Andy Baddeley
Great Britain
Age: 27
Baddeley has been Great Britain’s dominant miler/1500-meter runner for the past two years. He finished ninth in the 1500 at both the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and the 2007 IAAF World Outdoor Championships. He cracked the 3:50 barrier in the mile last year.

Collis Birmingham
Australia
Age: 24
Birmingham has run a 3:54 mile, made the 2008 Australian Olympic team at 5000 meters, set a national record at 10,000 meters, and finished 29th at the 2008 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. He’ll be making his Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile debut.

Nate Brannen
Canada
Age: 27
Brannen took the final podium position at last year’s Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile in 3:51.9. He ran a 3:59 mile in high school, and then attended the University of Michigan, where he was an 11-time All-American. He still lives in Ann Arbor and trains under Michigan coach Ron Warhurst.

Bernard Lagat
United States
Age: 34
The reigning U.S. champion and national record-holder at 1500 meters, Lagat lost the 2008 Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile by less than a step to New Zealand’s Nick Willis. His victory at this year’s Millrose Games Wanamaker Mile was his seventh, equaling the total of Irish legend Eamonn Coghlan.

Will Leer
United States
Age: 24
Leer just missed making the 20008 U.S. Olympic team, finishing fourth in the 1500 meters at the trials. He ran his first sub-4:00 mile in Seattle in 2008. He grew up in Minnetonka, MN, and started running as a high school sophomore to stay in shape for soccer.

Leonel Manzano
United States
Age: 25
Former University of Texas middle-distance star Manzano finished second in the 1500 meters both at last year’s U.S. Olympic Trials and this year’s USA Championships. He’s set PRs at 800 and 1500 meters and the mile this year. This will be his Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile debut.

Jon Rankin
United States
Age: 27
The former UCLA star has been fourth and third in the last two Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Miles. He first broke 4:00 for the mile in 2005. Rankin is coached by Joaquim Cruz, who in 1984 won an Olympic gold medal in the 800 meters representing Brazil.  

Steve Sherer
United States
Age: 28
A graduate of Michigan State University, Sherer relocated to California after graduation and grabbed attention last year with a 3:56.00 indoor mile. He was fourth in this year’s New Balance Mile and fifth in the Millrose Games Wanamaker Mile. He was a tennis player in high school who didn’t take up running until his junior year.

Chris Solinsky
United States
Age: 24
Solinsky placed 12th in the final at the IAAF World Championships 5000 meters in Berlin this past August, having qualified with a runner-up performance at the USA Outdoor Championships. At last year’s Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, he finished fifth after challenging for the lead in the late stages.

Matt Tegenkamp
United States
Age: 27
Tegenkamp is the American record-holder at two miles (8:07.07). In early September of this year, he became the fourth American to break 13:00 for 5000 meters with his 12:58.56 performance in Brussels. A 2005 graduate of the University of Wisconsin, he trains with the Oregon Track Club Elite team.

David Torrence
United States
Age: 23
Torrence was born in Okinawa, Japan, and grew up in Los Angeles. He was an All-American at the University of California, Berkeley. He won two national championships this year: 3000 meters indoors and the road mile. Torrence was 10 th at last year’s Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile.