Only a few weeks ago, Clayton Young, the Olympic marathoner and former BYU national champion, was uncertain he would be able to compete in Monday’s Boston Marathon. For 18 weeks — until mid-February — he was unable to run because of an ankle injury. He decided to run anyway.
That made his performance all the more remarkable. Young finished with a personal-record time of 2:05:41 — his previous best was 2:07:04 on this same course a year ago. It is a commentary on how ridiculously fast this era of distance running is that Young placed only 11th, ending his streak of top-10 finishers at six, dating back to 2023.
“I’m really happy to be a 2:05 guy,” he told the Deseret News after the race. “To be honest I’m a little disappointed to take 11th — it breaks my streak of top-10 finishes. But, yeah, I’m a 2:05 guy.”
That time makes him the fifth-fastest American ever, including point-to-point courses (such as Boston). Only loop courses count for official records.
African-born runners claimed the first six places in Monday’s 130th running of the Boston Marathon. Kenya’s John Korir was the winner with a course-record time of 2:01:51 — the sixth fastest all-courses time ever. The first three finishers were all under 2:03.
Young was the top finisher among native-born Americans. Zouhair Talbi, a native Moroccan who has gained U.S. citizenship, was fifth, and Charles Hicks, a British-American — was seventh.
Rory Linkletter, Young’s former BYU teammate, was 14th with a personal-record time of 2:06:04.
Kodi Kleven, a former Utah Valley University and BYU runner from Mount Pleasant, was 14th in the women’s race with a personal-record time of 2:24:48. She is the three-time St. George Marathon champion and course recordholder. She has joined coach Ed Eyestone’s training group.
Conner Mantz, the Olympian and American record holder from BYU and Smithfield, missed the race because of an injury.
“I was not sure I was going to start the race. I was injured and it wasn’t until the last three to four weeks that I decided I could compete.”
— former BYU star Clayton Young
Young, Mantz’s training partner, nearly suffered the same fate.
Normally, a marathon training build consists of 16 weeks, but an ankle injury curtailed Young’s Boston build to eight.
“I was not sure I was going to start the race,” he said Monday. “I was injured and it wasn’t until the last three to four weeks that I decided I could compete.”
Unable to run, he cross-trained on an arc trainer and a boost treadmill for 4½ months. When he was finally able to resume running a few weeks ago, he began an aggressive program to get ready for Boston, running 130 miles per week for a month before tapering for Boston.
“It was a short build,” said Young. “All things considered, I’m happy with my race. Maybe I was just fresher. Maybe while I was trying to get the ankle to heal it allowed the rest of my body to heal — the things that had bothered me that I had put off healing for years. My chronic heel problem is non-existent. My right hamstring, which bothered me at Boston last year, feels fine. My right calf, which cramped in Boston last year, is fine.”
