An American has run 2:04 in the marathon - Mantz gets the American record in Chicago (2:04:43)

Needs to change name to Kipmantz to have a shot at WR.

Similar to Babe Ruth's called shot for the kid.

That’s what I thought , there are so many times someone has said they are ready to break the AR and don’t do it .I thought for sure Galen Rupp was going to get the record when he started running marathons but it didn’t happen , mainly because he never got in a fast race with competition. Conner has had an amazing year setting records for 20k, half marathon and now marathon . He followed up his great Boston run with this one.

Your perspective sucks and is worse than mine. There is literally nothing to be sour about. Why can’t you just be happy for Conner and that’s it? What he has done is incredible. Now nobody can say the United States is stagnating in the marathon because finally we have somebody who is at least competitive even if he isn’t the best. So the U.S. is now no longer stagnating, it’s improving. You’re like Woody Allen. You can’t just be happy for someone for once, you have to over-analyze and find something to gripe about in your existential misery. Ambivalence is not good enough.

Agreed. I was kind of afraid that Mantz and Eyestone were just blowing smoke, but Mantz literally backed up his claims. I’m happy that I was wrong. That AR was way overdue to be broken. Even if the U.S. isn’t great at the marathon, there is no way we are so bad that we can’t have at least one guy in super shoes who is capable of running under 2:05. Mantz’s run today just makes things make more sense now. And yes, if Grant, Graham, and Nico want to jab at the thon and transition well, I can see all of them at least run under 2:04, because they are all more talented than Mantz, as good as he is. No shame in that.

LOL, agree to disagree. 🥳

On another note, I wonder how long Rupp is going to be able to drag out these appearance fees? On the other side of 40, he’s clearly done improving and with the severity of his recent injuries you would think he would want to retire. Couldn’t he get just as much money coaching? Is he afraid that it will be difficult for him to coach with the Salazar shadow hanging over his head and everyone asking if he’s going to be Salazar 2.0 and dispensing the juice? It’s interesting. I know the appearance fees are a lot of money to pass up, but Galen seems like he isn’t too stubborn to retire so it makes me wonder.

More like Range Rover vs Pinto

You are. You are the Woody Allen of Letsrun. Sitting behind your computer screen wearing your tweed jacket and horn rimmed glasses being pessimistic about American marathoning. You have your 900 page volume of Sartre’s Being and Nothingness placed next to your keyboard in case you start feeling accidentally unconditionally happy for someone’s accomplishments. Give us another post with bullet points about why we shouldn’t be ecstatic about Mantz’s run today.

Shorter ran against diluted competition. So, though Mantz will never have the impact of Shorter on the sport, yes, he might be considered a greater marathon runner with a few more fast times and some medals with the likes of Kiplimo, Korir, Sawe in the field. You think Shorter would have any golds if the East Africans were focused on the roads in the 1970s, no way. The only historical US distance great who would be competitive for gold today would be Jim Ryun. Shorter/Rodgers would be in the 2nd pack running right along with Mantz.

Shorter couldn’t run under 2:10. Ruth C’s doped as a joke WR is faster than what Shorter ever ran.

i’m so glad he finally broke it. There have been some outstanding Japanese runners in the last 5 years that have run in that range, And Americans are looking pretty pathetic by not getting down into the 205-204 range. but like he said in the interview, it’s so hard to line things up and make it happen when you need it to happen when you have all the talent, tools and skills available and I’m glad he admitted about the shoes. He knows that is working to his advantage, but nevertheless, it was a brilliant run and the guys been on fire this year and deserves every ounce of credit for keeping the sport alive and healthy in America.

Thanks for the laugh. Although I'm amused by your imagination, you really shouldn't let yourself get so upset by someone seeing things in a more balanced way than you do. Don't be bothered by the bullet points. Party up with your pollyanna point of view.

Here, I'll help: We can relish the fact that we once again have an American in the top 100 fastest men all-time in the marathon! Hopefully within the next year we can see someone crack the top 75! We're so close!

worldathletics.org

Marathon - men - senior - all

Open link

I detect a great deal of sarcasm in your second paragraph, as if being on that list is somehow not good enough. After the list is updated he’ll be 79th, tied with the two others who are listed at 2:04:43. So as it stands Mantz is barely outside of the top 75. Top 80. Someone on the top 80 fastest marathon performers of all time is somehow not good enough for you. I’m trying to understand how high your bar is. What is considered an accomplishment to you? Nothing short of being number 1 seems to interest you.

I think I understand. You are one of these America First types. If an American does not win or have the WR then he is a failure in your world view. Nobody in any other country is allowed to be the best according to you. It’s like you think America is still in the Cold War and every other country is part of the USSR. You can’t accept times have changed.

All the dumb dumbs poo pooing this, must have forgotten that Americans have been running marathons for awhile now, hundreds on super shoes, and none of them broke the record until now.

So talk all you want about other athletes. No one else broke the record until Mantz.

Him and fisher the easiest people in the world to root for and some still ruin it 😂. Awesome run!

Nope. I never said Mantz is a failure. If you wanted to have an honest discussion about my take, we could have done that, but that ship has now sailed. I won't engage you in any further because you keep twisting my words and making things up about me. It was funny at first, but now you've gotten stale.

The last thing I'll say to you on this topic is Mantz's comments in his post-race interview are in alignment with my opinion. He's of course happy to break the American record, as I said he should be, but he's not satisfied with finishing fourth. He wants to do even better in the future. He wants to consistently reach the podium at Majors, he wants to win, and he wants to get an Olympic medal. I'll be rooting for him to accomplish his goals.

Mantz needs an Olympic marathon medal to be considered better than Shorter or Rupp at this point. That or a world record is the only way.

If Fisher beats Rupp's performance in the marathon, that's exponentially better than anything Kennedy did in the marathon.