Josh Hoey’s career has been far from a straight line. He didn’t bask in his World Indoor Championships 800m gold glory for long. For someone who once missed the 2024 Olympic team by only one spot, the turnaround has been ruthless. And with the 2026 season barely underway, Hoey is already making a name for himself, smashing the world record, crediting his brother, Jonah, for pushing him to the edge of greatness.

Just shy of eclipsing another long-standing record, the moment carried deeper meaning for the athlete.

“Yeah, it’s really special,” Hoey said of his achievement. “Jonah and I are super close. I sometimes call him my lieutenant or my co-captain because we do everything together. He’s probably my biggest guy who keeps me accountable.”

“He’s the guy I talk about training with the most,” Hoey continued. “I’m just really happy to share that moment with him and obviously wouldn’t have been able to do it without him all these past few weeks, all these past few years even. So exceptionally thankful to Jonah and my family.”

At Boston University’s Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener on Saturday, Hoey stormed through his opponents to smash Donovan Brazier’s indoor 600m world record of 1:13.77 from 2019. The 26-year-old athlete clocked an exceptional 1:12.84 as he blitzed through the track.

For further context, Hoey’s mark came within three-hundredths of the fastest 600m ever run, Johnny Gray’s long-standing outdoor best of 1:12.81 from 1986. Tonight’s standout race was paced by his older brother Jonah, who unfortunately tired out quickly. Had Hoey not needed to take the run wide into lane 3 to pass Jonah, he’d have probably broken this generational record as well.

2025 has been nothing but successful for the 26-year-old, setting U.S. indoor records in the 800m and 1000m. Hoey clocked 1:42.01 (800m), which ranks #2 all-time among Americans and the fourth fastest in the world.

But the athlete parted ways with his longtime coach, Justin Rinaldi, to pursue a more aggressive training cycle, which Rinaldi didn’t “100% believe in.”

Josh Hoey faced a setback at the U.S. trials for the World Athletics Championships, where he finished fourth for the second year in a row and missed qualification. His confidence wavered briefly, but he refused to let that defeat determine the rest of the year.

Ahead of the 2026 BU Opener, Hoey said he’d be content with anything under Brazier’s mark, yet he stepped onto the track targeting ideal splits of 23.5, 24.0, and 24.5.

The plan worked to perfection.

Coming from a family of world-class sprinters, it was always clear that Hoey would go a long way in his career, but the bond he shares with his brothers traces back to one source: their father.

Josh Hoey’s father’s plan during COVID was a true blessing in disguise

When the brothers (Josh, Jonah, and Jaxson) were stuck in their rooms during the pandemic, like most of us, with all the training facilities closed, their father, Fran, who’s a former track runner at LA Salle University, had an idea. Why not use their farmland to build a big track?

“It took about six months, but ultimately it came together quite well,” Josh Hoey’s father said of the idea. “It used to be an equestrian field, and it ended up being a lot of work to level out the land and all of the regulations that came with the county and such.”

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After Fran built that course, the entire family, including their mother, who is a former Penn State track athlete, often spends hours training on the track together!

“We had several holidays where we would go for a run as a family, Christmas Eve night, after our grandparents would come over and celebrate, we would all go for a run,” Hoey revealed.

“I think when I finally did track, I was prepared for how to push myself, and the discipline was kind of necessary to progress and gain fitness, and I was able to find success in that,” Hoey continued, calling the track an “absolute blessing.”