Cooper Lutkenhaus must have the best excuse for missing class of any high school junior, given he has been in Japan these past two weeks preparing to compete for Team USA at the World Athletics Championship.
But the 16-year-old’s dream of reaching the 800m final ended in the opening round on Tuesday as he could only finish seventh in the sweating heat of Tokyo.
“It was definitely tough,” Lutkenhaus from Northwest High School in Justin, Texas, admitted afterwards. “It’s not your day every time. It’s like you fail a math test occasionally, but you come back. And I’m excited for what the future holds.”
Lutkenhaus’s personal best is 1 min 42.27 sec makes him the 22nd fastest man – even if he is still a boy – over 800m in history. And such was his reputation that the Kenyan world record David Rudisha, who was in the stadium, had said he was looking forward to watching the Texan race.
Lutkenhaus, the youngest American to ever compete at the world championships after coming second in the US trials, was confident after running better than ever in training. However he was unable to produce his best when it mattered.
He spent most of the race in lane two or three, and when he reached for his sprint finish with 150 metres to go, he did not have enough in reserve. He finished in 1:47.68 in a race won by Poland’s Maciej Wyderka.
“Yeah, the sprint just wasn’t there as it normally is,” Lutkenhaus said. “But you just have to move on, live and learn. But I am leaving the stadium with my head held high, just because getting to race the best guys in the world is just really exciting.”
“I don’t really have any regrets from that race,” he added. “You’re gonna have bad races occasionally.”
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