One of the rites of passage for any child born in Melbourne is the trip to see the Christmas display in the windows of the Myer department store.
Most Melburnians refer to the shop as Myer’s, the colloquial nickname bestowed upon the business founded by Sidney Myer and bis brother Elcon in the first few years of the twentieth century. It was also styled as an emporium until a modern times rebrand under the simple title, Myer.
The possessive identifying ownership was likewise soon jettisoned and it has been known mostly as Myers.
Anyway, the Christmas windows. An impressive display as already noted. The windows front the Bourke Street Mall and time in front of them has to be rationed through the Christmas period. You can re-trace the journey of the Three Kings as you are shepherded (gently, of course) along the display.
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We don’t know yet what window of his career Cameron Myers is in, but like his retail namesake’s Christmas story, the just turned 19-year-old has put up an astonishingly impressive display. The latest bauble added was his performance in the Oslo Bislett Games Dream Mile, where he finished second to Portugal’s Isaac Nader, 3:48.25 to 3:48.87. This followed the warm-up race for his short European visit, a 2:17.25 Australian U20 record in France a week earlier.
Myers is just a week or two past his nineteenth birthday, which gives us an opening for a Herb Elliott benchmark. Herb first broke four minutes in January 1958, a few weeks shy of turning 20. By the end of that year, he was Empire and Commonwealth champion at 880 yards and mile and 1500 metres world record holder at 3:54.5 and 3:36.0, respectively. Myers probably won’t be world record holder at either event by the end of 2025, but it is going to be mighty interesting following his journey.
To date, Myers has equalled the outright national mile record with an indoor 3:47.48 earlier this year (a world U20 record, too, as was his 3:32.67 at 1500 en route). He broke the previous U20 world record earlier on that tour and ran a (since broken by Ky Robinson) national record for 3000 metres short track. Then he came home and notched up dominating wins in the John Landy and national 1500 metres as well as finishing second to Seth O’Donnell in the national 5000.
And now, an Australian U20 record and a second place in one of the world’s most prestigious mile races to start his European visit. If this window gets any more glitter added to t they’re going have to hustle people along to ensure everyone gets a chance to look in.
Myers wasn’t totally happy with his performance, telling Australian Athletics media: “ . . it wasn’t the race I was hoping to run. I got a bit lucky it opened up for me in the last hundred. I felt strong throughout but I never could get forward and get to the position I wanted.”
Coincidentally, the same observation had been made in our Friday lunch group chat. Myers, however, has already made an adjustment in domestic terms so it’s reasonable to assume he will be able to do the same when it comes to international racing. After running fast and placing well in the indoor races without ever looking a likely winner (against top opposition, anyway) he came home and won the Landy 1500 in Melbourne and the national title in Perth, taking over in the second half of both races and dominating.
Let’s see how he develops as he moves forward to the world championships in Tokyo. Can’t wait. But for the minute, like the kids at the Christmas windows, let’s stare and wonder at what might be.
Homage to Freeman?
As we move closer to Faith Kipyegon’s attempt in Paris on 26 June to become the first woman to break four minutes for the mile, details of her race kit, shoes and pacing assistance have emerged, not so much as a leak, authorised or otherwise, but more as a controlled release.
Kipyegon, as we know, is looking to run 7.65 seconds faster than the world record she set in 2023, a quantum leap which took 21 years from the time Jack Lovelock ran 4:07.6 before Roger Bannister’s 3:59.4 on 6 May 1954. Of course, that gap includes World War II (although Swedes Gunder Hagg and Arne Andersson kept going during these years) and the belief many people held that sub-four was beyond the limits of a man (it took three – Brasher, Chataway and Bannister – to deliver Bannister’s record so perhaps there is, or was, truth in it). Such quibbles aside, an adjusted 21 is still far greater than two years).
Faith is one thing, science another. This week her sponsor Nike revealed that in Paris she will be wearing a special aerodynamic skinsuit with “3D-printed aeronodes” (Google it, mate!), along with new super spikes, which are even lighter and more propulsive.
Hold up, a special aerodynamic skinsuit? Where have we heard this before? Why, it was back in 2000 when Nike unveiled a bodysuit for none other than our own Cathy Freeman to wear in her winning Sydney Olympic 2000 400 metres (even before that, Florence Griffith Joyner wore something similar in the 200 metres at the Rome 1987 world championships.
Could Faith Kipyegon – or Nike – be paying homage to Freeman? Well, it worked for her (Freeman, that is) so why wouldn’t it again? We’ll skip lightly over the fact that Cathy Freeman has said frequently she remains a little disappointed she didn’t run faster in Sydney and accept any reflected glory from Kipyegon’s choice of outfit (a simple internet search will reveal other claimed benefits).
Controlled PR release or not, if Faith Kipyegon succeeds, the contribution of shoes, pacing protocol and ‘special suit’ will all be assumed to have been overwhelmingly positive. The controlled release will then become a flood.
