Clayton Younger (L) and Conner Mantz rejoice after inserting second and first through the 2024 U.S. Olympic Group Trials – Marathon on February 03, 2024 in Orlando, Florida.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Pictures
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Mike Ehrmann/Getty Pictures
Clayton Younger (L) and Conner Mantz rejoice after inserting second and first through the 2024 U.S. Olympic Group Trials – Marathon on February 03, 2024 in Orlando, Florida.
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Pictures
It is simple to get sucked into the competitiveness of sports activities, particularly when medals are up for grabs.
However in just a few brief weeks, when six U.S. marathoners begin their race on the Paris Olympics, two of these runners shall be rooting for one another: Clayton Younger and Conner Mantz.
The pair are longtime coaching companions and mates, in addition to the 2 quickest males’s marathoners representing the U.S. on the Olympics. They first met on a run at Brigham Younger College in 2017. And as Younger remembers it, it was removed from a race amongst equals.
“I remember looking back on this run as we were a pack of 15 to 20 guys. He had just come back from serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was probably 20 to 30 pounds overweight, but he was just hanging on for dear life.”
After 4.5 miles, Mantz realized he could not hold that tempo.
“And I think that’s when I first really started to discover how gritty Conner is,” Younger recalled.
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A memorable trial
Apart from being good mates over time, the 2 athletes have been tight rivals as effectively.
The 2 completed the Olympic trials marathon in February inside a second of one another, working at a blazing tempo of 4 minutes, 56 seconds per mile on common.
And even racing at these unimaginable speeds, their friendship and camaraderie throughout that marathon was onerous to overlook.
Mantz had been doubting himself forward of the race, after dealing with heartbreak on the Olympic trials again in 2021.
“Nobody expected me to make the team, but I expected myself to make that team. And I felt I fell short. [I had a] top three run in the 510. And I was fifth place in a race. And it was pretty tough, mentally and physically and emotionally to move on from that because the Olympics is such a big thing.”
Younger and Mantz have been the primary and quantity two seeds going into this 12 months’s Olympic trials, in addition to fan favorites. However the stress was nonetheless intense, as Younger remembers: “There’s a lot that can go wrong in a marathon.”
And because the race started with 200 rivals and solely two spots on the crew, the 2 mates managed to maintain their cool because the competitors started to soften away mile by mile.
“In fact, there’s this moment on the NBC broadcast where Connor turns around and he kind of holds out his hand,” recalled Younger. “And I’m thinking, ‘What the heck do you need, Connor? Like, do you want one of my water bottles? Do you want something else?’ And I finally realize that he wants a high five, so I give him this high five, and it’s probably the sloppiest high five you’ll ever see on national television.”
“But it was this cool moment where I got to really realize that Connor was still Team Clayton. He was still on my side. He was confident. He knew that we could both do this. And it was just this really cool moment with about eight miles to go.”
The following problem
Now, the 2 athletes shall be representing Group USA in Paris. For the longtime working pair, competing within the Olympics alongside one another is a supply of consolation and motivation. Clayton is aware of he’ll follow coaching:
“Having Connor there every step of the way, not only to the trials finish line, but from now training all the way to the start line of the Paris Olympic Marathon is where like, that’s really where the strength comes from. I know that Connor is going to keep me accountable. He’s going to keep me fit. He’s going to keep me fast and focused as we approach Paris. And that’s our best team moving forward for the United States as we get ready for the Paris Summer Olympics.”
And Connor will get to maintain residing what he describes as a dream come true:
“The last few moments of the Olympic trials kind of felt like a dream. And I kept thinking, ‘Maybe something’s going to go wrong, maybe we’re going to have a nightmare scenario.’
And it probably wasn’t a healthy thing to be thinking about, but it was just really cool to be, running down that stretch and Clayton and I are really like, ‘Are we really qualifying for the Olympics? Are we really going to go one two at the Olympic trials?’
And it was just awesome to be able to have that happen. It just felt like a dream that kind of feels like it’s so far out of reach. Like yeah, it could happen, but it never will.”
This time, nonetheless, it did.
This episode was produced by Vincent Acovino and Megan Lim, with audio engineering by Neisha Heinis. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata and Courtney Dorning. Our government producer is Sami Yenigun.
