Conner Mantz made history Sunday by besting an American running record that had stood for 18 years.
The former BYU runner finished the Houston Half Marathon in 59:17, 26 seconds faster than Ryan Hall’s 59:43 from 2007.
With his performance, Mantz further cemented himself as one of the best distance runners in the world right now.

He’s just the fourth American in history to break the 60-minute barrier in a half-marathon, and he’s the first to do it in nearly seven years, according to Citius Magazine.
Although Mantz shattered the American record — and improved his own personal best in the half-marathon by more than a minute — he just missed out on winning the race.
It was a photo finish after a final sprint, and race officials gave the win to Addisu Gobena of Ethiopia, determining that he’d edged out Mantz by 0.01 seconds.
Mantz came in second and was one of five Americans in the top 10.
Hillary Bor (1:00:20) got sixth in the Houston Half; Andrew Colley (1:00:47) got eighth; Alex Maier (1:00:51) got ninth; and Clayton Young, who also ran for BYU and is Mantz’s friend and training partner, got 10th with a time of 1:00:52, per Watch Athletics.
10K specialist Joe Klecker, who was also chasing the American half-marathon record, finished in 18th in 1:01:06, Runner’s World reported.
Klecker had starred alongside Mantz in a two-part documentary series from Citius Magazine about attempts to break the record in Sunday’s race, as the Deseret News previously reported.
Conner Mantz comments on race
On ABC13 in Houston after the race, Mantz described his excitement about setting a new American record, noting that, although he’s now better known for the marathon, he got into running through the half-marathon.
He also said he was grateful that Gobena had taken the worst of the wind for much of Sunday’s race, according to Runner’s World.
That wind, combined with temperatures in the 30s, made it a very chilly day.
But Mantz and Gobena weren’t the only ones to shine in the cold conditions.
There was also a new American record set in the women’s half-marathon race — by the woman who already held it.
“For the second consecutive year, Weini Kelati improved on the American record at the Houston Half Marathon,“ Runner’s World reported. ”The 28-year-old finished second in 1:06:09, 16 seconds faster than the time she ran at the race last year.”
Social media reactions to Mantz’s record
Mantz’s performance on Sunday builds on his performance at the Paris Olympics, where he took eighth place and Young took ninth.
His star is rising in the running world, as evidenced by several posts shared on X on Sunday morning.