Pair of BYU grads run Olympic standard, top American finishes at Chicago Marathon

Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum set a world record in winning the Chicago Marathon, and the top American finishers ran through Utah at the 45th edition of the annual road race Sunday at Grant Park in Chicago.

Conner Mantz blitzed to a personal-best time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 47 seconds to finish sixth overall Sunday, and fellow BYU graduate Clayton Young was right behind him in seventh in 2:08:00.

The duo unlocked a pair of spots for the United States in the marathon for the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics by breaking the Olympic standard of 2:08:10. Nations are awarded Olympic marathon entries through their runners' finishes in races leading up to the Olympics.

Mantz, who finished 11th at the Boston Marathon, laid down the fourth-fastest time by an American in Chicago, according to Runner's World.

"I think I was technically 7:59-point, but they rounded up one second," Young said after the race with a big smile on his face. "But I'll take it."

The former college teammates ran against each other growing up, trained together under BYU coach Ed Eyestone, and now train together with Utah's Run Elite Program in the new professional program founded by former Olympian Jared Ward, Salt Lake Community College head coach Isaac Wood and former BYU-Hawaii soccer player Landon Southwick.

"I couldn't ask for a better training partner," said Young, who prepped at American Fork. "It was kind of on him the last little bit, and to be able to close behind him — like I usually do in practice — was a really big step for me."

Mantz equally credited Young, who had knee surgery in February that "took him out for a while," and Eyestone, who was calling the race in the studio for NBC Sports.

"It was great weather, great time to run. My coach prepared me well," Mantz, the former two-time national champion at BYU who prepped at Sky View, told NBC Chicago. "I felt strong through about 38K and then things fell apart. But I'm happy with the PB."

Speaking from the studio, Eyestone jumped in with a message for his pupils.

"I'm super proud of them and their efforts today," he said. "It's awesome when you have that symbiotic relationship and can train together."

London Marathon champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won the women's race in 2:13:44 — the second-fastest time for a woman at the 26.2-mile distance. Kiptum's final time of 2:00:35 shattered the previous world record set by fellow Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge by 34 seconds.

Hassan's time is second in the world standings, trailing only Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa, who ran 2:11:53 last month in Berlin that crushed the women's world record by more than two minutes.

More than 47,000 runners took part in Sunday's event, including 183 from Utah.

Mantz and Young are among the eight runners from Run Elite that have qualified for the U.S. Olympic team trials Feb. 3 in Orlando.

Contributing: The Associated Press

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