Athletics-Lagat back to try and extend Millrose mile record

Bernard Lagat figured he would go out on top after last year's record-setting triumph in the Wanamaker Mile yet the American is back for a try Friday for a ninth win in the signature event of the 104th Millrose Games.

Lagat's victory last year lifted him ahead of Ireland's Eamonn Coghlin for most wins in the famed indoor mile run over the cramped, high-banked track at Madison Square Garden.

"After winning last year and breaking that record, I wanted to stop at the very top," Lagat told reporters Thursday. "I thought maybe I can continue with something else, maybe move up to the longer distances, find other challenges."

Once he resumed training in Arizona in November, the lure of the Millrose Games returned to the 2007 double world champion and two-time Olympic medallist.

"I told my wife, I love going to New York," the Kenyan-born middle distance ace said. "And what am I going to be doing, just watching the Millrose Games on television and think I just missed something special?"

Lagat, who has won the mile the last six years, faces a strong challenge from a field that includes world indoor 1500 metres champion Deresse Mekonnen, 23, of Ethiopia.

"Mekonnen is really strong. He knows how to run indoor," said Lagat, 36. "I'm sure he's ready, but I don't want to lose to him. I don't want to lose Millrose Games."

Other meet highlights are expected in the sprints, the women's pole vault and the shot put.

The men's and women's 60 metres highlight the U.S.-Jamaica sprint rivalry, with multiple Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown leading the Jamaican women and Lauryn Williams heading the U.S. side.

The men's 60 will feature Jamaican Nesta Carter and American Mike Rodgers.

World champion Christian Cantwell leads the shot put field, while Brazil's world indoor champion Fabiana Murer will make her Millrose debut in the pole vault.

A three-event Millrose Multi Challenge including shot put, 60m hurdles and high jump, has drawn Olympic decathlon champion Bryan Clay, world decathlon champion Trey Hardee and indoor heptathlon world record holder Ashton Eaton.

(larry.fine@thomsonreuters.com; +1 646-729-6291. Reuters Messaging: larry.fine.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; For the new sports blog Left Field go to: http://blogs.reuters.com/sport/))

Please double-click on the newslink:

[ATHL-LEN] for more athletics stories

[SPO-LEN] for more sports stories