High school junior stuns pros to win US title, | Sports News

Cooper Lutkenhaus has taken the world by storm and seemingly cemented himself as half of the following wave of American observe stars, becoming a member of names like Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson, amongst others. 

Lutkenhaus is a 16-year-old high schooler who completed second within the males’s 800-meter ultimate with a time of 1:42.27. That time is the fourth-best males’s efficiency in American historical past and is presently the fifth-fastest time ever recorded in historical past, regardless of nation. 

The teenage star’s mark additionally was a new world file, beating out the earlier time of 1:44.08, which was set by Kenya’s Leonard Kirwa Kosencha in 2011. Of word, the new time additionally smashed Lutkenhaus’ earlier best of 1:45.45, which additionally was a high school national file.

“400m to go, just kind of holding my, just running my own race obviously with the top guys in the front,” the 16-year-old started to NBC Sports when talking on his historic end.

“I wanted to run my own pace, try to even split it as best as possible just because they took it out so hard. I didn’t want to be in that top group and maybe kind of fall off with 200m to go and just waiting.

“Obviously, type of being far back did not appear to be I actually had a shot with 200m to go, however realizing 200m is, realizing 200m is my spot I’ve been operating simply since center school. Kind of having confidence that I may close, have one of the quickest closes within the area despite the fact that all these guys are simply prime world guys. So the final 50m was simply electric, the gang was wild, so a lot of credit to them.”

With his historic finish, Lutkenhaus held off Josh Hoey, the current 800m indoor champion, off the American team. Lutkenhaus also qualified for the World Championships in Tokyo. 

So rare is the air that the 16-year-old finds himself in that only Bryce Hoppel (1:41.67), the world No. 2-ranked Hoey (1:42.01) and Donavan Brazier (1:42.16) have even eclipsed the teenager’s mark. For Lutkenhaus, being mentioned in the same sentence as the aforementioned stars is something he would not have dreamed of. 

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“It’s really cool, because those are guys I look up,” he started in an interview with The Dallas Morning News. “I was in middle school when those guys were in college and kind of younger in their professional years. Those are guys I wanted to be like.

“It was a special moment. We knew the race was going to be fast. Just being second in that race — the greatest USA race in 800 history and Trials history — and being able to be a part of that, definitely a little shocked.”

After his historic outing, Lutkenhaus admitted that it seems rather difficult for him to record a sub-1:40 time, though he is not ruling out the possibility of it happening in the near future. 

“People would always say being able to break 1:40 is not possible, but I think with the way things are progressing in high school and the professional side, it may. Maybe in about 10 years that will be possible,” he continued per the outlet. “I don’t know what I can do. I never put limits on myself. Obviously those top guys don’t either. That’s how they are able to run so fast.”

He added: “I would like to say yes. The 800 has just grown rapidly over the past year, two years, so I always think there is a shot. It’s probably one of the hardest world records to break, but I don’t think you can say no with the talent level there is right now in the world.”