In the days and weeks leading up to Saturday morning's Olympic marathon, Conner Mantz, Clayton Young and their coach, Ed Eyestone , studied the beautiful but cruel race course that wound 26.2 miles from Paris to the Chateau de Versailles. They poured over topographical maps online. They memorized the features of the course and discussed how they would attack them. The day before the opening ceremonies, they drove the course, stopping at the 15K (nine miles) mark, where Mantz and Young ran the infamous 15K-30K section to experience the steep series of hills that lead to Versailles. Those hills average a gradient of 10.5%, the worst being a soul-killing 13.5%.
"It's by far the hardest Olympic marathon course ever," Eyestone concluded.
Together they decided that, under these circumstances, a 2:09 performance would medal.
As it turned out, they did considerably better than that. In an extraordinary effort, Mantz and his constant shadow, Young, would cover the course in 2:08:12 and 2:08:44, respectively — the two fastest times ever by Americans in the Olympic Games and just short of their personal records of 2:07:47 and 2:08:00.
They finished eighth and ninth.
The race was won by Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola, who, remarkably, produced an Olympic-record time of 2:06:26. Belgium's Bashir Abdi, who grew up in Somalia, was second in 2:06:47, and Kenya's Benson Kipruto placed third in 2:07:00. Tola was a late replacement for countryman Sisay Lemma, who had to withdraw because of an injury. He didn't know he would compete in the Olympics until July 26.
It was the fastest marathon, top to bottom, in the history of the Olympics despite the consensus among all observers that this course was, as one Wall Street Journal writer put it, "the most hellish marathon in Olympic history." Eight of the 79 runners did not finish the race.
"I was amazed that the times were as fast as they were," said Eyestone a few hours after the race. "Conner ran 2:08:12 — that's amazing. The hills were so steep and severe. It was like the mountain climb in the Tour de France. You had to lean into it. It was so difficult to imagine running that fast on this course. Conner and Clayton were in 2:06, maybe 2:05 shape, to run that fast on that course. It blows me away that a guy ran an Olympic record on that course."
Five of the top finishers in the race are native Africans, who have now won seven of the last eight Olympic marathons. Americans have won only 10 medals in the 128-year history of the Olympic marathon, just two since 1976, and one of them was born and raised in Ethiopia.
Mantz and Young are only the seventh and eighth Americans to break into the top 10 in more than four decades. Galen Rupp was eighth in 2020. Rupp and BYU alum Jared Ward were third and sixth in 2016. Meb Keflezighi was fourth in 2012. Dathan Rizenhein and Ryan Hall were ninth and 10th in 2008. In other words, three of those eight top-10 finishers are former BYU, Eyestone-coached athletes.
The Paris race followed the same route as the famed Women's March on Versailles, one of the early events of the French Revolution in 1789. They passed through nine arrondissements (boroughs) in Ile-de-France, past the Louvre, the Jardin des Tuileries, the Place de la Concorde and the Tour Eiffel along the Right Bank of the Seine, eventually breaking away from the river and climbing to the Chateau de Versailles. Then it turned back toward Paris, eventually taking runners along the Left Bank of the Seine passing under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower and finishing at the Esplanade Des Invalides and the tomb of Napoleon.
Given the difficulty of the course in Paris and the competition, Eyestone instructed Mantz and Young to run conservatively — specifically, don't take the lead in the first half of the race.
"My style is to macro plan," the coach explained. "I called it Jive, Survive and Drive. I wanted them to get lost in the pack — just jive and be cool — to the first hill at 15K without doing anything stupid. Just get in a good position but don't do anything to make the lead pack go faster.
Then I wanted them to survive the next 15K-30K, which is super hilly. I was hoping some runners would punch out there. Then I wanted them to drive the last 10K, which is flat. I thought there would be more carnage there than there was."
