It&rsquo;s an accepted truism in middle-distance running: the kick is determined not so much by speed, but strength &ndash; the ability to harness the highest percentage of your top pace when it matters most.
And so, last Saturday night in New York, when Elinor Purrier switched into lane two towards the end of the Wanamaker Mile, what others saw was a dazzling display of speed. But what she knew was telling most was her strength.
Purrier blasted past race favourite Konstanze Kosterhalfen to claim victory at the Millrose Games and set a North American indoor mile record of 4:16.85.
In distance-running, strength is a term that typically refers to aerobic ability, which Purrier has built over the past year through a steady, consistent workload of 70 miles a week. The word&rsquo;s classic definition is different, but when it comes to muscular strength, few distance runners can rival Purrier.
<h3>Rural roots</h3>
The roots of that lie in her childhood.
She grew up on a dairy farm in Montgomery, Vermont, and as a kid the alarm clock would sound at 5am to pull her from her bed and out to lend a hand. She&rsquo;d feed or milk some of the family&rsquo;s 60 cows before school, scrape out the barns and do whatever else was needed.
From what age was that the norm?
&ldquo;Always,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I never remember not helping.&rdquo;
She was the smallest in her family growing up so throughout those years, Purrier felt like she was &ldquo;always trying to keep up&rdquo; when it came to tasks like throwing hay with her siblings and workers hired by her father. It helped her in ways she would only later understand.
&ldquo;Ever since I was little, people told me that I was strong and tough and I think that definitely comes from growing up on the farm,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;It definitely has a big impact not just on my career, but as an overall person. I'm very thankful for the way my family raised me. We were always getting stuff done and had expectations from an early age to work hard.&rdquo;
These days, she is exempt from such duties when she returns home.
&ldquo;I kind of like to (do farm work) because I miss it so much, but my Dad totally understands that my work now really requires a lot of my body so when I'm home I'm usually trying to recover.&rdquo;
Her first try at running came through the Girls on the Run programme in eighth grade, but Purrier didn&rsquo;t truly take up the sport until high school. She was more of a basketball player in those years and only while at the University of New Hampshire did her Olympic dreams take shape.
After a few near-misses she won the NCAA Indoor mile title in her final try, and 2018 was also the year she switched her focus outdoors from the steeplechase to flat events. She signed a professional contract with New Balance that summer and moved to Boston to train under renowned coach Mark Coogan.
&ldquo;He's had a lot of success with coaching women in the past so that definitely gives me confidence in his coaching,&rdquo; says Purrier. &ldquo;He's really chill. I like that attitude and atmosphere he brings to the team because he makes it like a family around here.&rdquo;
By &lsquo;here&rsquo;, Purrier means Flagstaff, Arizona, where she has trained for much of the past two months &ndash; her third trip to the hotspot for distance runners which sits at almost 7,000 feet (2,130m).
&ldquo;I think that my body's just been adapting really well,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I slowly increased my mileage every year from high school all the way up through college, 10 miles a week (each year) and I've been running 70 miles a week pretty consistently for the past year. Building that has helped me not burn out too quick and to really absorb the training.&rdquo;
<h3>Solid start to 2020 campaign</h3>
Last year brought a big breakthrough, with Purrier lowering her personal bests to 4:02.34 for 1500m, 8:48.92 for 3000m and 14:58.17 for 5000m, the latter coming in Doha where she finished 11th in the world 5000m final.
The dawn of an Olympic year saw her hit the ground running. Purrier opened her season at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston and in the first leg of the World Athletics Indoor Tour, she powered to victory over two miles in 9:29.17.
Heading to New York for the Millrose Games, her plan was simple. Everyone knew Klosterhalfen would try to run the legs off her rivals in the middle of the race and Purrier&rsquo;s instruction was simple: &ldquo;Mark just told me to stay on her and try to kick as hard as I could.&rdquo;
Purrier said it was &ldquo;only in the last 15 metres&rdquo; that she believed she would win. &ldquo;I wasn't super confident that that was going to happen, but I definitely gave myself a chance.&rdquo;
And as for the time, which puts Purrier second on the all-time indoor mile list?
&ldquo;No, honestly, I wasn't really expecting that at all,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I didn't even know what the (US) indoor record was. I just was just trying to compete the best I could.&rdquo;
<h3>What to run: 1500? Or 5000m?</h3>
Next up is the US Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, where Purrier will compete in the 3000m this Friday (14) and then make a decision about Saturday&rsquo;s 1500m. In both events her chief rival is likely to be Shelby Houlihan, another athlete gifted with superb strength and a vicious finishing kick.
Much like Houlihan, the breadth of Purrier&rsquo;s ability leaves her in a tricky, if enviable, position as she prepares to turn her attention outdoors. Will she focus on the 1500m or 5000m &ndash; or both &ndash; ahead of the Olympic Games?
&ldquo;I don't really know,&rdquo; she says. &ldquo;I always loved the mile and the 1500. I feel like that's like really where my heart is, but I also had a lot of fun with the 5K and that's what ultimately got me to the World Championships. We're going to see how training goes and make a decision later.&rdquo;
In recent days she has had to re-align what&rsquo;s possible in 2020 &ndash; not that Purrier is getting ahead of herself.
&ldquo;It gave me a lot of confidence, but I'm just kind of trying to take it one step at a time and focus on the meet this weekend,&rdquo; she says.
Her goal for the year is still the same: &ldquo;Definitely making the Olympic team.&rdquo;
Do that, she knows, and with her strength, her speed, just about anything is possible.
Cathal Dennehy for World Athletics

