Gary Martin and Ethan Strand Share Absolute 1500-Meter Collegiate Record After One-In-A-Million Occurrence

Picture this.

Two athletes run mile races exactly one week apart from each other.

En route to their respective finishes, they go through 1500 meters at the same split.

Said split happens to be the absolute collegiate record, meaning that it is the fastest mark ever run at that distance indoors or outdoors during the collegiate season.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results | Records & Lists

Sounds improbable, but it actually happened.

Ethan Strand and Gary Martin recently clocked the two fastest miles in collegiate history on February 1 and February 8, respectively. Strand obliterated the collegiate record with his PR 3:48.32 two weeks ago at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston. Martin followed with his own PR 3:48.82 this past weekend in the Wanamaker Mile at the historic Millrose Games in New York.

Zero-point-five-zero seconds might separate them on the all-time mile chart, but the same can’t be said for that of the 1500 meters. Strand and Martin registered identical 3:33.41 1500-meter splits on their way to those historic marks. We’re not making this up. We promise. Check the link.

Imagine how much happens over the mile distance – or 1609 meters to non-Americans: seconds, half-seconds, tenths of a second, hundredth of a second, milliseconds can be gained or lost with each step.

Must be a one-in-a-million chance, right?

As an aside, the 1500-meter CR is a hallowed standard, specifically outdoors.

Sydney Maree held it for 37 years at 3:35.30 until Josh Kerr finally took it down in 2018 at 3:35.01. Then Yared Nuguse usurped Kerr three years later at 3:34.68 before Eliud Kipsang ascended the list and notched the former absolute CR – and current outdoor CR – of 3:33.74 in 2022. Those first three names reverberate throughout the athletics landscape to this day: Maree was a former world record holder in the event with his 3:31.24 cloking from 1983; Kerr is a three-time global medalist and the 2023 world champion; Nuguse earned the bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics and set the since-broken world record in the indoor mile of 3:46.63 in the same race as Martin.

Martin and Strand might not be on that level yet, but established themselves as elite collegiate mid-distance stars with those performances (Strand also holds the 3000m CR). Time will tell how much faster they get. You can bet that Kipsang’s outdoor CR is on borrowed time, though.