Alex Maier 59:23, Clinger 59:34

Being impressed over Time is pointless in the era of the cheater shoes. Add six minutes

If anyone can get top results to load from the race site, please post men and women top 10 in the half. Thanks.

Alex #2 and Casey #3 fastest Americans all-time now! Amazing! (Keep in mind that Ryan Hall’s record stood for 18 years before Mantz broke it last year finally. And NOW we have so many Americans making the leap to the next level and have left Hall’s old record in the dust!).

If I remember correctly, last year was very windy when Mantz broke the previous record.

^This. Be fun to see how many AR had been broken in the 5 years prior to cheat shoes compared to the 5 years after.

1. Habtom Samuel - 59:01 (Debut)
2. Patrick Kiprop - 59:14
3. Mohammed El Youssfi - 59:21
4. Alex Maier - 59:23
5. Casey Clinger - 59:34 (Debut)
6. Ryan Ford - 59:48
7. Rory Linkletter - 59:49
8. Isai Rodriguez - 59:57 (Debut)
9. Hilary Bor - 1:00:04
10. Vincent Ngetich - 1:00:29
11: Biya Simbassa - 1:00:32
14. Reed Fischer - 1:00:54
15. Dylan Schubert - 1:00:55 (Debut)
17. Cam Levins - 1:00:58
26. Andrew Colley - 1:01:30
27. Galen Rupp - 1:02:01

Well it ain’t the shoes. the new training system is having real impacts. See it with my own training and kids I coach. Get on board. If you ain’t lactate testing you are falling behind.

Lol! What is the new training system that everyone jumped on that improved times in the 5 years after cheat shoes but not the 5 years prior?

Deary me. I was a very successful coach 6-15 years ago and I was lactate testing but that was not it

Do you realize there has been zero shoe advancements In close to a decade? However, there have been significant training advancements. Go listen to an Almgren podcast with AI training enhancements of the Norwegian method or keep running slow if you like. Guys are wearing the same shoes in 2023 as in 2026.

Do you just say zero shoe advancements in a "close to a DECADE" and then say that guys are wearing the same shoes for the last two years (it's Jan 11 of 2026). I'm howling. Guessing you're American?

He's actually right. I review shoes with a major partner and there have been no real shoe advancement technologies in the last 5-7 years. Super critical foams, versions of carbon fiber splayed plates, nothing new. Actually, regulations are making stack heights lower. Can't be worn on track. I look at Andres Almgren again who wore the same 4% in 2025 and 2026 in Valencia, 10-seconds faster this year, another year of training, not shoes.. same with the 80 other guys that went sub 29:15. Same shoes, new training.

It’s like running 62 without Super shoes.

Mantz (healthy) could've run 58:50-59:10 last year proably, in the same conditions.

If Fisher does a HM and trains for it specifically I expect him to run under 59 like Almgren

I’m having a hard time believing these results. I mean I’m happy that everyone ran as fast as they did, but like three or four guys all of a sudden run faster than Ryan Hall‘s American Record, which stood for all those years until Mantz took it down. It just seems too good to be true. I’ll bet you that the course is short 100 meters or more?!?!

Much less windy this year also in Valencia.

Alex won Dusseldorf marathon 2:08:33.

He surely can run a 2:05:xx

They were flying and the weather was absolutely perfect. Icy, crisp air and zero wind. The leaders went out a bit more conservative this year which allowed them to stick together a bit more than when Mantz just strung the whole field out right from the gun last year with only one or two guys to help in 20-30mph wind gusts. This year, there was a large pack of about 10 guys pushing the pace the whole way which included Habtom Samuel, Rory Linkletter, and Maier, to name a few. Plus Isai Rodriguez was spearheading the lead pack, if you know him you know how much he looks to push the pace. All of those guys are used to racing the best guys in the US.

Just look at their Strava splits from yesterday. All that GPS data to cross reference. I think Rory ran a couple of back to back sub 4:30s on some early miles after they started working the pace down from the conservative first mile.

I think it was the perfect combo of 1) the weather; their heart rates are naturally going to be lower with those kinds of temperatures and no wind resistance, 2) the first mile split; relatively low heart rate early on + a whole bunch of guys to help.