Young's marathon effort earns him USATF Athlete of the Week honors

INDIANAPOLIS -- Running the second fastest marathon ever by an American, Clayton Young(Springville, UT/USATF Utah) earned recognition as the 36th USATF Athlete of the Week award winner for 2026.

Ninth at the 2024 Olympic Games and 2025 World Athletics Championships, Young cruised to a 2:05:23 at the Chicago Marathon to place seventh overall and record the second fastest time ever by an American man on a record-eligible course.

Young, who has four U.S. titles to his credit and won the 2019 NCAA 10,000 title for BYU, was in a large pack of runners chasing the lead group through 10K in 29:40, and he went by the halfway point in 62:32 in 12th. He hit 30K in 11th in 1:28:55 and started moving up from there. 

By 35K he had eased into ninth place, and after improving to seventh with just over three miles to go, he used a 5:02 final mile to chop 18 seconds off his overall best that was set in April at Boston on a course ineligible for records. His previous best on a record-eligible course was 2:08:00 at Chicago in 2023.

Other top performances from last week:

• Galen Rupp bettered the American men's masters 40-44 record in the marathon with his 2:06:55 to place 11th overall at the Chicago Marathon.
• Emma Grace Hurley ran the fastest debut marathon by an American woman, clocking 2:20:47 at Chicago to place seventh and move to No. 6 on the all-time U.S. performer list.
• Meika Beaudoin-Rousseau won the men's Uphill race at the Color Challenge - Simard in Quebec by nine seconds in 28:55. The race was the season finale of the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) circuit.

Now in its 25th year, USATF’s Athlete of the Week program is designed to recognize outstanding performers at all levels of the sport. USATF names a new honoree each week when there are high-level competitions and features the athlete on USATF.org. Selections are based on top performances and results from the previous week. 

2026 Winners: January 15, Jonathan Simms; January 22, Michelle Rohl; January 29, Josh Hoey; February 5, Roisin Willis; February 12, Jordan Geist; February 19, Cole Hocker; February 26, Cynthia McNamee; March 5, Chase Jackson; March 12, Lauren Harris; March 19, Garrett Kaalund; March 26, Cooper Lutkenhaus; April 2, Rudy Winkler; April 9, Max Thomas; April 16, Sam Mattis; April 23, Tahmar Upshaw; April 30, Kaitlin Bounds; May 7, Karissa Schweizer; May 14, Anna Cockrell; May 21, Tatyana McFadden; May 28, Masai Russell; June 4, Joe Kovacs; June 11, Gabby Thomas; June 25, Tate Taylor; July 1, Jamal Britt; July 8, Nikki Hiltz; July 15, Jamal Britt; July 22, Cierra Jackson; July 29, Noah Lyles; August 13, Tate Taylor; August 27, Ethan Strand; September 3, Masai Russell; September 10, Chase Jackson; September 17, Melissa Jefferson-Wooden; September 24, Emma Grace Hurley; October 8, Aidan Troutner; October 15, Clayton Young.

We welcome your nominations!

To nominate an athlete for USATF Athlete of the Week, please send a detailed email about their performance to communications@usatf.org.

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