It’s an accepted truism in middle-distance running: the kick is determined not so much by speed, but strength – the ability to harness the highest percentage of your top pace when it matters most.

With mile breakthrough, Purrier shows her strength

World 5000m finalist Elle Purrier provided the unexpected highlight of the Millrose Games in New York on Saturday (8), winning the women&rsquo;s Wanamaker Mile in a North American indoor record of 4:16.85, the second-fastest indoor performance in history.
In what proved to be the greatest depth women&rsquo;s indoor mile ever, the two women who followed Purrier across the finish line &ndash; Germany&rsquo;s Konstanze Klosterhalfen and Britain&rsquo;s Jemma Reekie &ndash; also moved into the top five on the world indoor all-time list, clocking national indoor records of 4:17.26 and 4:17.88 respectively.
In fourth, Gabriela DeBues-Stafford set a Canadian indoor record of 4:19.73, also inside the previous North American indoor record of 4:20.5 that had stood to Mary Tabb since 1982.
Purrier and Reekie took turns at the front over the first few laps before Klosterhalfen assumed the lead for most of the rest of the race, passing 800m in 2:08.19 and 1000m in 2:40.43. The world 5000m bronze medallist still led as they approached the final lap with DeBues-Stafford sitting in second place about four metres adrift, just ahead of Purrier and Reekie.
Purrier, known for her strong finish, moved into second place on the back straight and continued to make up ground on Klosterhalfen, dragging Reekie with her. She moved up a gear as she came off the final bend and strode past the German, crossing the line in 4:16.85. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
SHE'S DONE IT! Elle Purrier wins the Wanamaker Mile at the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NYRRMillroseGames?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NYRRMillroseGames</a>, with an American record performance! <a href="https://t.co/dFpGsMv39h">pic.twitter.com/dFpGsMv39h</a>
&mdash; #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBCOlympics/status/1226274968566104064?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2020</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" async=""></script>

