Latest news with #CooperLutkenhaus
The Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- The Sun
Schoolboy, 16, ‘making LeBron James look like nobody' with times good enough to win all but THREE Olympic golds
COOPER LUTKENHAUS is already one of the hottest athletics prospects in the United States at the tender age of 16. And if he continues his breakneck-speed development, he'll no doubt one day wim Olympic gold for Team USA. 5 5 5 Lutkenhaus made shockwaves in the track and field world last week with an incredible 800m run at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Oregon. His one-minute 44.27-second run was so impressive that Alberto Salazar scandal whistleblower and world-respected coach Steve Magness dubbed it "the most impressive athletic feat in history." The high-schooler's performance at Hayward Field saw him become the FOURTH FASTES T American in track and field history. Incredibly, his time would've won him every 800m Olympic gold medal except for the 2012, 2016 and 2024 gongs. When it comes to track and field, Magness has seen it all, so his assessment of Lutkenhaus' breakout run carries some serious weight. He told The Times: 'Cooper Lutkenhaus beat two world champs and finished a tenth behind another [Brazier]. "It's mind-blowing. There are no superlatives. His performance makes high-school LeBron [James] look like a nobody. Donavan Brazier, who pipped Lutkenhaus to first place, gave a similarly glowing assessment of the teen sensation. 5 5 And he admitted he's glad he won't be around to race him when he hits his physical prime. He said: "I saw someone coming up and I was like, 'Dang, this could be the high-schooler. 'Provided I know I am on my deathbed' - Brit legend Jonathan Edwards hopes world record lasts until the day he dies 'This kid's phenomenal. I'm glad I'm 28 and hopefully won't have to deal with him in his prime because that dude is definitely special." Lutkenhaus was also blown away with his incredible run, in which he ran the final 100m in a mere 12.48 seconds He told Track & XC News: "I obviously wasn't supposed to make the team. "A lot of people didn't think I'd make the final, so being able to do that was just a special moment. 'Moving with 200 to 250 to go is the big thing we talked about with my coach. "I knew if I went out a little too fast, I might not be able to close as well.' Lutkenhaus will be brought back down to Earth next week when he returns to his classroom at Northwest High School outside Fort Worth, Texas. But he'll represent Team USA at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo next month. And he can't wait to test himself against the best in the world. He said: "These next four weeks, I just want to take advantage of it and have fun with all the training. "This whole year has just been exciting. "I'm ready to get out there and see what I can do against the best in the world."
CBS News
6 days ago
- Sport
- CBS News
North Texas high schooler breaks record for fastest 800-meter race, is set to represent Team USA in world championship
At just 16 years old, Cooper Lutkenhaus isn't just chasing greatness — he's sprinting straight into the history books. The rising high school junior from Justin, Texas, stunned the track world at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Oregon when he ran the 800 meters in 1:42.27 — the fastest time ever recorded by anyone under the age of 18. "I think my mindset going into every race is just to leave it all on the track," Lutkenhaus said. "Just making sure I have nothing left in the tank." His record-setting run didn't just rewrite the record books; it also placed him among the sport's elite. Lutkenhaus finished second overall, just behind U.S. Olympian Donavan Brazier, in what turned out to be the fourth-fastest 800-meter performance in U.S. history, and the fifth-fastest in the world this year. "It was just electric," he said, describing the energy in the stadium during the final stretch. "That last hundred meters, I came around and just started passing people." Lutkenhaus' previous personal best was 1:45.45, which already made headlines earlier this year when it shattered a nearly 30-year-old high school national record. But in Oregon, he shaved off another three seconds — an eternity in the world of elite middle-distance running. Despite the attention, Lutkenhaus said he stays grounded, thanks to a strong support system that includes his coaches and family. "When somebody tells you, you can do something, I always look at it like, if they think I can do it, why don't I think I can?" he said. He gives credit to his mom, a former state qualifier herself, for passing on the family speed gene. "She's the reason I've been able to run so fast. All the credit goes to her," he said with a smile. But even with a world record under his belt, he says the people closest to him see more than just a runner. "I think that's the most important thing — that they know me outside of what I really do." His next stop? Tokyo. Lutkenhaus will represent Team USA at the World Athletics Championships, set to begin on Sept. 13. He'll be among 2,000 elite athletes from 200 countries competing on one of track and field's biggest stages. "These next four weeks, I just want to take advantage of it and have fun with all the training," he said. "This whole year has just been exciting. I'm ready to get out there and see what I can do against the best in the world." Back in Texas — and across the country — fans, coaches, and even former record-holders are cheering him on.
Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Times
US prodigy who ‘makes young LeBron look like nobody' is latest schoolboy star
Steve Magness knows a lot about sport and science and the limits of both. So when the respected coach and one-time whistleblower in the Alberto Salazar scandal hails a 16-year-old's 800m run as 'the most impressive athletic feat in history' it is worth paying attention. It seems kids are the present, as well as the future, in track and field. Last week another 16-year-old, Japanese schoolboy Sorato Shimizu, clocked an under-18 world best for the 100m in a scorching 10.06 seconds. Now an American tyro, Cooper Lutkenhaus, has got in on this extraordinary act. He will also go to the world championships in Tokyo next month, where he will become the USA's youngest-ever competitor on that stage. His time of 1min 42.27sec at the US Track and Field Championships in Oregon was more than a second inside the previous under-18 world best and makes him the 18th-fastest 800m runner of all time. Other nuggets to strain common sense include being the fourth-fastest American in history, faster than British greats such as Steve Cram and Peter Elliott, and averaging 17.5mph during his race at Hayward Field. His time in finishing second to Donavan Brazier would have been enough to win every Olympic 800m gold medal apart from 2024, 2016 and 2012. Magness is not one given to hyperbole, but he did not hold back in his assessment. 'Cooper Lutkenhaus beat two world champs and finished a tenth behind another [Brazier]. It's mind-blowing. There are no superlatives. His performance makes high-school LeBron [James] look like a nobody.' Brazier's assessment was also telling. 'I saw someone coming up and I was like, 'Dang, this could be the high-schooler,' ' he said. 'This kid's phenomenal. I'm glad I'm 28 and hopefully won't have to deal with him in his prime because that dude is definitely special.' The Texas schoolboy is due back in class at Northwest High School near Fort Worth, Texas, next week and state rules prevent him from making any money via NIL (name, image, likeness) deals. The spoils of success will surely come and he already copes comfortably with interviews. 'I obviously wasn't supposed to make the team, a lot of people didn't think I'd make the final, so being able to do that was just a special moment,' he told Track & XC News. Also impressive was the way he held his nerve despite being way off the leading pack halfway through the last lap, only to cover the final 100m in 12.48 remarkable seconds. 'Moving with 200 to 250 to go is the big thing we talked about with my coach. I knew if I went out a little too fast I might not be able to close as well.' Given that one of those reeled in was his idol, Bryce Hoppel, who set the US record when finishing fourth in last year's Olympic final, Lutkenhaus is arguably the most exciting of all the prodigies who have been lighting up athletics over the past year. It has been a stunning 2025 for the son of a good, but not great, state runner. In January he set a US high-school sophomore record of 1min 50.15sec. The times have been tumbling ever since and he even overcame a stumble in his heat at Hayward Field to push the barrier to a level loaded with lip-smacking potential. It will be fascinating to see what happens next. Nurturing young talent through injury, disappointment and expectation, as well as navigating sponsors, the media and fledgling celebrity, means many prodigies have crashed by the wayside. Already in the US this talented teen is being talked of as better than Jim Ryun, who was voted the fourth-best miler in the world while still in school and was dubbed the best high-school athlete in US history by ESPN, ahead of James and Tiger Woods. Ryun would go on to set the mile world record at 19 and win an Olympic silver at 1,500m in 1968. Magness's take? 'Cooper is far ahead of Ryun and Ryun was the GOAT.' For now it is a case of back to school and reality, as is the case for Gout Gout, Australia's 17-year-old sprint sensation who is back studying at Ipswich Grammar in Queensland after breaking his own 200m national record on his senior international debut this summer. Come September and teenage kicks in Tokyo may be hard to beat.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brazier, Lutkenhaus, Hoppel race exhilarating 800m
In a phenomenal men's 800m in Eugene, Donavan Brazier won with a personal-best of 1:42.16, while 16-year-old high schooler Cooper Lutkenhaus finished runner up ahead of Bryce Hoppel in third, who had a season's best.
Reuters
04-08-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Cooper Lutkenhaus, 16, to become youngest American ever at track and field worlds
August 4 - At just 16, Cooper Lutkenhaus is set to become the youngest American ever to compete at the World Track and Field Championships, which take place next month at Tokyo. Lutkenhaus, a rising junior at Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, placed second in the 800-meter final at the USA Track and Field Championships on Sunday at Eugene, Ore., with a time of 1:42:27. Donovan Brazier of Grand Rapids, Mich., won the event. Lutkenhaus' time smashed the previous U18 world record -- set by Kenya's Timothy Kitum in the 2012 Olympics -- by 1.1 seconds. It is also the fourth-fastest time by any U.S. man and 18th-fastest in the world. Less than a year ago, Lutkenhaus' time would have been the American record. The current record holder for youngest American at the World Track and Field Championships is Mary Cain, who was 17 years and 3 months old in 2013. Erriyon Knighton holds the record for youngest American man at 18 years and 5 months. Lutkenhaus, who is scheduled to begin his junior year of high school in just over a week, doesn't turn 17 until December. "I'll be missing some school," Lutkenhaus said, according to NBC Sports. "But hopefully the teachers will understand." --Field Level Media
