A trio of former BYU runners and Olympians became the talk of the running world with strong performances over the weekend.
BYU alums Conner Mantz, Kenneth Rooks and Rory Linkletter each put on a show at events in Colorado, California and Canada, respectively.
Watch their highlights below.
Conner Mantz’s 3-peat
Mantz returned to Boulder, Colorado, for the 2025 Bolder Boulder 10K on Monday. He was coming off his historic fourth place finish at the Boston Marathon.
As Mantz entered Folsom Field where the finish line was located, he sat in second place, trailing Kenya’s Daniel Simiu Ebenyo.
Ebenyo won silver in the 2023 10,000-meter World Athletics Championship.
With Ebenyo in his sights, Mantz kicked it into high gear and passed Ebenyo just ahead of the finish line to cross first.
The former Cougar beat Ebenyo by two seconds to finish with a time of 28:20 and an average mile pace of 4:35, according to the Herald Journal.
Monday’s event marked Mantz’s third consecutive win at Bolder Boulder, and Monday’s time was his fastest of the three.
He won with a time of 29:08 in 2023 and 29:12 in 2024.
Kenneth Rooks’ season-opening win
Rooks won his first steeplechase of the season on Saturday at Sound Running Track Fest in Los Angeles.
He ran it in 8:14.25 minutes and beat second-place finisher Duncan Hamilton by six seconds.
Rooks clocked the second-fastest time of his career behind his silver medal finish at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“It’s so fun to be back doing the steeplechase. I love it so much,” Rooks said afterwards, per Track and Field News. I’ve done workouts, but you can’t ever simulate the last two laps in the steeple perfectly, so it was good to feel that today … good to get an opener underneath the standard, which is awesome.”
Rory Linkletter’s historic finish at Ottawa Marathon
On Sunday, Linkletter placed second in the Ottawa Marathon behind Albert Korir of Kenya. Linkletter finished less than 10 seconds behind Korir.
Though he didn’t win the marathon, Linkletter’s second-place time of 2:08:31 was historic. It was the fastest time ever run by a Canadian in a Canadian marathon, according to Canadian Running.
“I’m always trying to be one of the best — if not the best — in this country,” he told Canadian Running. “Right now, I’m confident saying I’m top two, and I don’t want to be two anymore.”
Cameras caught the race leaders, including Linkletter, passing a famous spectator: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Like Mantz, Linkletter is also coming off an impressive showing at the Boston Marathon.
He placed sixth after running a personal best of 2:07:02, as the Deseret News previously reported.