A Trio of Olympic Medalists Eye Early Season Bragging Rights

By Scott Bush, DyeStat Editor

Youth is set to be served Jan. 28 at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston. Meet organizers announced today that a quartet of America's brightest 21-and-under athletes are ready to test their talents against some of the world's best. 

The headline event, so far, is the men's 3,000 meters, which pits Olympic 800 bronze medalist Clayton Murphy, 21, against fellow Olympic medalists Paul Chelimo (USA) and Hagos Gebrhiwet (ETH), who won silver and bronze in the men's 5,000. Murphy has proven himself plenty over 1,500, but 3,000 is a distance the Akron grad isn't all too familiar with, only having run it once indoors, placing third at a meet in 8:18.44 at Penn State last January.

For Chelimo, he'll look to build on a breakthrough 2016, which saw him not only win a medal in Rio, but place seventh in the 3,000 at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, running a World #4 time indoors over the distance. 

Noah Lyles, 19, and Candace Hill, 17, are entered in the sprints, with 800 standout Donovan Brazier entered in the 600. Lyles looks to get his 2017 campaign off to a roaring start after a 2016 season that saw him rank as one of the top young sprinters in the world and sign a professional contract with adidas. He'll compete in the 300 in Boston, with Hill testing her early season fitness in the 60-meter dash.

The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix is the first stop on the IAAF World Indoor Tour, which is a collection of five of the world's best indoor track and field meets, running from Jan. 28-Feb. 18.