BYU marathoners and Olympics-bound Conner Mantz and Clayton Young work out at BYU in Provo on Thursday, July 11, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
Just as he did during the U.S. Olympic trials, Eyestone followed the race on an E bike with a phone mounted on the handlebar so he could watch the live stream of the race, as well. He saw Mantz — trailed closely as always by Young — running with the lead pack at 10,000 meters. They were still running with the lead pack at the halfway point.
Eyestone was there when they reached the 15K mark, the start of the hills.
"They were in good position," says the coach. He watched them climb the hills. Mantz was running aggressively in lockstep with the top three.
"That was crazy," says Eyestone. "They were leaning forward into that 12-14% grade. I was looking at the pain on Conner's face and I thought, uh-oh, wow, I hope he's OK."
At 30K, they began to fall off the pace. Mantz was running in about 10th place heading into the final 10,000-meter dash for home. He finished one minute, 12 seconds from a bronze medal. At the finish line, Mantz turned and waited for his training partner and friend, holding his arms aloft as if signaling a touchdown.
"It was a great race today," said Mantz. "I had hoped to medal, but it didn't happen today. I was happy I put myself in position to medal early on, but I think it is helping to prepare both of us to go for a medal in L.A. in 2028. I'm grateful for all the support I've had, from family and friends to training partners and coaches."
Independent of Mantz, Young said much the same thing: "I'm proud to (place) in the single digits and run 2:08. I've been eyeing the top 10 for a long time, and to be able to execute a great race and still have some in the tank gets me excited for the future. We thought that 2:08 would be on the podium, but it wasn't quite enough. It was fun finding Conner out there on the course and sharing ice, bottles, and an epic high-five. I'm feeling grateful, motivated and inspired. I'm excited for L.A. 2028."
"Knowing how competitive they are, they're probably left wanting a little," says Eyestone. "I think (BYU alum) Kenneth Rooks ' silver medal (in the steeplechase) set the bar pretty high for all of us. I told them beforehand that if we have two in the top 10 that would be an amazing day. My wife reminded me of that afterward."
The Paris Games was the latest in a brilliant stretch of running by Mantz and Young during the past 10 months, and they've done almost every step of it — training and even racing — together. They have finished all three marathons with back-to-back placings.
Last October, Mantz and Young finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Chicago Marathon, 13 seconds apart. They finished first and second in the Olympic marathon trials earlier this year, one second apart. And they placed ninth and 10th in the Olympic marathon, 32 seconds apart.
Their respect and regard for one another was evident during the race. At the 10K aid station, Mantz missed his water bottle. Young came in shortly afterward and was handed Young's bottle. "Conner must have tried to grab mine because mine was gone," Young said. Young caught up with Young and they shared the bottle. They also shared ice multiple times throughout the race.
"They draw strength from each other," said Eyestone. "They've done so many workouts together and spent a lot of time together and their families are close. When you're doing something very hard, there's something comforting to see your buddy at your side — he's OK, he's doing something hard, and I can, too."
The performance by Mantz and Young concluded a memorable Olympics for BYU, which qualified seven current and former track athletes for these Games. Mantz and Young finished eighth and ninth in the marathon, Kenneth Rooks won a silver medal in the steeplechase, and Courtney Wayment and Whittni Morgan advanced to the finals of the steeplechase and 5,0000-meter run, respectively, finishing 12th and 14th.
James Corrigan , who will be a junior at BYU this fall, failed to advance out of the heats of the steeplechase. Rory Linkletter, another BYU alum, placed 47th in the marathon for Team Canada with a time of 2:13:09. Like Mantz and Young, he graduated from a Utah high school. Cam Levins , a Canadian who won two NCAA championships for Southern Utah University, was 36th in the marathon with a time of 2:11:56.
"It was an amazing day," said Eyestone. "There was a lot of guts shown by both of them. It's amazing to see them finish in the single digits. To place in the top nine in the Olympic Games is a pretty great accomplishment when you consider the marathon and all that can go wrong … It was an awesome performance."
BYU marathoners and Olympics-bound Conner Mantz and Clayton Young work out at BYU in Provo on Thursday, July 11, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News
