Ben Blankenship
3000m: 7:38.08[1] | |||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ben Blankenship (born December 15, 1988) is an American middle distance runner. He is a world record holder as a member of the 2015 USA Distance medley relay team, of which he ran the 1600-meter anchor leg.[2]
Running career
Elementary school
Blankenship attended St. Croix Catholic school in Stillwater, Minnesota. Classmates from his elementary recall Blankenship to be the fastest runner at St. Croix Catholic when running the mile run at the Old Athletic Field located near the elementary school.
High school
At Stillwater Area High School, Blankenship was the Minnesota State AA Champion at 1600 meters in both 2006 and 2007. Also in 2005, he led his team to second place in Cross Country. His high school had previously molded other prolific distance runners such as Luke Watson and Sean Graham.
Collegiate
He began his collegiate career at
Post-collegiate
This section of a poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. )Find sources: "Ben Blankenship" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2019) |
After graduating from Minnesota, he moved to Colorado and worked for a friend's excavation company.[4] However, he traveled to London to watch a friend participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and became interested in returning to running after he felt his injuries were gone.[4] He subsequently moved to Washington, D.C., where he lived for a year.[4] After working out consistently for the first time since college, he won the 2013 Crystal City Twilighter, a 5K road race, in 15:10.[5] His agent, Stephen Haas, worked to convince Oregon Track Club to invite Blankenship to train professionally in Eugene, and eventually Blankenship accepted the offer.[4]
Both his best
At the 2015 IAAF World Relays Blankenship put the weight of his team on his shoulders at the end of the distance medley relay. While he received the baton in first place, similar to a move in track cycling strategy, he immediately conceded the lead to Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, who in turn broke contact and attempted to run away with the race. Blankenship's even paced lack of aggression also let the Australian team anchor by Collis Birmingham back into contention. When Cheruiyot paid the price for his front running, Blankenship passed the tiring Cheruiyot. But Cheruiyot was not broken and stayed with in contact all the way to the final straightaway where Blankenship's speed put the race away. With the oddly strategic ending, the 0.06 of a second improvement on the existing world record by a Kenyan team in 2006 was more of an accident than a plan.
A month and a half later, at the
He won the 2016 Medtronic TC 1 mile, setting a course record of 3:55.8 and taking home the USATF Road Mile title.
On July 10, 2016, Blankenship finished third in the
In September 2017, Blankenship set a record for the fastest 1 mile time in Alaska, achieving a time of 3:57.85. This makes Blankenship one of only two to run a mile in under 4 minutes in Alaska ever, along with Kyle Merber.
Blankenship currently lives in Eugene, Oregon and trains with the Oregon Track Club.
Blankenship won a US national xc title over 10 km in 29:21 at 2018 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships.[8]
References
- ^ .
- ^ "IAAF: World Records - iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- ^ "GOPHERSPORTS.COM Ben Blankenship Bio :: University of Minnesota Official Athletic Site :: Men's Track". gophersports.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Rachel Sturtz (April 26, 2013). "Runner's World: No Fear of the Unknown". Retrieved August 5, 2016.
- ^ [1] Crystal City Twilighter 5K - Arlington, Virginia. July 27, 2013.
- ^ "Ben Blankenship". bringbackthemile.com. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- ^ "USATF.TV - Videos - Men's 1500m Final - USATF Outdoor Track and Field Championships 2015". usatf.tv. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- USATF