Josh Hoey’s 2026 season began with a world record and then disappeared almost as quickly as it arrived. Now, after months away from racing, the American middle-distance star is finally building toward a return.
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Hoey, 26, has not competed since January, when he tore through the indoor 800m in Boston in 1:42.50. That run erased Wilson Kipketer’s 29-year-old world record, but what followed was a frustrating stretch of injuries that eventually forced Hoey to shut down his season.
His agent, Mark Wetmore, told LetsRun.com that Hoey’s problems started with a hamstring irritation during the record run. The hamstring problem also kept Hoey out of the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games a week later. Instead of clearing up quickly, the discomfort continued to trouble him well into the spring.
Hoey tried taking short breaks before returning to training, but the timing never quite worked. Each comeback came before the injury had fully settled, and by the end of spring, another problem had emerged. A stress injury developed in his lower left leg, likely connected to the compensation from his hamstring trouble, and Hoey spent several weeks in a walking boot.
The situation stretched into July, when Hoey traveled to Colorado’s Steadman Clinic, one of the country’s leading orthopedic centers. There, doctors diagnosed a stress fracture and placed him back in a boot for roughly three more weeks.
That long pause has finally ended. Doctors cleared Hoey to resume training in late August, and he has started building himself back up with the 2027 indoor season now in sight.
The comeback matters even more considering how spectacularly his year began. On December 6, 2025, Hoey hinted at what was coming when he ran 1:12.84 for 600m at Boston University, taking nearly a second off Donavan Brazier’s indoor world record.
Just seven weeks later, he returned to the same track for the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix. With his brother Jaxson Hoey pacing him through 200m in 24.81 and 400m in 50.21, Josh stayed composed before taking control. He reached 600m in 1:16.19 and finished in 1:42.50.
The performance knocked 0.17 seconds off Kipketer’s 1:42.67 mark from the 1997 World Indoor Championships. Hoey also won by more than two seconds, turning a race many expected to be memorable into a piece of history.
“We did a lot of pacing work,” Hoey said afterward. “Just kind of kept steadily improving, taking it week by week, block by block, and we were able to make this work.”
Yet the record ended up becoming the final race of his 2026 season. And behind that abrupt halt was a story that had already been developing for years.
Josh Hoey’s bold decision last year
Hoey’s breakthrough under coach Justin Rinaldi had transformed his career. After turning professional in 2018, he spent his first five years struggling to break 1:47 and went through five coaches. His fortunes changed after joining Rinaldi in late 2023.
By 2025, Hoey had become a world champion. He won the indoor 800m title, ran a personal-best 1:42.01 outdoors, defeated Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi and silver medalist Marco Arop in Lausanne, and finished the year as the U.S. leader in both the 800m and 1500m with marks of 1:42.01 and 3:29.75.
But missing the 2025 World Championships after finishing fourth at the USA left Hoey searching for another step forward. He and Rinaldi ultimately disagreed over how aggressively to approach training, leading them to part ways.
Hoey explained that he wanted to make changes after the season, while Rinaldi believed the proposed approach was too intense.
“There’s no bad blood or animosity,” Rinaldi told LetsRun.com. He said Hoey wanted a “six-month progression,” while he preferred a longer-term approach focused on the 2028 Olympics.
That hunger to push harder was hardly new. During Hoey’s early professional years, coaches repeatedly saw his determination become a double-edged sword. Tommy Nohilly, who previously worked with him, said Hoey sometimes trained beyond what his body could handle.
Rinaldi saw the same trait during their final months together. He believed Hoey’s relentless drive helped produce his breakthrough but could also become a limitation if he failed to trust the process.
Now, with the stress fracture behind him and training underway again, Hoey gets another chance to find that balance. The world record is already his. The next challenge is making sure his body can keep up with the ambition that took him there.