Did Young let Mantz Win?

Of course he did. The real question is why did he.

I’m sure they had discussed this ahead of time. Mantz probably has the bigger contract bonus for a win so him winning would result in a bigger pot for them to split.

Mantz is the more accomplished runner and Young acknowledged that by letting Mantz “win”.

Young had a parlay for the top three. Had to give it to Mantz to get that bag

I would argue, look at how they finish past efforts. At Chicago, where mantz beat young by a bit, mantz looked like a dead man and young looked fresh. In the all track access video, they did their workout and Conner looked dead after and they commented that's just how he is after workouts, while young looked fresh. While it's certainly possible, don't put too much on how mantz looked cause that is normal for him

Someone of the trials thread mentioned that a few months ago Mantz let Young win a road race to give him extra points for the Prix. Young could just be returning the favor.

Yeah, they're both just lucky Matthew Boling hasn't moved up to the 'thon yet; let's not forget who the real White Lightning is. Boling is only 23, he'll probably dominate at the 5k and 10k at WCs next year before winning the thon in 2028.

Yeah, but would you rather win the olympic marathon trials or the new haven road race?

Like they say in poker chop it up! If Mantz contract indicates a 150k bonus and Youngs is a 25k bonus it's a win for both! 75k a piece is a good payday. I did something similar in a poker tournament I won, there was 1,130 entries top prize was 15k second was 7k I agreed to a chopped deal of 11k a piece which makes playing for the title easier especially when the financial bs is figured out.

I have learned to not infer how fatigued Mantz is by how he looks during a race. You'd think everyone here would have gotten that by now too.

no, that was specifically about his cough, not his whole demeanour of being fatigued

Mantz said in the post race interview that he wasn't sure he would finish the last 2 miles and Young told him to just stick on his hip. Young definitely would have won if they were racing.

I was 50M from the finish and Young appeared to have gestured for Mantz to take it.

Exactly. I figured they’d split the money.

Yep, Young looked really good for a 2:09-low in the heat. That was an easy win for him if he really hammered the last two miles. But, there’s no point. You have the Olympic spot locked up, you don’t get paid extra for time, and, if they truly are splitting all of the money, then it’s a win-win.

I agree Mantz generally looks horrible in races, but, honestly, if I had one critique, it’s that he hammers his workouts to hard and doesn’t take enough downtime to recover from hard marathon efforts. I realize it’s a confidence thing, but Young just seems so much more chill in workouts. Like, why end an 8-mile PMP that went 4:45 pace for seven miles w a 4:19 mile? That’s just leaving it in training.

But I’m very happy for both of them. They are both really good dudes.

Yes, exactly. And they did the reverse at the 20k. Mantz let Young win to pick up the USATF road series championship...and bonus $.

too

They've been trading off wins all year. New Haven road race they jogged it in side by side. They clearly have some side deal

Congrats to Young and Mantz. I think they’ve shown class through the whole process. The whole qualifying criteria was ridiculous and yet they took it in stride and never complained. Definitely earned the right to enjoy their well-deserved moment, however they chose.

So little room for error when only two guaranteed places are on the table. If anything, their finish is evidence of their training mentality and the journey they went through together, the realization of their dreams, becoming a reality.

Go Cougars and go USA!