Birthday: 11/19/90 Mile PR: 3:52.22 (indoors) - 2017
Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 3:34.54 - 2015
High School: Half Hollow Hills West '08
Hometown: Dix Hills, NY
College: Columbia University '12
Current Residence: Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
Kyle Merber, who retired as a professional runner in January 2021 and now produces a weekly newsletter called The Lap Count, recorded a 2:38:28 debut time at the 2022 TCS New York City Marathon.
On April 13, 2018, Merber won the inaugural HOKA ONE ONE Santa Barbara Elite Mile, clocking 3:57.74, the first track sub-4 in the California coastal city ever!
In 2017, he finished third at the Wanamaker Mile, setting a then indoor Mile personal record of 3:54.67, and six days later on February 17, Kyle & his NJ*NY Track Club teammates set a 4 x Mile indoor world record, clocking 16:12.81, also at the Armory in New York City. At the BU Last Chance Meet on February 26, Merber finished second in another PR behind Edward Cheserek's collegiate indoor record, 3:52.01 to 3:52.22. On September 13, Kyle recorded the first outdoor sub-4 minute Mile on Alaskan soil, breaking the beam in 3:59.36.
In 2016, Kyle won the Sir Walter Miler, clocking a meet and personal & North Carolina state outdoor track record of 3:54.57, and six days later, at the third stop on the BBTM Grand Prix Tour 2016, Merber won the ServiceNow West Chester Mile in a meet record 3:56.19. On August 20, Kyle won his third straight outdoor Mile, edging NJ*NY Track Club teammate Colby Alexander, 3:58.14 to 3:58.15, at the Aetna Falmouth Mile.
At the World Relays 2015 in the Bahamas on May 3, Merber ran the opening 1200m leg for Team USA's world record setting Distance Medley Relay team (9:15.50).
In 2014, he won the Falmouth Mile, clocking 3:56.45. In 2012, Kyle set the U.S. Collegiate 1500 meters record (3:35.59) at the Swarthmore Last Chance Meet on May 14. In 2010, the Columbia grad broke the Ivy League indoor Mile record running his then PR 3:58.52.
FUN FACT: Kyle is co-founder of the HOKA ONE ONE Long Island Mile, launched on September 9, 2015, and he finished third, clocking 3:58.38!
Featuring a Rio Olympian, four USA Road Mile champions and four race champions, the virtual elite field hopes to inspire and motivate other race participants with their virtual Mile races
From P3R
PITTSBURGH – Even though the make-up of the race is different this year, the 2020 Fleet Feet...
Read More comments
More than anything, the lockdown, in an odd and unexpected way, has led him to rediscover the joy of running.
By Scott Cacciola, The New York Times
On an overcast morning in late March, a few days after the International Olympic Committee announced it was postponing the 2020 Tokyo Games...
Read More comments
10th edition, first stop on the BBTM Grand Prix Tour 2019, offers $25,000 Open purse with $5000 for each national champion
Grand Blue Mile race officials have announced preliminary fields for the 2019 USATF 1 Mile Road Championships set for Tuesday, April 23, in downtown Des Moines. A world...
Read More comments
High schooler and future Oregon Duck Brodey Hasty eyes first sub-4 minute Mile against young talented competition
EUGENE, Ore. – The Prefontaine Classic’s International Mile – born in 2010 after the meet became inundated by interest in its famous Bowerman Mile – is a world class race featuring...
Read More comments
Ce’Aira Brown wins women's Mile also in world leading outdoor time
By Erik Boal, DyeStat Editor
Kyle Merber is tied into so much history in the Mile, it almost seemed fitting the HOKA ONE ONE New Jersey / New York Track Club standout was the one leading his peers Friday in writing another...
Read More comments
Led by 2012 Olympic 1500m silver medalist Leo Manzano and Kyle Merber, six runners boast sub-4 Mile credentials in quest to break 4 minutes on the track for the first time in the city
By John Zant, Santa Barbara Independent
Man’s first conquest of the 4 minute Mile barrier will soon be 64...
Read More comments
It’s rare to root for someone as they’re actively beating you, although this was a special occasion.
By Kyle Merber for Tracksmith
In late May, Trevor Dunbar texted me. A week later and we were sitting for lunch in Concord, Massachusetts ahead of the Adrian Martinez Classic. My ears were open...
Read More comments
Irish bride Patricia Barry created a guide to help out friends of her American groom Kyle Merber when the pair tied the knot in Tipperary last week
By Chris Pleasance for MailOnline
While many Americans might like to claim a little Irish blood in their veins, the country's culture and...
Read More comments
Being healthy is the number one priority. It’s easy to always go hard, but sometimes it’s hard to go easy.
By Will, Running Warehouse blog
If you follow American Track & Field, you’re probably familiar with Kyle Merber. However, unless you’ve been closely following his career, you may not be...
Read More comments
"It's great to see these athletes up here, especially so the younger kids can see it and get some inspiration. It's nice exposing them to athletes of this caliber."
By Beth Bragg, Alaska Dispatch News
Fourth place has never felt better for Trevor Dunbar.
