16-year-old Sam Ruthe sets world U18 indoor mile best, breaks New Zealand record at BU meet

A record run on Boston University’s indoor track

A 16-year-old middle-distance runner from New Zealand, Sam Ruthe, produced a landmark performance in Boston over the weekend, running 3:48.88 for the indoor mile at the John Thomas Terrier Classic at Boston University. The mark is recognized as a world under-18 best for the indoor mile and placed Ruthe among the fastest mile performers on the all-time indoor lists.

The race was held Jan. 31, 2026, at the Boston University Track & Tennis Center, a 200-meter banked indoor facility that has become a frequent site of elite distance times during the winter season.

How the race unfolded

Ruthe won the invitational mile in 3:48.88, closing strongly to finish ahead of a field that included experienced international competition. Belgium’s Pieter Sisk finished second in 3:50.31, followed by Davis Bove in 3:51.08 and Canada’s Foster Malleck in 3:51.39.

• 1st: Sam Ruthe (New Zealand) — 3:48.88
• 2nd: Pieter Sisk (Belgium) — 3:50.31
• 3rd: Davis Bove — 3:51.08
• 4th: Foster Malleck (Canada) — 3:51.39

The winning time also positioned Ruthe as one of the youngest athletes ever to break 3:50 for the mile, a barrier typically associated with established professional milers.

New Zealand records rewritten

Beyond the age-group significance, the performance reset New Zealand’s national benchmark for the mile. Ruthe’s 3:48.88 eclipsed the country’s long-standing open mile record of 3:49.08 set by John Walker in Oslo in 1982. It also surpassed New Zealand’s indoor mile national record of 3:51.06, set by Nick Willis in 2016.

Ruthe’s 3:48.88 moved New Zealand’s national mile record below 3:49 for the first time since records have been tracked at the event distance.

Why the performance matters

Indoor mile racing is less common globally than outdoor mile and 1500 meters, and comparisons across venues can be complex due to track geometry and pacing dynamics. Even with those caveats, running under 3:49 indoors remains exceptionally rare, and doing so at 16 places Ruthe in a historically small cohort of teenage athletes who have approached world-class senior standards.

The result also reinforces Boston’s role as a winter hub for elite middle-distance running, where dense competition fields and fast indoor surfaces often yield record-level performances.

What comes next

Ruthe’s Boston race was the first of multiple planned mile appearances during February before he returns to New Zealand to prepare for the country’s national championships in March. His progression will be followed closely, particularly as he transitions between age-group dominance and the demands of senior-level competition.