Who Is Your Favorite Current Runner?

Josh Kerr. He stands up to the bully and beats him.

I have to go with Yared Nuguse, and not just because I overlapped with him at ND. I've always liked the more quiet runners who aren't showboaty but still put in 100% every time. Him winning bronze at the olympics was absolutely incredible to watch.

But tbh, I enjoy watching pretty much every American mid-distance and distance runner. The past few years have been a real treat as an American running fan.

My favorites are not distance runners.

Female - Sydney & Bol. Most here probably like one or the other but not both. Syd is the strongest athlete in the sport from a mental standpoint. She is a perfectionist and always prepared. As others have said, I wish that she raced more and mixed up a bit in the DL meets and internationally. However, she does race more than what people here say. I just hope that she doesn't hibernate until the World Championships. I want to see her also become the dominant 400 runner.

With Bol I love how much she competes. She may actually compete too much. She seems to truly love the sport. I was hoping for a closer race between her and Syd in the Olympics but I honestly believe that Syd is really in her head right now.

Male - Kenny Bednarek. I like his unassuming nature and how he just goes about his business. When he is interviewed he is measured with how he speaks and, again, is very unassuming and almost humble. I would love to see him step it up a bit and perhaps win a world championship next season.

If I had to pick distance favorites they would probably be Faith Kipyegon & Luis Grijalva. Faith is a beast in the 1500 with 3 straight Olympic titles. I was hoping for a double gold from her but the 5000 was a fiasco. Again, a very strong athlete from a mental standpoint.

Luis had a rough year. What I like about Kung Fu Kenny is the what I also like about Luis. He's quiet and unassuming. Going into the World Championship season I hope that he gets back to his previous level going into the WC year. His injury recovery took longer than expected. I'm not sure that I have ever seen a runner with his form. It almost looks effortless for him.

Nuguse - doesn't have the killer instinct, all talent but no heart. Never wins the big race

Lol - getting 3rd in the Olympics is no heart / no killer instincts?

Fred Kerley is my favorite - dude is insane

George Mills. Track's most lovable victim.
“That was the perfect qualifier for me, going through the first 2k in six minutes. I was like: ‘Nobody in this field can run away from me at this pace,’ so I was just sitting, waiting, biding my time, going to kick off the home straight then bang, hit the deck. What can you do?”

I think that Ruxton Towers is saying that is what many of the uninformed people that post here believe. He even stated in his initial post - "Here is what Letsrun says about (though I don't agree with any of these statements, TBH)

Might be a little "prisoner of the moment" but I was really inspired by Graham MF Blanks's grit this year. That dude gets as much out of his talent (which is considerable, of course) as anyone in the game. Old school approach to training and racing, great interview

I rarely finish Allie O's YouTube videos - she's just...a little energetic for me - but her comeback, candor, and passion for running feels really valuable for the sport as a whole and particularly for younger female athletes

Honorable mention to Nick Willis for having good perspective on running within the context of life, emphasizing sustainable training, advocating for a clean sport without seeming overly sanctimonious, and spending his last couple years as the wily old vet mixing it up with the college kids and Warhurst (one of my favorite coaching personalities)

Tebogo. I love how he said he would never be the face of track and field because he’s not loud enough or arrogant like Lyles.

Letsile Tebogo: The way he runs is so effortless, he really is the future of sprinting

Alexis Holmes: Showed great improvement and consistency after the highs and lows of last season.

Rhasidat Adeleke: Tall graceful runner

Kenny Bednarek: A very well rounded athlete who has good media presence

Julien Alfred: Very powerful sprinter

Sifan Hassan: Truly seems to love running

Anna Cockrell: One of the nicest athletes out there and her adoration of Dalilah Muhammed is touching

Vernon Norwood: Great consistency and his "twitter beef" with other athletes is fun to watch

Noah Lyles: I ran against him in HS so he'll always be my guy even if he is goofy

Marco Arop: He just strikes me as one of the hardest workers out there. His poise impresses me

At the moment Nuguse, because of his apparent spontaneous delight at Hocker and his finish in the 1500!
Then theres a person named Hasan!

Mantz, Young, Hocker, Rooks, Quincy Wilson. Syd, Masai, Richardson.

Kilian, Courtney, Zach Miller, Patrick Kipngeno, Walmsley.

Honestly, I love all the current crop of medal contenders and winners from the men's side: we just had a fantastic Olympics and I haven't been this hyped for the sport since I was a college runner myself. Hoppel, Hocker, Nuguse, Kessler, Fisher, N. Young, C. Young, Mantz... and on and on and on. Can't think of a reason to dislike any of them, and many more I haven't mentioned. Love them all!

On the women's side my favorites are Lindwurm for her underdog story, and St. Pierre for being rather different -- the dairy farmer aspect, the fact she comes from a rural background and also repped a college that was not among the standard powerhouse schools, the fact she gets aggressive in a pack. There's no one else quite like her in US women's running. ...and throw in the fact that she's a beautiful woman, that doesn't hurt.

The nice thing about this sport is there are a lot of athletes who come to mind with this question. Rather than a straight answer I'll just list people who I irrationally cheer for:
Stewart McSweyn, Anita Horvat, Amel Tuka, Laura Muir, Eric Holt

McSweyn - Will run competitive pace whether he is in shape to or not/ grit

Muir - Grit

Anita Horvat/Eric Holt - Dismissed them on the starting line only for them to run really good races and reach the next level after (Horvat on tv at a diamond league, Eric in person at Swarthmore)

Amel Tuka - I like the 800 and am always impressed by his tactics

Male: Letsile Tebogo. Quiet confidence with occasional showboating. Beautiful to watch.

Female: Sifan Hassan. There's no one like her.

Runner up: Kipyegon. No one in the world is better at their job.

Bol, Jakob, Sifan: All 3 are ready to crazy things and are not afraid to lose. Bol and Jakob are running the whole diamond league circuit. Jakob all goes for Frontend running in 1500m to become the best.

Sifan is just the fking GOAT.

I know, right?

Bronze medal at the Olympics = not good enough for Let's Run. Lol.

no killer instincts? He was close to winning. He was closing the fastest, just couldn't get around the pack of Kerr, Jingy & Hocker and Nuguse had to go out to lane 3, unfortunately.

Plus, that close showed a lot of heart, so I don't know what you're talking about LRC. He beat Ingebretson! no small feat.

Edit: Nuguse is my favorite. He'll probably have a better future that Cole Hocker if he goes to dental school. Don't dentists make like 650K/year? He's intelligent enough to have a good future.

I have different favorites for different reasons:

Bol and Hassan: for their love of running and competing

Sydney: for her excellence; her 6 world records at major competitions is just a wow.

Hoppel, Fisher,Rai, and Keely: for their integrity; they seem like hard workers and good folks.

Grant Fisher's double medaling in the 5k/10k is pretty epic. I really like how he just keeps working at it and keeps improving bit by bit to catch the E. Africans. He has set backs and injuries, but just keeps at it and doesn't get down.

On the sprint side, Rai Benjamin is my favorite right now. Like Fisher, Benjamin just kept coming back even though it looked like no one would ever beat Warholm. His anchor lap in the 400 relay was legendary in that it is usually a 400m sprinter and not a hurdler who anchors the US at the 4x400.