Conner Mantz may try and break Ryan Hall's American record in the half marathon THIS weekend

Guess it depends how many beers he drank to celebrate his NCAA wins

Good points. Interesting how he said he "may" try to break the record, not that he "will" try to break the record. According the what was mentioned in the Letsrun article, at the conclusion of the podcast, off-air Mantz said, “I’m not even sure I’ll go for the American record” and acknowledged it isn’t definite he does the race. “I’m 90% sure I’m going to do it [the race]." I think LetsRun got a little too excited to get peoples opinions about what he said and blew it up into something it isn't.

https://www.letsrun.com/news/2021/11/conner-mantz-wants-to-break-ryan-halls-american-half-marathon-record/

If he continues to improve, he may be able to in the future. It may also be too close to XC, but it would be fun for him to surprise us and do well.

"Come on, Rupp couldn't break the record. He has no chance."

I truly believe Rupp did break it actually! That stupid ape-$hit 180 degree turn in Rome caused him to lose a few seconds! Nobody but a stupid ape-$hit designs a course like that!!!

"The WR has gone down about 50 seconds since Hall ran 59:43."

You mean over two minutes now!!!

This is awesome. All over this board "Mantz is a marathoner," and here we go - yet he's taking fire for this attempt.

And I'll say it again - The half needs to be the new thing, and the "marathon" needs to be a 50K. No more 26.2 stuff.

Maybe someday, but not this weekend. And some people are just physiologically better on soft surfaces than hard. Hopefully he does World XC next time it happens.

Hardloper wrote:

Maybe someday, but not this weekend. And some people are just physiologically better on soft surfaces than hard. Hopefully he does World XC next time it happens.

2027 at this point, I'm thinking.

Onethousandtimes! wrote:

"The WR has gone down about 50 seconds since Hall ran 59:43."

You mean over two minutes now!!!

Former WR holder Ryan Hall

I will be on the ground. Will post updates as needed.

Watch out for some unsigned unknown new elites to take some of these pampered so-called "pros" down.

cramister wrote:

This has the energy of Alberto Salazar's first NYC

I hope he breaks it.

100%

henrik wrote:

cramister wrote:

This has the energy of Alberto Salazar's first NYC

I hope he breaks it.

100%

He won’t

this is disrespectful to Hall, I wont say "no shot" but I bet he's on pace for a lot of it! glad to see a college kid moving up to the roads right away unlike the rest of the kids who want to stay sub-par on the world stage running mid low 13teens and 27s while getting slapped around. Mantz will be a great road racer!

This has been the year of the American women reaching new heights in running. He's a grinder and has the right approach to start setting new heights for the American men. It's exactly the kind of challenge the sport needs. I hope it's aired. I really don't want to miss it.

Feel like this is the kind of race where the winner goes sub-62 but not sub-61. I would be surprised with a winning time under 61:00. Maybe in Houston, someone can threaten the AR. Mantz on a shortened build after running XC & training for the 10k, I don't think it's in the cards. Would love to be wrong & love his attitude tho.

Is it confirmed that he is actually running?

OutlawG wrote:

this is disrespectful to Hall, I wont say "no shot" but I bet he's on pace for a lot of it! glad to see a college kid moving up to the roads right away unlike the rest of the kids who want to stay sub-par on the world stage running mid low 13teens and 27s while getting slapped around. Mantz will be a great road racer!

Since when is going after a record disrespectful? If Mantz is on pace, should he back off at the end to show respect for a body builder?

Just because he might be running this HM doesn't mean he's moving up to the roads just yet.

SDSU Aztec wrote:

OutlawG wrote:

this is disrespectful to Hall, I wont say "no shot" but I bet he's on pace for a lot of it! glad to see a college kid moving up to the roads right away unlike the rest of the kids who want to stay sub-par on the world stage running mid low 13teens and 27s while getting slapped around. Mantz will be a great road racer!

Since when is going after a record disrespectful? If Mantz is on pace, should he back off at the end to show respect for a body builder?

Just because he might be running this HM doesn't mean he's moving up to the roads just yet.

I do think he will do both track and the roads for awhile. In the year Ritz broke the American 5k record on the track he also ran 60 flat at the half world championships. But we all know that Mantz will be a better road runner. Track will mostly likely focus on US trials to see if he can make some teams. The longer and more challenging the terrain the better for that guy.

By 5km, it will be obvious that he won't be close. I doubt anyone even breaks 61.

A few thoughts:

First, everyone always assumes that runners that are successful grinders at shorter distances will instantly have success at longer distances. Sometimes it takes a few races at a longer distance to figure out just how much easier it has to feel for the first half of the race or so in order to actually execute the race properly. Sometimes guys like Mantz are a little too used to getting out on that edge, and you don't want to be out on that edge too soon in a half (or full) marathon. He might be just fine, but we'll see.

Second, Hall had already run the 20k American Record before he set the Half record in Houston, so he had already raced in that ballpark.

Third, I think it is a shame that Hall essentially moved up to the marathon and never looked back after he set the American Record in the Half. I know that is where the money is, and the fame, but I don't think the marathon was actually his best distance. I think Hall's best marathon performance was at the Oly Trials in '07, where they ran a very controlled first 16 miles before Hall absolutely stomped everybody over the last 10. For those that remember the race, it was stunning to watch, not just the pace he was running as he pulled away, but the absolute ease with which he did so. It looked like Hall was almost stumbling over himself as they ran along at around 5-minute pace, and only looked in his element when he started ripping off miles in the 4:30's and 4:40's (in Central Park!). He did that when he wasn't that far removed from that record Half, and the huge negative split played right into that vein of fitness. I wish he had stuck with that more, as opposed to going the pure marathon route he went (I know he "raced" some Halfs after that, but they were almost always within a marathon buildup).