NEW YORK - Bernard Lagat regained the American indoor 5,000-meter record on Saturday with a victory at the 104th Millrose Games, the first in 98 years to be staged outside of Madison Square Garden.
Three-time Olympian Lagat won in 13mins 7.15secs, showing his fitness six months before the London Olympics at age 37 by breaking the US mark of 13:11.44 set by Galen Rupp last year in the British city of Birmingham.
"I had a few problems in training this past week and rested a bit more than I usually do, so to run 13:07 at this time of the year, in a week like this, that's a good indication I can do a lot better," he said.
Lagat, a two-time 1,500 Olympic medallist, performed just as coach James Li had expected right down to the second. "Bernard did exactly what we expected," Li said. "We knew from his training that he was ready for something like this."
Kenya's Lawi Lawang, Lagat's training partner, was second in 13:08.28 to smash the US college record that was also owned by Rupp. Rupp answered by breaking Lagat's two-mile American record, winning in 8:09.72 at the USA Track and Field Classic in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
"That's the way it goes," Lagat said. "You win some, you lose some."