Cameron Myers at the Australian Championships (© Getty Images)
It is rare for an 18-year-old Australian to have the opportunity to race the world’s best 1500m runners at Wanda Diamond League level, but Cameron Myers is taking it all in his stride.
The Canberra schoolboy has been making waves internationally for a couple of years now, since it became apparent that his development was matching that of former teen prodigy, now a dual Olympic champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who won 1500m gold in Tokyo and 5000m gold in Paris.
Myers bettered Ingebrigtsen’s world 16 years best for the mile and 1500m last year, becoming the second-youngest man to break four minutes for the mile (3:55.44) and setting a world U18 best of 3:33.26 in the 1500m.
He improved his mile mark to 3:50.15 this year, tracking ahead of Ingebrigtsen, and achieved a second qualification mark for the Olympic Games courtesy of a 3:33.30 1500m in March, when he defeated the 2022 world champion Jake Wightman in a low-key club race in Sydney.
Cameron Myers during the Continental Tour Gold meeting in Melbourne (© Casey Sims / World Athletics)
With four Australian men qualified for the Paris Games in the 1500m, Myers headed to the northern hemisphere in May to strengthen his case for Olympic selection, but he was ultimately overlooked in favour of his more experienced rivals.
That was a setback, and he was certainly disappointed, but he has refocused on the World Athletics U20 Championships Lima 24, where he hopes to win his first world title.
“I have had quite a few races, and then a period here to reset before I head over to Lima,” he said from his home in Canberra, where he is back at Ginninderra College completing his final year of high school.
“I definitely wasn’t thinking about World U20 in January-March, but after not getting selected (for Paris) I am going to focus on Lima, because that’s still a great opportunity. The Olympics didn’t go my way, but I want to make the most of what I do have.”
After two races in the US in May, including his Oceanian U20 mile record set at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, and five in Europe in June-July, in between trying to keep up with his schoolwork, he has learned much about his best approach to international racing.
“I think the biggest thing is to trust myself and play to my strengths… and not get carried away in the race,” he said.
“With each race I gained a bit of experience. It’s important not to make the same mistakes again. Sometimes I left it a bit too late for the kick. I prefer a fast and honest race, but I haven’t been 100% confident in my ability, but you have to be to give yourself the best possible odds of winning.”
He regards his second place in the 1500m at the Meeting Nikaia in Nice in June as his best performance on the international stage to date because he “attacked it and didn’t have any fear of who I was racing”.
“That was the race I was most proud of,” he said.
Myers also gained the experience of racing in front of nearly 60,000 people in the Emsley Carr Mile at the London Diamond League meeting in July, where he finished sixth in a near PB of 3:50.16.
Cameron Myers in Diamond League action in London (© Matthew Quine / Diamond League AG)
“It was crazy to race those guys in front of a stadium that packed,” he recalled. “You take a lot away from those kinds of experiences. I was satisfied with my place, but I wasn’t totally satisfied with my race there. I gave too much responsibility to the other guys in the race. So it’s nice to have another opportunity right around the corner.”
His agent James Templeton, who also guided the career of world 800m record-holder and 2012 Olympic champion David Rudisha, accompanied Myers on tour and came away thinking the teenager had a “great future” in the sport.
“Cam is highly talented, a very motivated young athlete,” Templeton said. “There’s nothing about him that’s complacent. He’s very mature and impressive.”
Which brings us to Lima where Myers plans to “make it an honest race and one I am proud of”.
At 18, he is a year younger than many of the U20 entrants, but he goes into Lima as the third-fastest of the year behind Dutch athlete Niels Laros (3:29.54), who has elected not to compete in Lima, and Ethiopia’s Abdisa Fayisa (3:32.57).
The perennially high standard of East Africa’s middle-distance runners will ensure that this will be a challenging event for all.
“I am sure there will be a number of guys in contention who can win it,” Myers said. “I’ve raced some Ethiopian and Kenyan athletes and quite often they do make it honest which does suit me. The laps may not be as even in pace as I’m used to, but I have done races with a change of pace too.”
Cameron Myers at the 2023 Continental Tour Gold meeting in Melbourne (© Getty Images)
Myers is one of three outstanding young Australian middle-distance runners who will compete in Lima. Both Claudia Hollingsworth, 19, and Peyton Craig, 19, made their Olympic debuts in Paris and each reached the semifinals in the 800m.
Craig, from Gladstone in Queensland, contested both the World Triathlon U20 Championships (where he finished eighth) and the World Athletics U20 Championships in Cali (1500m heats) in 2022, before choosing to focus on athletics, where he has made great progress in the 800m.
His personal best of 1:44.11, set in the Olympic semifinal in Paris where he just missed the final, ranks him first among the entrants for Lima.
Hollingsworth, from Melbourne, also competed in Cali at 17, but was disqualified in the semifinals of the 1500m after stepping on to the in-field during a physical race.
She is a more battle-hardened athlete now, having made her senior World Athletics Championships debut in Budapest last year, and then gained Olympic experience in Paris. She will also enter Lima as the fastest athlete with a personal best of 1:58.40.
This teen trio will spearhead what may be the best Australian team ever to attend the World U20 Championships. And their timing appears to be just about perfect for a home Olympics in Brisbane in 2032, when all should be in their prime.
Nicole Jeffery for World Athletics