 &ldquo;This is only my second race of the year so far, so I wasn&rsquo;t really sure of my fitness,&rdquo; said Purrier, who won over two miles at the World Athletics Indoor Tour meeting in Boston two weeks ago. &ldquo;On the second-to-last lap I started feeling a bit more confident and tried to make a move. I wasn&rsquo;t looking at the splits and was just focused on competing. I just competed, it was a huge shock. I ran a pretty similar time on the roads (4:17), but doing it on the track is totally different. I hadn&rsquo;t thought of the American record at all.&rdquo;
The first four finishers also set 1500m PBs en route. Klosterhalfen set a German indoor 1500m record of 3:59.87, Purrier clocked 4:00.20, just 0.22 shy of the North American indoor record, Reekie broke training partner Laura Muir's British indoor record with 4:00.52 and DeBues-Stafford ran a Canadian indoor best of 4:00.80.
<h3>Brazier and Wilson improve own continental records</h3>
Donavan Brazier and Ajee Wilson both shaved a bit of time off their own North American indoor records for 800m.
Brazier, the world 800m champion, hit the front with 200 metres to go and covered the final circuit in 24.89 seconds to win in 1:44.22, taking 0.19 off the North American indoor record he set when finishing second at last year&rsquo;s Millrose Games. He ran significant negative splits too, covering the first half in 53.04 and the second in 51.18.
Bryce Hoppel, winner of the 1000m in Boston two weeks ago, finished second in 1:45.70.
Wilson was similarly dominant in the women&rsquo;s event. After the field was paced through 400m in 56.22, Jamaica&rsquo;s Natoya Goule led at 600m, reached in 1:28.16 with Wilson close behind in second. The world bronze medallist then eased into the lead and kicked on to win in 1:58.29, moving from 19th to 13th on the world indoor all-time list. Goule finished second in 1:59.35.
<h3>World leads for Crouser and Morris</h3>
Olympic shot put champion Ryan Crouser got his 2020 campaign off to a strong start, throwing within 14 centimetres of the meeting record he set last year.
He led from the outset, opening with 21.24m &ndash; a mark that was equalled by world champion Joe Kovacs &ndash; before improving to 21.59m in round three. Kovacs went out to 21.34m, his best of the night, but Crouser improved to 21.69m and then a world-leading 22.19m in round five.
The 27-year-old now owns three of the 10 best indoor marks in history.
World indoor champion Sandi Morris entered the pole vault at 4.50m, a height which no other competitor managed to clear. She then sailed over 4.65m on her second attempt, 4.75m on her first and then 4.81m on her second before nailing 4.91m on her first try.
The world silver medallist ended her series by attempting a would-be world record height of 5.04m but, unlike Armand Duplantis in Torun a few hours earlier, was ultimately unsuccessful.
World indoor champion Kendra Harrison won the 60m hurdles in 7.90, 0.06 ahead of world champion Nia Ali.
World indoor bronze medallist Ronnie Baker made a welcome return to indoor action, clocking 6.54 to win the men&rsquo;s 60m from Boston winner Demek Kemp (6.56). Javiane Oliver won the women&rsquo;s event in 7.13.
Elsewhere, world 400m hurdles silver medallist Rai Benjamin won the 300m in a meeting record of 32.35 and Wadeline Jonathas took the 400m in 51.93. Britain&rsquo;s Chris O&rsquo;Hare regained his Wanamaker Mile title from two years ago, winning by almost a second in 3:55.61.
<h3>Millrose Games honoured with Heritage Plaque</h3>
The Millrose Games became the latest meeting to be presented with a <a href="https://www.worldathletics.org/heritage/plaque-home" target="_blank" rel="noopener">World Athletics Heritage Plaque</a>.
In recognition of the illustrious history of the NYRR Millrose Games and Wanamaker Mile, Armory Foundation Co-Presidents Rita Finkel and Jonathan Schindel and NYRR CEO Michael Capiraso accepted the award from USATF CEO Max Siegel and USATF COO Renee Washington. 
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/21SGvgMjRXw" width="500" height="280" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
 "The Armory is the proud recipient of the World Athletics prestigious Heritage Award this year for the NYRR Millrose Games and the Wanamaker Mile," said Schindel. "The World Athletics Heritage Plaque honours iconic and historic athletics competitions around the world, and The Armory is so pleased to be among such a select group of honorees."
<a href="http://www.nyrrmillrosegames.org/news/world-heritage-plaque" target="_blank" rel="noopener">More information </a>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rKNmImQXSFw" width="500" height="280" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

World 5000m finalist Elle Purrier provided the unexpected highlight of the Millrose Games in New York on Saturday (8), winning the women’s Wanamaker Mile in a North American indoor record of 4:16.85, the second-fastest indoor performance in history.

With mile breakthrough, Purrier shows her strength

Purrier smashes North American indoor mile record at Millrose Games