to the mile rather than take his chances in the loaded 2 mile. He’s never broken 3:50 in the mile, but he’s only run the event once since turning pro in 2024. If he doesn’t win, this could at least be his chance to join the sub-3:50 club.

Myers, meanwhile, is trending in the right direction in just his second indoor season ever. After opening 2026 with a world-leading 3:49.81 mile at the UW Preview in Seattle, he broke the Australian record in the 3,000 with a 7:27.57 performance at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. He took third in last year’s Wanamaker Mile, breaking the U20 world record with a 3:47.48 performance. If Nuguse and Kessler don’t have A+ races, the 19-year-old could take home his first Wanamaker title.

There’s also OAC teammates Ollie Hoare and Robert Farken, Under Armour Dark Sky teammates Abe Alvarado and Festus Lagat, Virginia’s Gary Martin, and New Balance’s Andrew Coscoran.