Millrose Games 2024: Christian Coleman, Julien Alfred secure decisive 60m victories

"I'm looking forward to it, too."

Christian Coleman says he's ready for a showdown at next weekend's U.S. Indoors with Noah Lyles after recording a third consecutive victory at the Millrose Games on Sunday (11 February).

The world indoor 60m record holder clocked 6.51 in New York City, a week after Lyles ran a personal best 6.44 in Boston.

Japan's Abdul Hakim Sani Brown was second in 6.54 just ahead of Jamaican sprinter Ackeem Blake.

Canada's Olympic 200m champion Andre De Grasse finished back in eighth place with a time of 6.62.

"I was just happy to win, really," Coleman said on U.S. broadcaster NBC. "This is a world-class field; these guys are running fast. We're going to clean it up and run next weekend."

Team USA will name its athletics squad for World Indoors (1-3 March) after next weekend's meet.

With reigning world 100m champion Sha'Carri Richardson watching on, St. Lucia's rising star Julien Alfred soared to the win in the women's 60m, clocking a 6.99.

Shashalee Forbes of Jamaica was a distant second in 7.14.

"[This] means that I'm on the right track and my coach is doing everything right," Alfred said afterwards. "It just means that I have to keep going and keep training hard. I'm taking [this season] race-by-race.

World records fell in two separate events, with reigning 1500m champion Josh Kerr passing Grant Fisher with two laps to go to set a new world record in the two mile, the Briton clocking a 8:00.67. Fisher's runner-up finish in 8:03.62 was a new American record.

Earlier, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas started the day with a world record, too, winning the women's 60m hurdles in 7.67.

Josh Kerr sets new world record in 2 mile

Kerr, who upset Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen for gold in Budapest last year at Worlds, trailed Fisher for much of the two-mile race, but broke away and easily smashed Mo Farah's 8:30.40 record, which had stood since 2015. 

"It was always going to be really tough, small margins," Kerr said after his record-setting race. "With 300 metres to go [I said], 'It's now or never.' Grant is so strong, he did so much of the work [in the race]."

In the women's two mile, it was another British runner in Laura Muir, the Olympic silver medallist in the 1500m, who won, her 9:04.84 a new national record. She actually crossed the line second, but said after she knew that winner Medina Eisa would be disqualified for an illegal move earlier in the race. 

The afternoon concluded with the premier event of the Millrose Games, the NYRR Wanamaker Mile. American Elle St. Pierre continued her comeback from giving birth last year with a win over Jessica Hull, setting a new American record at 4:16.41. Hull had beaten St. Pierre last week in Boston. It marked Elle's first win as a mum.

"I did it for all the moms out there," St. Pierre said. "I feel refreshed and happy and fit. It's awesome to be out there... I got out-sprinted last week, so I was thinking that I didn't want to be out-sprinted again."

Meanwhile, Yared Nuguse of the U.S. won in the men's mile, successfully defending his Millrose title at 3:47.83.

Other winners on the day included Bryce Hoppel (1:45.54) in the men's 800m; Chris Nilsen in men's pole vault (5.82m); Talitha Diggs in the women's 300m (36.21); and Yaroslava Mahuchikh in women's high jump (2m), the reigning world indoor and outdoor champion beating American Vashti Cunningham (1.97m).