Conner Mantz will make his marathon debut in Chicago this Sunday, October 9th. While perhaps not a generational marathon talent to compete with the very best African runners (Kipchoge), Mantz has the potential to make waves in American marathoning. The best American marathon prospect since Galen Rupp, Mantz is a two-time NCAA cross country champion who knows how to suffer and owns a 10K track PR of 27:25. That's not a bad rap sheet heading into your first marathon, and something about Mantz just seems to fit for the longer distances. His quick and efficient stride, diminutive profile, and racing style seem to be a good formula for 26.2-mile success.
Mantz has stated that he will be chasing the American debut record in the marathon - 2:07:56. That kind of a performance would immediately vault him into the top tier of U.S. marathon contenders on the international level.
The marathon is tough, and it takes a stroke of luck to avoid all the mistakes that can be made in a first marathon. With that being said, I'm going to predict 2:08:10 for they BYU grad's marathon debut. Mantz runs a strong first race and looks forward to an even better performance in the spring.
UPDATE: https://www.letsrun.com/news/2022/10/conner-mantz-runs-2nd-fastest-american-debut-marathon-20816/ (I was 6 seconds off)
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