American Star Lutkenhaus Skips School and Semi-Final Place
The young Texan runner must have one of the best reasons for missing class any high school 11th grader could ask for, since he spent in Japan during the recent days training to participate for the United States squad at the World Athletics Championship.
But Lutkenhaus’s goal of advancing to the 800-meter championship race concluded in the initial round on Tuesday as he could only finish in seventh place in the intense heat of Tokyo.
“It wasn't an easy race,” Lutkenhaus stated post-race. “Some days just don’t go your way. You might stumble now and then, but you come back. And I look forward for the coming years.”
The athlete’s personal best of 1 min 42.27 sec ranks him as the twenty-second speediest runner – although he is still a boy – in the record books over 800m. And such was his potential that the legendary world record holder David Rudisha, present in the stadium, mentioned he was looking forward to watching the American athlete race.
Lutkenhaus, the most junior American ever to compete at the world championships after placing second in the American championships, was optimistic after performing strongly in training. Yet he was incapable to produce his finest under pressure.
He spent the majority of the race in lane two or three, and when he reached for his closing speed with 150 metres to go, he lacked sufficient left in the tank. He ended up in one minute 47.68 seconds in a race taken by Poland’s Maciej Wyderka.
“Yeah, the kick just wasn’t there as it normally is,” the athlete said. “But you just have to move on, take it as a lesson. But I'm walking out of the stadium proudly, since competing against the top athletes on the planet is an incredible experience.”
“I don’t really have any second thoughts from that race,” he continued. “It's normal to experience poor performances now and then.”
