So how does Cooper Lutkenhaus break 1:40.91?

He runs a faster time.

-David Christ

This is a SERIOUS REPLY.

How does he break the WR 1:40.91, by running a MORE efficient race (stay in lane 1 without being boxed) and give his FULL 100% effort.

In the USATF 800m Final he made several mistakes which included running the last 250 meters in lanes 2 & 3.

Good points. The craziest thing is we don't even know his ceiling yet. He clearly had more in the tank after 1:42.27 which he ran after 2 rounds and partially in lanes 2/3 as you said. If he goes flat out, what can he run? Sub 1:42? 1:41.5? Who knows.

I half made the post as a joke, but could Lutkenhaus actually challenge the world record while he's in high school? Insane to think about. It's more likely that Wanyonyi (or Arop/Hoey) break Rudisha's 1:40.91 WR first and bring it into the 1:40 mid range. But then could Cooper challenge that and potentially the 1:40.00 barrier?

In the span of a few months we go from talking about Cooper breaking Granville's HSR (1:46.45) to him breaking 1:46 to him breaking 1:45 and now to him breaking the outright world record and perhaps even 100 seconds.

And I thought Hoey's rise was meteoric. Cooper's is monstrous.

But, you have to remember he's only 16 and a lot of factors go into performing at your best. Only time will tell.

We're getting ahead of ourselves, but another thought I had is that if Cooper breaks 1:40 in his career, he would be the first athlete to run 20 seconds faster than 60 second per 400m pace, surpassing greats across all events like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Hicham El Guerrouj, Wayde van Niekerk, and (of course) David Rudisha.

Of all the 800 guys now, while not the fastest, Lutkenhaus has the highest potential.

However, I think we'll see a sub 3:25 1500m before a sub 1:40 800m so this is a moot point.

Let's just sit back and enjoy. It's not worth the angst. Whatever happens, happens. All the Mu fans are twisted inside. Better to not let that happen.

I think Cooper just needs more pro races in the next two years. Still, I'm not kidding when I say: it could happen tomorrow or next year and I wouldn't be surprised at this point. If his first reaction to true world class competion is a 1:42, he's got the potential to break the WR anytime he steps on the track in the next two years. Can you imagine what he does with pacers and wavelights in a Diamond race right now? He's 1:41 easy. He's clearly not intimidated by the world stage. I think if you put him next to someone like Wanyoni a few times, he's going to do something magical. I think he just needs to go pro at this point. He's already beyond the NCAA record, and there's nothing left for him to gain from high school races. It's scary to think about what he could do next year with a season of Diamond League races. The more he's exposed to world class racing, the wilder the results could be. I really look forward to watching him at worlds. I hope he doesn't burn out from his already long season at such a young age. Still, I tend to think we're in for something special. Both him, Brazier, and Hoppel are all legit medal contenders.

It’s not often a guy runs so well so young at middle distance. The nearest equivalent I can think of in the US is Jim Ryun. Hopefully he has a long successful career.

Get older and let nature take care of it.

By running 8 consecutive 100 meters with an average time of approximately 12.61

If he had run a slightly smoother pace and stayed in lane 1 the whole race he would have run around 1:41.9 which is only one second away from the world record.

So can he improve 1 second between now and when he graduates from high school? I think more likely than not he can.

Tooth Ugg Eels!!!

Very curious to see where Cooper goes from here. You'd typically expect a 16 year old to improve significantly if everything is even somewhat smooth in training over the next 10 years. But things get a little funky once you get this fast and no one's really guaranteed to improve significantly on a 1:42. Nigel Amos ran 1:41.7 at 18 so you'd think the WR would be toast, but he never ran faster (even with the doping).

Cooper does seem to have an exceptionally good head on his shoulders and is obviously a very special talent, so I am pretty confident we'll see even more special races in the future. Also, people may be forgetting how young 16 is. There are a lot of examples of people not really improving after 18 or 19, but there is a pretty big difference between that and 16.

If he does it will be no more believable than 1:42 at age 16. I didn't think I would see anything more blatant than a women's 2:09 marathon but I have.

Easy, he just has to go 50.0, then 50.90 or quicker.

That style of running lends itself to being stuck in outer lanes. Admittedly I wasn't paying much attention to him so I didn't realize he was out there for so long. Regardless, he'll have to change his preferred approach once he moves up in class. Nobody is that much better than the field that they can sacrifice meters and rely on late desperate rallies.

His 400 speed is apparently very good. It's just too bad he was weaned on the crap American middle school approach instead of watching peak Mu and learning to run from the front or nearby.

Good. Keep wasting your life writing about something you hate.

49.5, then 50.3, that's how

but it has to be in a time trial. how are you supposed to not run wide in a championship race? Stay on the rail and you may be blocked the whole way.

Boring

He looks at least 18.