Cooper Lutkenhaus, a junior at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, placed second in his race at the at the U.S. Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Oregon, on Sunday in a come-from-behind triumph that has the world of track and field taking notice, with his race being called “the most impressive athletic feat in history.”
Through much of the race, Lutkenhaus lagged in the back of the pack, but over the last 200 meters, he poured on the speed and went from seventh place to second, and broke the world record in his age class at the same time with a 1:42.27.
Lutkenhaus finished a step behind champion Donavan Brazier (who made 1:42.16), running the fourth-best time in U.S. history and breaking his own best time by three full seconds.
Steve Magness, who wrote The Science of Running, hailed Lutkenhaus’s race and said that given Lutkenhaus’s age and experience, it was “the most impressive athletic feat in history.”
Magness added that Lutkenhaus was competing in a field with no less than three world champions, and he beat two and nearly beat the third, as Donavan Brazier only won by a tenth of a second.
Race winner Brazier told the media how shocked he was to see Lutkenhaus honing in on him in the last seconds of the race.
“I saw someone coming up and I was like, ‘Dang, this could be the high schooler,’” Brazier told reporters, according to the L.A. Times. “This kid’s phenomenal. I’m glad that I’m 28 and maybe have a few more years left in me, hopefully won’t have to deal with him in his prime because that dude is definitely special.”
Only a few weeks after he starts his junior year in high school this year, Lutkenhaus will be taking time off from school to become the youngest American to compete in the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Sept. 13-21.
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