Birthday: 03/15/03 Mile PR: 3:48.66 (indoors) - 2024
Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 3:29.45 - 2024
High School: Skyline (Ann Arbor) '21
Hometown: Ann Arbor, MI
Current Residence: Ann Arbor, MI
Hobbs Kessler, over a 4-week period in 2024, won the 1500m at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston, breaking the beam in 3:33.66, an indoor PR and #3 U.S. all-time indoors, finished runner-up in the Wanamaker Mile in a personal record of 3:48.66 (#4 individual indoor all-time) and was the 1500 runner-up at the USA Indoor Championships (3:38.76), earning a Team USA berth for the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, where he won the 1500m bronze medal in 3:36.72.
At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in Eugene, he placed third in the 1500m, running a PR 3:31.53, and second in the 800m (1:43.64, a PR) and earning a trip to the Paris Olympics.
At the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in the greatest 1500 ever, Hobbs finished 5th, setting a personal record of 3:29.45, #4 U.S. all-time.
In May 2023, Kessler set a 1500m personal record of 3:32.61, finishing third at the USATF LA Grand Prix, and in October, Hobbs won the inaugural World Road Running Championships Mile, breaking the tape in 3:56.13 to shatter the world record in Riga, Latvia.
In February 2021, he set the High School indoor Mile record with his 3:57.66 clocking, the 12th U.S. prep sub-4, and later in May, Kessler destroyed the American Junior 1500m record, running 3:34.36, that legend Jim Ryun set 55 years ago (3:36.1); he also demolished Alan Webb’s U.S. High School record from 2001 (3:38.26).
For his breakthru year, Track & Field News unanimously selected him as the 2021 High School Boys Athlete of the Year.
FUN FACT: Kessler is a top level rock climber.
FUN FACT II: Two-time Olympic medalist Nick Willis has served as a mentor since 2020.
Photo credit: PhotoRun.net
"I think most people in the race knew I was a competitor, same with Yared, but it was another thing to not have all that noise. I feel like I took advantage of it.”
By Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics
It’s the kind of race that will be spoken about by enthusiasts of men’s middle-distance...
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I just want to keep getting better year-by-year. Train the best that I can, as smart as I can, consistent as I can. Hopefully that will allow me to be world class over the next decade or so.
From USATF
Coming off a difficult double at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Track & Field, where he...
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Top eight surpassed old Trials record in exciting race
In the greatest U.S. 1500 meter race, Cole Hocker impressively defended his Olympic Trials title, crushing the meet record in 3:30.59, also a PR. Yared Nuguse followed closely on Hocker’s heels in 3:30.86, and 21-year-old Hobbs Kessler took...
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“I was fortunate it wasn't a 3:29 race. I don't think that would have been on the cards for me then. But I feel like I can run people down in that last lap. It's incredible.”
By Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics
New Zealand’s Geordie Beamish produced an extraordinary finish to win the men’s...
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New mom St. Pierre breaks her U.S. indoor record; Nuguse near misses his record
From Sam Brief, NBC Olympics
The Wanamaker Mile is the Millrose Games’ flagship and final event. It’s named for department store owner Rodman Wanamaker, whose employees founded the Millrose Games in 1908. The...
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Record event prize money awarded; record four U.S. high schoolers sub-4 in same race; Nuguse blasts U.S. indoor & outdoor Mile records; Kipyegon shatters women’s outdoor Mile record, Hiltz U.S. record; official road Mile world records recognized, inaugural road Mile World Championship and more!
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"The road Mile is a very American event and we're quite experienced in them. I'm very proud of myself.”
From World Athletics
World records set in the road Mile by Diribe Welteji and Hobbs Kessler at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Riga 23 have now been ratified.
At the...
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"The road Mile is a very American event and we're quite experienced in them. I'm very proud of myself.”
From World Athletics
Ethiopia’s Diribe Welteji and USA’s Hobbs Kessler shattered the world records to win two thrilling road Mile races at the World Road Running Championships Riga 23 on...
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Prep indoor Mile and outdoor 1500m record setter and Olympic Trials qualifier: "I could have run a lot faster than I did, but I’m not super worried about that. Who really cares about high school PRs? I would rather not have them represent me.”
By Jeff Hollobaugh, Track & Field News
Really, no...
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“I thought the clock was off for a second. It was cartoonish. It just didn’t seem real.”
By Jeff Hollobaugh, Track & Field News
Enough talk about potential. On a Saturday night in Portland at Lewis & Clark’s Griswold Stadium, Hobbs Kessler (Skyline, Ann Arbor, Michigan) proved to the world...
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"The transition from climbing to running for me was really weird... I think it has been really key for me to learn to let go of my climbing performance."
By Bruce Hildenbrand, Climbing
When Hobbs Kessler set the U.S. High School indoor record for the Mile in Fayetteville, Arkansas in...
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“I was pleasantly surprised, but I wasn’t like, ‘How did I do that?’ I knew I had it in me.”
By Jeff Hollobaugh, Track & Field News
After running a stunning 3:57.66 Mile seemingly out of nowhere, Hobbs Kessler is suddenly one of the most talked-about names in the sport — usually appended to...
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“I kind of started slow, but I was looking at the clock and I was right on where I needed to be. I waited and waited and waited, but I had juice at the end.”
By Jeff Hollobaugh, Track & Field News
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — On Sunday, February 7, no result out of ATL3 was more surprising than the...
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