NANJING — Former Peabody High track standout Heather MacLean, the American record-holder in the 1,500-meter run, finished seventh in the 1,500 during Sunday’s World Athletics Indoor Championships.
MacLean finished in 4:05.45, well behind winner Gudaf Tsegay of Ethiopia. Tsegay led from start to finish in a dominant performance, setting a championship record 3:54.86. She finished more than 4.5 seconds ahead of fellow Ethiopian Dribe Weleji, who was runner-up in 3:59.30.
In a post-race interview, MacLean said she thought she could have done better.
“Definitely not satisfied – I’m better than that,” MacLean said. “I felt kind of flat.”
When asked if she had any regrets on how she ran the race, MacLean hesitated a bit.
“Not really. I think I was trying to make a big move to close the gap a little bit more, but I just didn’t have it in my legs,” she said. “I guess my only regret is that I didn’t run faster. I’m not sick or anything. Some days you have it, some days you don’t, and today was one of those days.”
One of MacLean’s coaches at Peabody High was Fernando Braz. He said MacLean’s competitiveness is always driving her to want more.
“The world championships, especially in a non-Olympic year, is extremely competitive and a seventh-place finish is impressive,” Braz said. “Heather is a fierce competitor and it’s understandable that, in the moment, she feels that she could have done some things better.”
MacLean was the second American to cross the finish line, just behind Sinclaire Johnson, who finished sixth with a personal-best time of 4:04.07. This is MacLean’s second World Indoor Championship; she finished seventh in the 1,500 in 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.
MacLean, a Tokyo Olympian in 2021, set the American record of 3:59.60 during the Last Chance Meet at Boston University on March 2 while running the mile, breaking the record of 3:59.98 set by Regina Jacobs in 2003.
Her 4:17.01 time in the mile during the BU meet was just off Elle St. Pierre’s American record of 4:16.41 and the third-fastest ever in the mile by an American woman. St. Pierre has the two fastest times.
MacLean’s pacer in the Last Chance meet was 2018 Lynnfield High graduate and former Boston College standout Kate Mitchell, MacLean’s teammate on the New Balance Boston professional running team.
“The chemistry with them in that race was like they were on a training run. It was so special to watch and magical,” said Peabody High Coach Fernando Braz. “Heather is so remarkable because she runs with the passion and will that she always has something to prove. When you watch her body language in the race, she never seems to be exerting. When she locks in, she locks in.”
MacLean punched her ticket to the final with a second-place finish in 4:13.26 during the third heat of the preliminaries on Friday. The top three finishers in each of the three heats qualified for the final.
Tsegay, who also won in 2022, holds the 1,500 world record of 3:53.09 and owns the four fastest performances in the event’s history.