Dunbar, the only Alaskan to break...
Read More comments
Athletes want to be seen. Both for their self-esteem and for their sponsors who are paying them to be seen in their gear.
By Kyle Merber, Citius Mag
Everyone is so concerned with putting on good track meets to entertain the fans, but what do the athletes want? Maybe we have needs too! There...
Read More comments
“A lot of coaches can just get you in shape. It takes a special coach to get you to believe."
By Sabrina Yohannes, RunBlogRun
If his trademark headbands help you to locate Kyle Merber in a crowded race, you are not alone.
"It's easy for my mom to follow me," the native New Yorker Merber...
Read More comments
Gearing up for Millrose Games' Wanamaker Mile, training and being a New Yorker
By Paul Snyder, Citius Mag
I hopped on the phone with my friend and former teammate, Kyle Merber, to chat about his upcoming appearance in the Wanamaker Mile. I figured I’d write up a tidy little page-long...
Read More comments
Three HOKA NJ*NY Track Club coached athletes entered in famed Wanamaker Mile at upcoming 110th NYRR Millrose Games
From NYRR
NEW YORK – If 55 years of coaching track & field have taught Frank Gagliano anything, it’s to keep going.
The legendary coach, now in his seventh year at the helm of ...
Read More comments
Manikas-Hill, Sessa win Tommy Cochary High School Mile titles
From New Balance Falmouth Road Race
FALMOUTH, Mass. — Kyle Merber and Katie Mackey both repeated as champions of the Aetna Falmouth Elite Mile on Saturday night with Merber winning for the second consecutive time and Mackey...
Read More comments
For "grass root market Mile races... it’s really just about community involvement... they really connect with the fans in a way that you don’t necessarily get at a major championship race."
By Tom Surber, USATF
Throughout the long and glorious history of track & field in the United States,...
Read More comments
Wallstrides is making giant decals of some of your favorite Milers
By John Gugala, Outside Online
Over the summer, professional runners Erik van Ingen (a 3:56 Miler), Kyle Merber (a 3:54 Miler), and Aric Van Halen (yes, the son of that Van Halen) were hanging out at a cross country camp in...
Read More comments
Kyle Merber and Andrew Wheating head the U.S. Team in the 1500 for the Pan Am games in Toronto; considered favorites for gold and silver
By Chris Chavez, RunblogRun
On a dry and warm night in Madrid, Kyle Merber (HOKA ONE ONE) stepped off the track after a third place finish in the men's 3000...
Read More comments
"You are patriots! Trying to serve your country in a way that a lot of people won’t understand until they finally see the U-S-A on your chest! Then…they will get it."
By Kyle Merber
It was one of the first days of practice in October, and we were huddled inside the shed at Rutgers University...
Read More comments
The basis is we work hard, we recover and we repeat the process. There are no secrets. But Gags makes you believe in yourself like no one ever has before, and that’s what makes him such a great coach.
By The Red Loop
Kyle Merber is the U.S. Collegiate Record Holder in the 1500m with a time of...
Read More comments
Three men sub-4 and four women sub-4:30; Tommy Cochary High School Mile goes to Russell Wells, Stella Worters
From Falmouth Road Race
FALMOUTH, Mass. – Filling the bleachers and lining the rails, hundreds of fans turned out on Saturday evening to cheer the athletes at the Falmouth Mile, which...
Read More comments
"I was exhausted … but I was in the lead in front of my home crowd and I couldn't relinquish it.”
By Justin P. Hicks, mlive.com
SALINE, Mich. – Not only was the record for the fastest Mile run in Michigan broken on Sunday, it was topped three times.
Nick Willis led the 13 male racers across...
Read More comments
By Kyle Merber
“EL GUERROUJ! LAGAT! TO THE LINE! EL GUERROUJ GOT IT!” When I was thirteen years old, I remember watching the Olympic 1500 final in Athens 2004 and having my eyelids peeled back as I stared at the screen in awe. At this point in my running career, I did not fully understand the...
Read More comments
By Brett Hoover, Armory Track
Yesterday at a student career fair in Indianapolis, I ran into Scott Williams, an All-American and Big 10 champion while at Indiana University.
"Scott," I said. " A Columbia kid ran a 3:35 last night!"
After an ever brief pause, Williams responded, "Wow. That's...
Read More commentsReturn the Mile to prominence on the American & worldwide sports and cultural landscape by elevating and celebrating the Mile to create a movement.
ELEVATE
Bring Back the Mile as the premier event in the sport, and increase interest in and media coverage of the Mile for both those who love the distance as well as the general public.
CELEBRATE
Bring Back the Mile to celebrate the storied distance and to recognize the people who made and make the Mile great and to promote Mile events and the next generation of U.S. Milers.
NATIONAL MOVEMENT
Bring Back the Mile to create a national movement for the Mile as America’s Distance, to inspire Americans to run the Mile as part of their fitness program and to replace the 1600 meters at High School State Track & Field Meets across the country.
Become a Mile Maniac member or a BBTM sponsor today! Join us, and go Mile!