By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Standing on the edges of a gathering of elite athletes at Melbourne’s Lakeside Stadium, rising Australian runner Cameron Myers cuts a low profile on the track where he turned heads in 2023 with the fastest ever time over the mile by a 16-year-old.
Myers’s time of 3:55.44 at the Maurie Plant meet two years ago shaved more than two seconds off the 2017 mark set by Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who has gone on to win Olympic gold in the 1,500 and 5,000 metres.
Myers will hope to make another splash at the meet on Saturday when he races in the 1,500, less than two months after taking the under-20 world record at the Wanamaker Mile in New York.
While Myers’ development has made waves in Australian athletics, the 18-year-old Canberra native speaks softly of his ambitions and appears slightly uncomfortable in the spotlight.
“It’s always a bit strange, it’s unfamiliar still,” Myers told Reuters of the media attention at a press event for the Maurie Plant meet.
“It was only two years ago here, I ran 3:55 and that’s where it sort of spiralled from there.
“But yeah, I’m definitely coming here to make an impression.
“I think that everything’s gone perfectly, gone smoothly up until this point, so there’s no point holding back and dawdling around for three laps.”
Myers is one of a number of promising young runners that Australian Athletics hopes will make their mark at world championships and Olympics in the coming years.
That cohort includes 17-year-old sprinter Gout Gout, who will compete in the 200 on Saturday, and 21-year-old Lachlan Kennedy, who is bidding to become just the second Australian to break the 10-seconds barrier in the 100.
Myers is modest about his age-group achievements so far, saying the real measure is how he performs in the open ranks.
It has not been all smooth sailing, with Myers missing out on selection for the Paris Olympics after a disappointing 1,500 run at national championships.
And he is well aware of how quickly athletics moves, particularly in middle-distance running.
Myers was surprised by news out of New Zealand where local runner Sam Ruthe became the youngest athlete, and first 15-year-old, to run a mile in under four minutes with a time of three minutes and 58.35 seconds in Auckland.
The Australian will go head-to-head with Ruthe in the 1,500, with both runners looking to upset seasoned rivals in the field.
“It is hard to believe the 15-year-old’s smashing four minutes,” Myers said.
“Believe it or not, it doesn’t even look like he’s scratching the surface of what he’s capable of doing at the moment.
“So, it’ll be good to see what he can run on Saturday.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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