Teen running sensation Sam Ruthe is now the New Zealand under-20 record holder for every single distance between 800m and 5000m.
The 16-year-old completed the set over the weekend, by setting a new national record for the 3000m at the Boston meet, clocking 7 minutes and 43.16 seconds.
The time beat Liam Black's previous 2021 record by more than 10 seconds. Ruthe finished second in the race in Boston behind American Ernest Cheruiyot.
Ruthe said, despite the huge milestone time, his main takeaway from the race was the overall experience.
"I've ran good times, of course, but I feel like what's most important to me is the experience I've taken from all of these races, and that's what I'm going to take back to New Zealand, focus on my training and hopefully use that to improve in my future races," he said.
“Time’s only a number, and a time can be run once, but experience is forever," he added.
The Tauranga runner was ending his US tour on a high, before the final event of the season in Auckland .
Coach Craig Kirkwood said the plan was for Ruthe to compete in four mile races, but he switched to two mile races and the 3000m.
“I think it's been really successful,” Kirkwood said.
"[It] was a good decision, I think, to take out one of the miles, and then switched one with the 3K. I think it was just a good option and good opportunity for him to do something a bit different.”
Asked if Ruthe would take any learnings from the races, Kirkwood said he would better understand what professional races looked like.
“I think he learned some lessons around positioning and how aggressive or assertive you need to be in that environment. I think he did that really well in the first, maybe 50 metres of the 3000, just made sure he got on the rail, held the spot and knew where he wanted to be, and executed perfectly.”
Ruthe became the youngest athlete to ever run a mile quicker than 3m 50s and took the New Zealand men's record from Sir John Walker, which he held for 44 years.
Sam Ruthe's complete crown of under-20 records:
800m - 1:45.86
1000m - 2:17.82
1500m - 3:33.25
Mile - 3:48.88 (NZ Mile Record)
3000m - 7:43.16
5000m - 13:40.48
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