Graham Blanks has a crucial decision to make

He was less than one second off of Grant Fishers last 400m. You stupid boy.

Bump bump bump bump bump!!!!

Graham is too slow and should go back to parkrun.

Blanks was 9th at the Olympics while in college and 11th today.

it is similar to Rupp who was 13th in Beijing Olympics, 8th in Berlin and 7th in Deagu before getting the silver in London in 2012.

if blanks learns how to kick by LA, he could be in the mix for the medals. he’s already run 1248

Keep deluding yourself. Rupp showed in the NCAA that he had potential as a kicker. Graham should try the marathon next year. American mindset of staying on the track until your prime years are over is mind-numbing.

Here's a thought, maybe he likes the track and doesn't want to run the marathon? Who are any of us to tell him what to do?

you must be a hobby-liver if he’s a hobby jogger you can’t do sh1t compared to graham blanks in running

He's fast, he'll develop his kick like Nico and Grant both have done over the course of their careers. This is a crazy take. How about they do what they want. The roads will always be there and for anyone and everyone. Track is an exclusive sport, especially for the top tier athletes who make these world and Olympic teams.

Wow. this take is far off I’m not even sure if serious. So you take a kid that made an Olympic team as a collegiate and finished 9th in the world, then made a world team for the USA 3 months after graduating from college and finished 11th, and tell him to go to the roads? it takes time to develop especially at the longer distance. He will not peak until he is probably 26-27 which is in 3 to 4 years. Not to mention he’s run some insane times, run some good DL meets including the final. He hasn’t even concentrated on professional running for a year yet and hasn’t spent significant time at altitude. So yes, I disagree with you.

“Go to the roads.” No, I’m saying give the marathon a shot in 2026 when there is no global championship on the track.

He will not develop his kick like Nico and Grant. Grant was a kicker from high school. Nico (like Rupp) showed promise as a kicker on the track in the NCAA by winning collegiate track titles. Blanks did not do that. Based on the type of athlete he is and his performances over the years, I think it would be in his best interest to try a marathon sooner rather than later.

He’s like a better version of Klecker on the track. He can make the 10k team and run impressive times; he’s not going to be competitive in the last lap of a global championship. Ever. I will keep bumping this thread for years every time I’m proven right

Dude, it was hot. Some people are really just affected more by it. I think Blanks is fine. He will be hard on himself, but really no reason to be. He had a great season.

So you think his marathon potential is better or on par with mantz?

He should have been acclimated to the heat from going back to Athens, GA this summer. He won NCAA xc races by going hard with 800-1k to go. That should have been his strategy. He has not tried that once this year in champs, yet it is his only viable strategy at this stage because otherwise he will get gapped by multiple seconds in the last lap. But a guy who runs 12:48 right out of college has a very bright future.

Personally I am more worried about his coaching set up. AFAIK, he is not in a professional training group.

Better version of Klecker is the best take I’ve seen

Did you watch either of his NCAA cross country wins? Those were of course more drawn out than a typical track kick but he dropped an extremely talented field in both of those races, including Nico in 2023.

Blanks was also injured during what would have been his prime track seasons in college so we never even got the chance to see how his kick would stack up against his peers there. Either way, I’d say he’s displayed as much potential as either Grant or Nico showed prior to their pro careers, but of course, potential is just that. We’ll see if Blanks develops a kick over the next few seasons but I’d argue he has as much of a chance as either of them.

Also, for what it’s worth, Blanks beat Aregawi today, and he typically has a pretty solid kick as well.

Yes, I do. If he turns out to be a good marathoner, I could see 2:04 or 2:03.

So you think he could the best ever American marathoner.