“I feel very confident about my chances of winning there,” Nuguse said about the World Championships

(Most of this, with the exception of the results and interviews, was included in our article, 8 Thoughts on Silesia Diamond League 2025)

After finishing 5th at USAs, Yared Nuguse has one path to the World Championships in Tokyo next month: he must win the Diamond League 1500 final to earn an automatic bye to Worlds. But to do that, he first has to qualify for the final.

Nuguse took a big step in that direction on Saturday at the Silesia Diamond League meeting,

winning the men’s 1500 in 3:33.41 to move to 4th in the Diamond League standings — which all but guarantees his spot in the 10-man final in Zurich. (He’s also entered in Brussels next week.) He earned the win by taking control with 200 meters to go and closing in a strong 25.7.

On paper, this was a field Nuguse should have beaten – there was no Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, or Phanuel Koech. Nuguse took care of business.

Perhaps wary of leading after it backfired at USAs, Nuguse backed off a bit early but was never lower than 4th after the first 100 meters and was in position to strike on the last lap in a slow race (by 2025 DL standards).

When Narve Nordas made a bid for the lead on the back straight, Nuguse responded immediately and got the lead by 200 to go, which allowed him to run the shortest distance and control the final half-lap, unlike, for example, Kenya’s Reynold Cheruiyot, who closed like a train (12.1 final 100) but was boxed in in 10th place with 200 to go.

Nuguse will face stronger competition in Zurich, but this was a good way to kick off his post-USAs European tour.

Nuguse has now won four Diamond League 1500s – London and Zurich in 2023, Zurich in 2024, and Silesia in 2025.

In the 16-year history of the Diamond League, Leo Manzano (2011 London) and Jonah Koech (2025 Rabat) are the only other American men with even one DL 1500/mile victory.

There were two other Americans in Saturday’s race.

 Josh Hoey was 5th in 3:33.75 – a solid result, but proof that he should focus on the 800 for the rest of the year (his coach Justin Rinaldi confirmed Hoey would run the 800 at the Diamond League final in the chat of our live Silesia recap show). 

Hobbs Kessler, meanwhile, was only 7th in 3:34.14. Kessler, who was 10th at the Pre Classic, only has two Diamond League points with just one DL 1500 remaining next week in Brussels.

At this point, he’s a long shot to even make the 10-person final, let alone win it to earn the wild card to Worlds.

Nuguse, meanwhile, is very confident about what he can do if he can get to Tokyo.

“I feel very confident about my chances of winning there,” he said in the interview to Diamond League AG (embedded at bottom of article).

Men’s 1500m Results from Silesia

 Nuguse post-race: “At this point of the year, times don’t matter anymore and the wins do”