Conner Mantz sure knows how to put on a show at Folsom Field.
A year after a dramatic finish to win the Bolder Boulder, he did it again on Monday. Mantz surged past Yemane Haileselassie of Eritrea in the final 250 meters to claim the title in the International Pro Team Challenge for the second year in a row.
Mantz, running for the USA Red team, finished the 10K race in 29 minutes, 12.51 seconds to outlast Haileselassie by just 1.8 seconds.
“I think it’s a big deal for me just because this is such a prestigious race and getting the body to dig that deep is something I’m really trying to work on,” said Mantz, who had a strong final kick to win by only four seconds in 2023. “So this is a race that was good to get the best out of myself.”
Mantz’s USA Red squad finished second in the team standings, behind the USA White team, which was led by third-place finisher Sam Chelanga (29:21.16). This is the first time since 2017 that a USA squad finished atop the team standings.
Biya Simbassa (fifth, 29:37.39) and Reed Fischer of Boulder (eighth, 29:41.97) teamed with Chelanga on the USA White team. Mantz ran with fellow BYU alums Clayton Young (seventh, 29:38.47) and Jared Ward (14th, 32:05.50).
Mantz was at or near the lead throughout the race but had a tough time pulling away.
“I just started out really quick and it felt pretty easy, and I was, like, running fast,” he said. “But then as the race went on I started slowing down and I couldn’t speed up, which was getting a little frustrating because I kept trying to take the lead and kind of break that pack open. Every time I took the lead to push I couldn’t get anybody to break out that pack.”
Heading up the final hill on Folsom Street, Haileselassie took the lead
“I trailed all the way behind the group,” he said. “I tried pushing the uphill.”
As the race went into the downhill into Folsom Field, however, Mantz found a new gear.
“I could hear (Haileselassie) struggling breathing, really hard,” Mantz said. “So I was like, ‘I’m gonna stay as close as I can and try and get him on the inside of the stadium, but by the time he crested going to the left, I made a hard move down that little hill and I could tell he was not landing right. So I was like, ‘OK, maybe I need to go now.’ His form was kind of dying. He didn’t slow down that much, though.”
It was enough of a slowdown, however, for Mantz to take advantage and become the first repeat champion since Allan Kiprono of Kenya in 2012-13. He’s only the fifth male to win back-to-back titles.
“It was good race for me,” Haileselassie said. “He led all the way and I tried to push him. He’s strong. He caught me. He’s good in downhill.”
The final kick wasn’t easy, though.
“I was surprised how hard it hurt,” Mantz said. “I had a good workout on Friday and a good one on Tuesday last week. So I was pretty confident I could kick really hard. When I tried to kick, it didn’t feel as good as I would have thought. I expected to feel a lot better at the end.”
The result felt pretty good, though. Mantz will compete at the Olympics in the marathon later this summer, but it meant a lot to him to win the Bolder Boulder again and to feel the electricity of the Folsom Field crowd.
“It’s a blast,” he said. “The crowd was so loud and it was just fun to be in such a special environment. It’s tough, though, like trying to kick and you’re out of breath. It’s tough to really enjoy the crowd 100% but I enjoyed it as much as I could.”
Although he came up short, Haileselassie was in awe of the environment, as well.
“Amazing,” he said. “I’m so excited to see these people. I was hearing about this yesterday. It’s really nice. I like it. It’s a lot of people. Really amazing.”
Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver’s teams.
Link to original article