The New Balance Grand Prix came to Boston for the 30th edition of the meet. The event was sold out with fans hoping to see Olympians and other top-level professional track and field athletes.
The sprints for both men and women were packed with star power. The 100m Olympic champions from Paris were both in action: Julien Alfred of St. Lucia raced in the women’s 300m, while Noah Lyles of the United States took on the men’s 60m.
“It’s the first [meet], getting my feet wet as an opener, so I’m just looking forward to just continuing the same trajectory and getting stronger,” Alfred said to the Daily.
A number of St. Lucian fans were in the audience waving flags to support their national hero.
“It feels really good. We are very small in number, but both here and abroad we’re very mighty as well,” Alfred said to the Daily. “[We’re] always supporting each other, so I really love them.”
Noah Lyles won the men’s 60m in 6.55 seconds, edging out Terrence Jones. Afterward, Lyles flipped his bib to show a message: “Tyreek could never,” aimed at NFL star Tyreek Hill. Hill had claimed he could beat Lyles after his 2024 Paris win, though the two have yet to race, despite discussing it in September.
“I just gotta remind him [Tyreek], his season’s over,” Lyles said to the press pool. “My season’s constantly going… I’ll make time for you, boy.”
Italy's 2020 Olympic men’s 100m champion, Marcel Jacobs, had a disappointing outing, finishing fourth overall. He initially failed to make the final after clocking a 6.69 in the prelims, which placed him sixth. However, his fortunes shifted when Nigeria's Udodi Onwuzurike withdrew from the competition, opening up a spot for Jacobs in the final.
“I’m not training for training, I’m training for competing, so I need to understand how the training is going,” Jacobs said to the media prior to competition. “I do need to run two times because the first race is to ‘break the ice.’”
The hurdles were equally star-studded as the sprints, with both the men’s and women’s 2024 Olympic champions in the 110m and 100m hurdles competing on the field.
The men’s 60m hurdles saw Grant Holloway, the 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist and world indoor record holder, take the win with a dominant 7.47-second performance. Holloway hasn’t lost an indoor race in over eleven years, with his last defeat coming in March 2014, when he was just 16 and still in high school.
On the women’s side, the 2024 Paris Olympics 100m champion Masai Russell of the United States took first place in the 60m hurdles with a time of 7.80. Russell is set to compete in April in the newly launched Grand Slam Track, a professional track and field league created by former Olympic champion sprinter Michael Johnson.
The men’s 1500m was one of the most anticipated events of the night, featuring a showdown between double 2024 Olympic medalist Grant Fisher (5000m and 10000m) and a strong field including Jake Wightman of Great Britain, Oliver Hoare of Australia, and Josh Hoey of the United States. In a thrilling finish, it was Hoey who emerged victorious, clocking a time of 3:33.66 to post the fastest 1500m of the year so far and set a new personal best, improving his previous time by more than five seconds.
“I was pretty inspired by watching Bryce [Hoppel] run at the Olympics and some of the other middle distance guys, so I mean [winning] is just a tremendous feeling,” Hoey said to the press.
In the women’s mile, it was Heather MacLean of the United States who took the victory, running a blazing fast time of 4:23.32 to set a new meet record and a personal best. The Peabody native and University of Massachusetts grad was greeted warmly by her hometown crowd.
“When I found out it was sold out a few weeks ago, I felt so bad because a lot of people couldn’t come but everyone is tuning in,” MacLean said to the press, “and for everybody who is here, “it’s just amazing to be on my hometown track. My family is here, my friends, my fiancé, so I’m just honored to get to do this.”
In the men’s 400m, Quincy Wilson set a new personal best to win in a time of 45.66 and set a new American high school record. When Wilson competed at the Summer Olympics in Paris aged 16, he became the youngest American track & field male Olympian in history.
“Honestly the track and the environment here is amazing,” Wilson said to the media following his race. “Every time I come here, I run a new National Record. I love the track, I love the environment, I’m just blessed to be out here today.
In the men’s high jump, 2024 Paris Olympian Vernon Turner of the United States claimed first with a jump of 2.19m (7’2 ¼”). Turner cleared the height on his first attempt, securing the top spot after a tiebreaker on misses, edging out Jamaica's Romaine Beckford and Puerto Rico's Luis Castro Rivera, who also cleared 2.19m.
“The ultimate goal is Worlds in September, so to come out on top of the competition today means a lot, and it just shows me and my coach that we are moving in a positive direction,” Turner said.
2020 Olympic bronze medalist Raevyn Rogers of the United States won the women’s 500m, crossing the line in 1:08.98.
“[At the end of 2024] I took that three-month break… and was able to just have a great perspective and approach, so much gratitude when I do show up on that line and to not have fear, so I come back much more confident,” Rogers said to the press.
Three-time Olympian and Dutch world 4x400m gold medallist Lisanne de Witte placed fifth in the 500m with a time of 1:10.81.
This weekend, some of the athletes head to the Millrose Games in New York City on February 8. The next major stop on the World Athletics Tour is the INIT Indoor Meeting in Karlsruhe, Germany on February 7.
See more photos from the event here.
