NICO MF YOUNG 26:58 IN THE OLYMPIC FINAL

1st Global competition in an actual stadium.

Get this man in some Diamond Leagues and he'll be ready for next year's WC.

It was a painful one.

Note to high school 8:40-something 3200 types:

Nico ran his first 3200m tonight in 8:36.3.

He followed that up with an 8:35.2.

He tried holding on for another 8 laps in 8:42.0.

He closed in 4:18.0.

In what alternate universe is 12th place outstanding? I does not see how that checks out.

I'd say for a runner who went through the college season and started to wear down towards the end, it was a terrific effort.

Every one of his races looks like the most painful race of his life but great race for him!

college senior?

i thought he was high school senior, now that would be insane

Awesomeness, you could feel his pain. Not really but it was look of never quitting.

He looked so miserable I thought he was going to get dropped with 7 or 8 laps to go. Gutsy race hanging on though. He wouldn't let go. Tough as nails.

I figured he'd get dropped with that final push, but I was surprised he fell 15 seconds behind in just that final kick. He definitely left it all out there.

Like all 4 of them exactly at the same moment! Super gutsy run by him; to the troll who mumbled about this not being a PR, just plain bringing it on the day the way he did today was HUGE. There is a long long list of really awesome runners with fast PR's who got to the Games and stunk it up massively, and here's Nico, 21 years old fresh out of college, right there in the mix in by far the greatest Olympic 10000 ever run. This bodes really well for him looking ahead, super exciting performance imho.

Anyone who has raced competitively knows that things can get really uncomfortable when your body is dying (perhaps literally) to quit - that's when it all comes down to mental toughness. Sometimes that's even true for the last 25% of the race. Even a sub-elite or mid-packer can experience that.

Conner Mantz often looked like that in Cross Country. Nico Young always looks like that. So did Pre.

That was a super-effort by Nico. No, he wasn't close to medaling but he left everything on the track. Very impressive performance.

while obviously I didn't expect him to medal, it was amazing to see him hang in with the front pack and all the east africans for so long. He looked in such pain by ~7K but kept grinding and made it to 9.1K with the leaders despite looking like he was going to be dropped multiple times

I think the possibilities for this kid are endless in the future because I don't believe anyone would've predicted 2years ago that he'd run under 27mins twice in a season and be up the front of an OLY final with the big guns at 9K. Where can his trajectory take him now.

It'll be overshadowed because of how amazing Grant ran, but Nico deserves endless plaudits, I just hope they can maintain and continue to build a solid group around him for the future. I'm happy at least that he's in Mike Smith's hands.

I’m happy for Nico dude is absolutely a bad ass!!! tough as nails!!!

He looked like he was hanging on for dear life, at a pace I would think he could run. that is not a slam and I don't see what he looks like very often LOL. His last 1000M where almost everyone of these races is won was 2:40..top three were 2:26 high to 2:27? He will certainly get better and he is really pretty darn good enough now. I think this was a very big deal , the way he hung in there on biggest stage.Great effort.

Very proud of Nico. When this year began, people were wondering if he’d ever win an NCAA championship. Fast forward a little over 7 months later, and look what he’s accomplished: won 2 NCAA championships, broke the collegiate records at 5K and 10K, went sub-13 and sub-27, signed a pro deal, made the US Olympic team, and finished top 12 in the Olympics. What a fantastic year!

Looking forward, we know that many runners experience a significant improvement in their first full year as a pro. If Nico is already this good coming out of college, imagine what he’ll be able to do if he makes the typical first-year pro leap.

We know Mike Smith is expecting great things. Remember what he said in his recent interview:

“If you want to see something crazy, watch what (Nico) does next year. Because you’re going to take that athlete we had this year but you’re now going to be able to control the schedule and the peaking. This year: not ideal scheduling and peaking because we’re bound to certain things. Next year: complete control. I think it’s going to be a special thing to witness.”

flagstaffrunningnews.com

Q-and-A with Mike Smith: On Preparing His 5 Olympians for Paris; Looking Ahead to Cross Country Season; Why He Plans to Stay at NAU; and Whatever Happened to Drew Bosley

Sam McManis

There is, simply, no rest for Mike Smith. Not only does he like to wear black – hats, shirt, shorts – but now he’s starting to get dark circles under his eyes. Last fall’s NAU cross country season gave way to indoor track, th...

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Needs to bulk and lift

"He looked like he was giving birth to quadruplets"

I don't come on here much, because the level of frat boy idiocy is usually so high that it outweighs the humorous comments.

This one was gold, though.

Yes, I'm a cranky (super) old man with no talent. :-)

Hey DBag, he just broke the previous Olympic Record.