Left: Olympian and 2021 NCAA indoor mile and outdoor 1500-meter champion Cole Hocker; Olympian and defending Wanamaker Mile champion Elle Purrier St. Pierre during the 113th Millrose Games at The Armory. Hocker photo by Kirby Lee; Purrier St. Pierre Photo by Ross Dettman.
Defending champion Elle Purrier St. Pierre and current NCAA champion Cole Hocker to Headline the WHOOP Wanamaker Miles
NEW YORK, NY, Nov. 19, 2021 – The Armory Foundation has announced that WHOOP, the human performance company, will be the title sponsor of the 2022 WHOOP Wanamaker Men’s and Women’s Miles in the upcoming 114thMillrose Games. The Wanamaker Miles are the most prestigious and historic indoor miles in the world and have been the centerpiece of the Millrose Games since its inception. Past winners of the fabled Wanamaker Miles include Matthew Centrowitz, Sifan Hassan, Colleen Quigley, Jenny Simpson, and legendary runners such as Bernard Lagat, Francie Larrieu, Marty Liquori, Eamonn Coghlan, and so many others.
U.S. Olympic Trials champions and Tokyo Olympic finalists Elle Purrier St. Pierre and Cole Hocker are the first two athletes to be announced for the 2022 WHOOP women’s and men’s Wanamaker Miles, respectively. They will be a part of the two signature events of the Millrose Games, scheduled to take place on Saturday, January 29, 2022, at The Armory’s New Balance Track & Field Center.
Purrier St. Pierre is the American indoor mile record holder and the defending Wanamaker Mile champion, with a time of 4:16.85 set at the last Millrose Games on February 8, 2020. Purrier St. Pierre, the 2018 NCAA indoor mile champion, also won the U.S. Olympic Trials with a meet record of 3:58.05 over 1500 meters. Purrier St. Pierre also holds the American two-mile record indoors.
Hocker is the current 2021 NCAA indoor mile and outdoor 1500-meter champion. Following his second NCAA championship, Hocker won the U.S. Olympic Trials, defeating Olympic gold medalist Matthew Centrowitz. Running a series of personal bests, Hocker finished sixth at the Olympics in 3:31.4, a time that was under the former Olympic record set two days prior.
“The Millrose Games is an ideal place to showcase the different ways WHOOP can help some of the world’s most elite athletes optimize their performance,” said WHOOP SVP of Marketing John Sullivan. “Fans will also get to experience this historic event like never before with new competitor insights featured in broadcast via WHOOP Live.”
WHOOP plans to work with The Armory to integrate real-time, near-real-time and post-event physiological data from certain athletes into the live broadcast of The Millrose Games with WHOOP Live and WHOOP 4.0.
WHOOP is a personalized 24/7 digital fitness and health coach that helps people unlock their inner potential and make meaningful lifestyle changes via actionable feedback on sleep, recovery, and strain. WHOOP insights are grounded in industry-leading accuracy across measurements of key health indicators like heart rate variability, resting heart rate, respiratory rate, sleep staging, skin temperature, and blood oxygen levels.
Elite track athletes and Millrose Games alumni who use WHOOP include Drew Hunter, Colleen Quigley, and Olympic bronze medalist Gabby Thomas. Michael Phelps and Patrick Mahomes are among the legendary athletes in other sports who have become WHOOP devotees.
“We are delighted to have WHOOP join us as title sponsor of the Wanamaker Miles,” said Armory Foundation Co-President Rita Finkel. “This sponsorship puts a spotlight on WHOOP technology for athletes all over the world and helps bring the Millrose Games to the next level of innovation in sports.”
“The Millrose Games will be broadcast live on NBC in the United States, and for the first time internationally as part of the prestigious World Athletics Indoor Tour,” said Jonathan Schindel, Armory Foundation Co-President.
Ray Flynn, Meet Director of the Millrose Games, added: “With the great success and athlete performances during the Olympic Games in Tokyo, we hope to stage the greatest Millrose Games yet at The Armory.”
The 114th Millrose Games is anticipated to be the most thrilling edition of the meet to date, with dozens of Olympians competing on The Armory's “Fastest Track in the World.”
Millrose Games alumni earned 29 medals at the Tokyo Olympics, including 13 gold medals. Millrose Games tickets can be purchased at https://www.millrosegames.org/get-tickets.
Stay tuned throughout the fall as athletes who will be competing at the Millrose Games are announced, including the full fields for the iconic WHOOP Wanamaker Miles.
About WHOOP
WHOOP, the human performance company, provides a membership for 24/7 coaching to improve health. The WHOOP membership comes with the new WHOOP 4.0 hardware, a coaching platform designed to optimize behavior, and a community of high performers. WHOOP members include professional athletes, Fortune 500 CEOs, fitness enthusiasts, military personnel, frontline workers and anyone looking to improve their performance. Studies show WHOOP can positively change behavior, increase sleep, and improve physiological biomarkers. Founded in 2021, WHOOP is based in Boston and has raised more than $400 million in venture capital. Visit whoop.com for the latest company news and connect with WHOOP on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
About The Armory Foundation
The Armory Foundation is a New York City non-profit institution, with the mission of "Keeping Kids on Track." Each season The Armory – the proud home of the Millrose Games – hosts more than 100 track & field meets and welcomes more than 220,000 visits. Among its many youth sports and educational programs, including the acclaimed Armory College Prep program, The Armory runs the leading collegiate indoor track meets with the Dr. Sander Invitational Columbia Challenge and the HBCU Showcase, and hosts the largest high school indoor track meets with this past season’s 26th U. S. Air Force Hispanic Games, The New Balance Games, New Balance Nationals Indoor, the Energice Coaches Hall of Fame and Marine Corps Holiday Classic. New York Road Runners is a proud sponsor of all athletic events at The Armory. The Armory runs the Columbia & NewYork – Presbyterian Indoor Marathon Team Relay presented by New York Road Runners, which is the world’s largest indoor marathon relay. The Armory is also the home to the National Track & Field Hall of Fame and dozens of very large education-focused events. For more: Please visit Armory.NYC and ArmoryTrack.com.
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