The dream is delayed for Cooper Lutkenhaus: three cheers to the kid for a seaon for the ages

Where did the USA finish in the final again? Excluding who is obviously your most talented athlete because she fell in one race is just dumb.

Very disappointing watch for us Europeans who have listened to him being bigged up but not got to watch him race before this. Looked like a boy among men. Which he is. His time will come. Unless you guys keep piling on the pressure and destroy him.

He's not race savvy or tactically smart yet....you can't spot elite 800m guys that much ground and give up that much positioning in a slow race...you have to be in it...he was never in it. Everyone can kick off a slow pace...if different kicking off a past pace.

He should have never raced. He should have given his spot to Hoey. There was little upside to racing at worlds.

He wasn't selected. The US doesn't have a selection process.

They have a "you earn it" process. Make top three on the day or don't. No politics. No assumptions about fitness. No past glories clouding anyone's eyes. You earn it or you don't.

LOL because the only way train to be a professional track athlete is to go to college? WTF planet are you living on???

This is the right take. A good analogue might be Jim Ryun, to whom Lutkenhaus is often compared. As a 17-year-old high school senior in October 1964, Ryun ran 3:55.0 to finish last in his 1500 meter semifinal at the Tokyo Olympics. By the end of that same senior year, he had run a 3:55.3 mile to set an American record. A year later, he was the world record-holder in the mile.

Lutkenhaus may or may not have a career like Ryun's, but he has shown phenomenal talent at a very young age. In 2028, he will be 19, the same age Ryun was when he set his first world record. Who knows how far he will have come by then? Until then, and always, he should have pride in a season for the ages.

Not being funny but how do you think that has gone for you?

I don’t think our selection process (UK) is great. However former world champs get an automatic selection and then current fitness levels/medal chances are also considered. Downside is it’s not very clear or black and white.

Hence Wightman getting selected even though he missed the champs.

Anyway, for a 16 year old he did amazingly well and I hope you don’t all pull him apart and pile pressure on him.

He looked very flat and unsure of himself and it wasn't a fast race. It seemed like he lost a lot of fitness though maybe he was just nervous. He has bright future ahead.

that is compared to running the rail the whole way.

in the heats, the trip is all important, and running in lane 3 without drafting, going late etc, that dooms many an unsuspecting novice.

i call him cool hand Luke

it is the best thing to ever happen to the lad, you don't want to say medal, and have a bit of a letdown in the next season or so, and get the label, what happened to him?

better to fight through the rookie stuff, lower expectations just a little bit, and pay your dues, where this guy, if something does not go wrong, will me in Laros spot.

for next year, id advise Luk to look for a second best 800 time, as the target, because the 142 was A game A trip or close to, and like he said, he is in better shape and could not run down guys in a 146,

you have kessler, fisher, B games running down the track....

no need for panic

because of information share these days coaches and guys become much smarter on things like this.

I liked this quote from the LR article

“You’re going to have bad races occasionally. That’s just how this sport is. And 1:47 still at 16, I’m going to have my head held high from that.”

Until reading that, I'd forgotten that if literally any 16 year old American ran 1:47, they'd (rightfully) be getting a ton of hype here. I'm also very happy that he has such a healthy outlook on losing, saying it was awesome to see his family watching him in the stadium, and it's something he'll never forget. That's a kind of perspective most 16 year olds don't have, and it goes to show not just his maturity, but how well the people surrounding him -- his coach and family -- are doing at helping him handle the pressure, to the extent that it seems like he doesn't feel any pressure.

I'm really happy to finally understand all the old people here glorifying Jim Ryun 60 years after his HS days. I used to think tech didn't matter THAT much, and he'd probably be close to 3:52 in today's tech. After seeing Lutkenhaus, I'm pretty sure Ryun would've been running 3:48 or faster in HS.

It's pretty common here when HSers go pro and then don't run pro level times to say "You can't compare them to the NCAA, they're pros now and should be compared to pros", or something along those lines. I think there's truth to that, but I'm hoping we can all understand it's still a bit different, even when it's someone like Kessler at 19, much less Lutkenhaus at 16. I was looking a couple days ago at Ethan Strand's year, and noticed that at the time of the semis yesterday, he'd been racing for over a year -- 366 days (first XC race September 14th 2024, 1500 semis September 15th 2025). Cooper has been going even longer, with his first XC race being August 23rd 2024. They both took significant breaks in racing, but every year a bunch of pros skip out on 1 race indoors to prepare for 1 race outdoors 6 months later, so they at least think it has an effect.

Because he signed the contract.

For some reason you come off as relieved Cooper’s extended season has finally finished, and are hoping he falls off next uear. We’ve seen this a lot since Nats … for “some reason”. Cooper actualy bothers a lot of people simply for being a fast kid. I hope I’m wrong in getting that impression from your post.

The kid is a freak, a prodigy, the likes of which we haven't seen since Jim Ryan...

You're overlooking the fact that you're discussing a 1:42 runner in a WC. That isnt just another talented high schooler. But, unfortunately, he ran like a high schooler. He was out of his depth at this level.

Or even Jim Ryun, perhaps. But Ryun did have the world records.

My biggest concern is his last race would have been almost 7 weeks ago. I feel like you can maintain a peak that long but you need to be racing at least once a week, imo. Was just wondering if they were planning on this whole worlds trip to just be gravy from that point.

Either way he has a bright future and prib shouldnt be running himself into the ground to maybe make it to the semi-finals.

Some of the posts here are deranged. This is a 16yo kid in his first international meet, at the end of a super long season. He ran a bad race that showed he was inexperienced and burned out. That's exactly what you'd expect!

Cooper's year has been a success beyond anyone's wildest dreams, and I'm sure this experience will be valuable in the future.

Rojo be ghostwriting today