"I think this one was fun because we went into it with the attitude that it's a prelim… This is the prelim and our goal is to qualify. I still had pressure, I felt like I had to beat Clayton to qualify, but also there was the scenario where we both made the team. And that was the goal. That's all we really wanted. It wasn't like, ‘I need to beat Clayton' or  ‘Clayton needs to beat me.’ Our goal was to make the team."

My guest for today’s episode is U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials champion Conner Mantz. He went one-two with his former BYU teammate and current training partner Clayton Young to qualify for their first Olympics team. Mantz was the fastest American marathoner of 2023. He and Young were the only two Americans to run under the Olympic qualifying standard before the Trials in Orlando and clinched the two guaranteed spots for the Summer Games in Paris.

In this episode, Mantz takes us through all the ins and outs of his race, how he and Young worked together, how he handled some pretty bad nerves before the race, what his hopes are for the Paris Olympics – and yes, we asked about the gesture where Young let him go ahead for the win.

Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠⁠⁠

Guest: Conner Mantz | ⁠⁠⁠⁠@connermantz on Instagram

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