Grace Ping 5K 16:26.83

Is that a PR? Smokin. Hope she can maintain through puberty...

Hey as long as she at least maintains this level of fitness she'll get to go to college reasonably cheap.

Woohoo ...she'll soon be breaking Molly Huddle's 15:36.95 junior USA record.

That should be the world record for 13 years old. She already has the 10 and 12 records.

I really hope I'm wrong, I really do, because there's no reason not to root for this girl, but I fear she is peaking right in here. Might not even be running by college.

That's crazy wrote:

I really hope I'm wrong, I really do, because there's no reason not to root for this girl, but I fear she is peaking right in here. Might not even be running by college.

Like Jordan Hasay?

Indoor and roads too.... wrote:

That's crazy wrote:

I really hope I'm wrong, I really do, because there's no reason not to root for this girl, but I fear she is peaking right in here. Might not even be running by college.

Like Jordan Hasay?

Yep. Just like that 1 in 100,000 girl. You neglected to mention the other 99,999 that become roadkill.

But Ping might be an outlier too.

wow, she's fast. Call me in three years though. Its hard to keep training at the level she is. I would be surprised if she makes it to college running, hopefully I'm dead wrong. It just seems like she's been training at a high school level for 3+ years now, and a lot of those kids quite before or during college.

How old is she, 13? It will be interesting to see how she progresses, especially compared to other high schoolers. I feel like we always hear about some phenom 12-13 year old then they understandably fade away a bit. But even if she is able to keep in 17 min 5k shape like someone else mentioned, she can basically go wherever she wants for college.

Indoor and roads too.... wrote:

That should be the world record for 13 years old. She already has the 10 and 12 records.

Yes it is.

Here were the records before tonight:

10 18:02.10 Grace Ping USA 7 Jul 03 Winona MN 26 Apr 14

11 17:59.7 Kathy Kiernan USA 3 Apr 65 Northridge CA 13 Feb 77

12 16:44.80 Grace Ping USA 7 Jul 03 Greensboro NC 17 Jun 16

13 16:38.51 Daniela Fetcere LAT 28 Aug 90 Ventspils 13 Aug 04

14 16:24.28 Emily Pidgeon GBR 1 Jun 89 Solihull 22 May 04

15 15:59.11 Yuko Nohara JPN 23 Jan 88 Maebashi 28 Jun 03

16 15:18.6 Eloise Poppett AUS 9 Nov 82 Sydney 16 Oct 99

17 15:01.86 Zola Budd RSA 26 May 66 Stellenbosch 5 Jan 84

18 14:59.28 Anita Weyermann SUI 8 Dec 77 Rome 5 Jun 96

19 14:48.07 Zola Budd GBR 26 May 66 London 26 Aug

Whoever the "they" is who keeps age group records for little kids should stop doing so.

Paul Tuttle, Esq. wrote:

Whoever the "they" is who keeps age group records for little kids should stop doing so.

You will CALM DOWN!

They will not stop and your opinion means nothing to them.

Are those completely accurate? I feel like there is a significant lack of youth talent from East Africa listed.

I'm pretty sure Tirunesh Dibaba ran faster than some of those marks in her youth.

17yrs - 14:49

18yrs - 14:39

19yrs - 14:30

Even the 14yr old record seems way off, apparently there was a girl named Nancy Wambui who ran a 15:22 at 14years old!

There are a handful of results on the iaaf website for confirmation.

Still nevertheless it's very exciting seeing Grace Ping make her mark on American Distance running at such a young age! I hope she continues to shine and prove that she hasn't peaked yet.

The athletes in these lists come from the following countries:

ALG Algeria

ARG Argentina

AUS Australia

BAR Barbados

BEL Belgium

BRA Brazil

BUL Bulgaria

CAN Canada

CAY Cayman Islands

CRO Croatia

CUB Cuba

CZE Czech Republic

DEN Denmark

DOM Dominican Republic

ESP Spain

EST Estonia

FIN Finland

FRA France

GBR Great Britain and Northern Ireland

GER Germany

GRE Greece

GRN Grenada

HUN Hungary

IRL Ireland

ISL Iceland

ITA Italy

JAM Jamaica

JPN Japan

KOR South Korea

LAT Latvia

LUX Luxemburg

NED Netherlands

NOR Norway

NZL New Zealand

PAN Panama

PHI Philippines

POL Poland

ROU Romania

RSA South Africa

RUS Russia

SAM Samoa

SLO Slovenia

SRB Serbia

SUI Switzerland

SWE Sweden

TTO Trinidad and Tobago

TUN Tunisia

USA United States of America

VEN Venezuela

That's crazy wrote:

Ping might be an outlier.

The middle schooler running 16:28 *might* be an outlier? Great detective skills!

I know that you are referring to her trajectory and that she might be an outlier in a sense that she might continue to improve whereas most don't. However, this is still an asinine statement. Of course she is an outlier. She is literally the fastest this country has ever seen for her age. So, Hasay is an apt comparison. The "thousands" of others that you mention have nothing to do with Ping.

That's crazy wrote:

Indoor and roads too.... wrote:

Like Jordan Hasay?

Yep. Just like that 1 in 100,000 girl. You neglected to mention the other 99,999 that become roadkill.

But Ping might be an outlier too.

Complete myth. She will either have the ability as an adult or not. Her performances now give her a much, much greater chance of being an adult elite relative to any random persons chances.

Whoever the "they" is who keeps age group records for little kids should stop doing so.[/quote]

These fast kid threads are predictable. You inevitably get this guy, who doesn't think we should pay attention to the speedy or successful kid. It reminds me of my great aunt who tells me that my daily running miles are excessive and are going to ruin my knees.

Grace is an unbelievable talent. But beyond that, this kid is a competitor. I saw her run at Griak, and it was worth paying attention. If your point is that nobody knows whether or not she will continue to progress and improve, then you are not wrong. But why does that mean we need to avert our eyes? Being competitive is part of track and life..

Because it might discourage parents from training their kids at a young age in ways that might be harmful to their health.

WNMN wrote:

Whoever the "they" is who keeps age group records for little kids should stop doing so.

But why does that mean we need to avert our eyes? Being competitive is part of track and life..[/quote]

Well, she is the fastest because many her age don't train for the 5k or take it seriously at that age.

So yea, she is fast, but to run that fast you have to train pretty hard. The chances that she can train that hard for another 8 years (which would put her at 21) are not that great.

Somebody is putting the cart before the horse.

If you had a choice, would you want to hold the age 14 record or the age 21 record?

Is she competitive at anything other than the 5k?