Leo Young leads USA to bronze

I think a bigger hurdle for a runner as good as Young is staying focused in a race that is spread out while being pretty far behind the leaders. It was a new experience for him.

There are US XC trials in January; the top 6 finishers qualify for Worlds. Lex was dealing with a couple of injuries in the weeks leading up to the Trials, which really hampered his chances. He still finished 12th, which was pretty impressive given his lack of fitness at that point. Hope he bounces back strong this spring.

I hate how much this is used as a statistic.

Great race and well done to them but most European countries didn't send athletes at all, neither did east african powerhouse Eritrea, and Uganda only raced three athletes as they couldn't get visas in time thus rendering them unable to win a medal despite all 3 finishing above the top US finisher. Don't think you can gauge much about exactly who the strongest u20s in the world are from just this race alone but brilliant experience nonetheless and it will help them alot in the long run.

On a good day, Aaron would have crushed it, with his agility and power on short steep hills.

he is training for the 800 rn, not a race TEN TIMES as long

The year that Ritz ran had a mud soaked course which allowed the Americans to do better, relatively.

It was also 45 degrees which Im sure advantages the kid from Michigan over the kids from the Rift Valley. Ritz's performance was still definitely more impressive in my mind, but he had a better set up for success.

Good, not great!

What did he say?

All three Ugandan team members that were present were ranked ahead of Young so the US only got the bronze because Uganda's fourth team member was denied a visa.

Awesome result. Jakob of Norway placed 12th in U20, so this is a great result for Young.

Given the course, weather, and team work mentality, he really couldn't have done any better. He accomplished his game plan perfectly. To go out and try to stay with the lead pack in those conditions would have been suicide. Speaking of that, the Japanese had some of most high school freshman racing tactics I have ever seen. Weird.

That's not new. The Japanese runners have been front running the starts of major races for decades. That's just how they run.

It must be a cultural thing. They know they can't come anywhere close to winning so they decide to at ieast be on camera for a few minutes at the beginning of the race.