Press release courtesy of Jeff Merrill, Lilac Grand Prix Meet Manager
The 2023 Lilac Grand Prix will take place on January 27th at the state of the art facility, The Podium powered by STCU in Spokane, WA, with the competition beginning at 6:00pm and concluding at 8:00pm Pacific Time. The middle distance focused meeting is on the World Athletics Indoor Tour calendar with the men’s and women’s 800m and 1500m races carrying silver level status. There will also be men’s and women’s 3000m race and elite high school boys and girls miles. It is an Opening Day for Track, leading into the World Indoor Tour meets on the east coast the following weeks, culminating with the Millrose Games in New York City on February 11th. The Lilac Grand Prix is hosted by the Nike Union Athletics Club and produced by Trackland in partnership with Spokane Sports. It will feature top athletes based in North America as they contend for coveted World Athletics points to boost their world ranking.
In-person tickets to the Lilac Grand Prix can be found here: Tickets
The broadcast for the Lilac Grand Prix is brought to you free of charge courtesy of Hayward Magic and TracktownUSA. It will be found at tracklnd.com/meet/lgp and on the Tracklandia Youtube channel. Fans have the opportunity to win prizes by picking their favorites to win each race at Tracklnd.com and brands and fans can Sweeten the Pot by adding to the prize purse, to raise the stakes of the competition.
Total Running Productions Men’s 800m | WA Silver Level
1:44.88 Nike athlete representing Kenya, Noah Kibet will race against a trio of Brooks Beasts: Isaiah Harris (1:44.42), Kyle Langford (1:44.49), and Devin Dixon (1:44.76).
Women’s 800m | WA Silver Level
UAC rookies, Michaela Meyer (1:58.55) and McKenna Keegan (2:01.25) will toe the line against On Running and Team Boss debutant and NCAA champion at Baylor University, Aaliah Miller (2:00.69) and 1:59.68 Adidas athlete, Kaela Edwards. Canadian Olympian and 1:59.71 runner, Madeleine Kelly will be in the mix as well.
TracktownUSA Women’s 1500m | WA Silver Level
Portland-based Eleanor Fulton, whose banner 2022 year garnered a 4:03.03 best and US ranking of 6th in the event will face Sweden’s Hanna Hermansson (4:05.76) and USA’s Alli Cash (4:05.90). Adidas and Team Boss Steeplechase extraordinaire, Gabbi Jennings (4:08.63) and 1:58 800m Brooks Beast, Nia Akins will vie for top honors as well. There is a possibility that reigning American 1500m champion and UAC star, Sinclaire Johnson will join the field pending Distance Medley Relay plans.
TracktownUSA Men’s 1500m | WA Silver Level
2021 USA Olympic Trials 800m champion and 2016 Olympic 800m Bronze medalist, Clayton Murphy will open his season in the 1500m in Spokane. He brings a 3:36.24 best to the line. Murphy will face off against UAC’s Australian 800m/1500m specialist, Charlie Hunter (3:34.32) and Canadian 1500m man, Charles Philibert-Thiboutot (3:34.23). American Vince Ciattei (3:34.57) and Brooks Beasts, Henry Wynne (3:34.08) and Brannon Kidder (3:35.27) will mix it up too.
Women’s 3000m
Brooks Beast and Portuguese 1500m Olympian, Marta Pen Freitas opens her season in the 3000m (8:56.31) against South African athlete, Carina Viljoen (8:56.63) and Irish 8:57.79 runner, Roisin Flanagan.
Men’s 3000m
USA 2021 Olympic Trials 1500m champion and Olympic 6th placer, Cole Hocker (7:39.83) opens his season in Spokane against the US based German athlete, Amos Bartelsmeyer (7:48.87) and UAC’s freshest face, David Ribich (7:50.22). Look out for Jack Yearian (7:47.29) as well.
Endless Mileage Elite High School Girl’s Mile
California’s Samira Kennedy (4:49.37) will compete against Spokane’s own, Logan Hofstee (5:00.49) and Oregon’s Ella Thorsett (4:56.94) making it a west coast affair in The Podium.
Endless Mileage Elite High School Boy’s Mile
Last year’s runner-up, Wes Shipsey (4:06.34) returns to compete for the title against Carter Cutting (4:10.91), Brody Hartley (4:10.31), William Heslam (4:11.81) and Zack Munson (4:11.88).
Finally, following their World Record performance in 2022 at the inaugural Lilac Grand Prix, the Nike Union Athletics Club plans to attempt to break the record again. Following their record setting performance that rocked The Podium last year, their record was broken by a group of athletes put together by New Balance in Boston. UAC would like to take back the record, as a team of all 4 Americans of the same training group. This is an evolving story. Stay tuned…
DMR World Record attempt update, January 19: The women of the Union Athletics Club have decided to forego their attempt to regain the World Record in favor of racing against competition in the meet’s individual events. “We’re a team that prides ourselves on racing the best competition in the world. We wanted to race the other pro clubs for the record, but couldn’t get any takers. The flip side is now the individual events are going to get a whole lot stronger as we place our world class athletes into the regular events. We’re excited to have Sinclaire, the current USA champion, open up her 2023 campaign at Lilac in the 1500m.” – Pete Julian, Nike Union Athletics Head Coach.
Full field lists can be found at tracklnd.com/meet/lgp.
Make your picks! It’s Opening Day of Track!
For more information, reach out to jeff@tracklnd.com
