By David Monti, @d9monti
(c) 2026 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
COPENHAGEN (18-Sep) — After breaking Khalid Khannouchi’s North American marathon record in Chicago last October, Conner Mantz was riding high. The two-time NCAA cross country champion for Brigham Young University, who ran 2:04:43, woke up the next day feeling great.
“Chicago was the best I’ve ever felt after a marathon,” Mantz told Race Results Weekly during breakfast today at the USA team hotel near the airport. “The next day I did a run and I felt like I did a hard long run, but didn’t have a full marathon in my legs. I think that gave me a false sense of confidence, and how recovered I was.”
Mantz, 29, who represents Nike, endured a sobering period of months after Chicago where he had not one, but two, sacral stress fractures which kept him on the sidelines and forced him to miss key competition opportunities, including last January’s World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee (where he had hoped to contend for a medal), and last April’s Boston Marathon. He wasn’t able to start running on land until mid-May.
“I got a little bit too excited,” Mantz continued. “I don’t know why I thought I was indestructible. I just overlooked the chance of injury. I started training really quickly and brought my mileage up really quickly, and then I paced my wife for a marathon (last November). It was just overtraining, overuse, and had taken on a little bit too much.”
Although Sunday’s World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships here was always in Mantz’s 2026 plans, he took a very different route to get here than he originally planned. Instead of a full slate or races, he spent the summer at home in Utah cautiously getting back into training. And even now he does two of his recovery runs each week on a treadmill fitted with a product called the LEVER which reduces the amount of his body weight his legs support while running (he takes about 15% off, he said).
“Initially I started on the LEVER attachment,” Mantz explained about his return to running. “And as I started running on land again coach (Ed Eyestone) and I just chatted about (how) I’ve been injured twice now. The second time I felt like I was doing my PT exercises, I was getting a lot of sleep, I was eating really well, I wasn’t pushing too hard in training. Coach and I were like, we’ve got to change something. So he’s had me do two runs a week on the LEVER, to help me recover a little more.”
Mantz said that about two weeks ago he started feeling more like his old self.
“Honestly, only about two weeks ago I felt like things were kind of starting to click again,” Mantz said. “I had hoped it would happen earlier, but probably only two or three weeks ago.”
At the Falmouth Road Race in Falmouth, Mass., on August 16, Mantz ran his first official race since Chicago last October. He ran a very credible 31:19 (similar to a 27:33 10-K using the Riegel conversion formula), and finished fourth. He was definitely moving in the right direction.
“Falmouth was a really good test,” Mantz explained. “I think it showed that I’m not there yet, but I’m on the right track. When people were making moves in the race, I didn’t feel like I could go with any of them. I felt like I could hold the pace I was running, but I couldn’t speed up and make any pace changes in the race. So, that was a little hard for me to be in a race and not feel like I could compete.”
For Sunday, Mantz has had to temper his goals. A year ago he would have said that that he was trying for the podium, a feat only achieved once by an American man, Dathan Ritzenhein, who took the bronze medal in Birmingham in 2009. But he plans to stick his nose in it and compete to the best of his abilities. It’s an important step on his way to the TCS New York City Marathon on November 1.
“Realistically, I’m not in that shape so I can’t go in with the same confidence,” Mantz admitted. “I would if I was racing this with my fitness from last year. So, right now the attitude to have is to like, go out there and work on the process. I think it’s going to be a great opportunity for matching moves and competing with people that will help me for New York.”
But be assured Mantz will be competing, not training.
“I don’t think you have to train for only one race,” he said. “A great way to get fit and compete is to run a few races. So, this is going to be great preparation for New York City Marathon, but you don’t fly halfway across the world to go get a workout in. I’m here to compete and do the best I can. Coach Eyestone doesn’t let us fly anywhere to do workouts.”
Although the half-marathon course here in Copenhagen is very flat, conditions could also be windy. Mantz said he’s “maybe in 59-minute shape,” but the wind could make holding his best possible pace difficult. He said he’s not too concerned about his time, just his competitors.
“Coach likes to say something like, a third of the guys aren’t fit, a third of the guys that should be there are injured and not coming at all, and third of the guys are in great shape,” Mantz said. “Going off of the start list, my personal best is like eighth or ninth. So, if I was in the shape I was in last year I think I would be ready to medal.”
Of course, Mantz and his wife Kylie has experienced great joy this year becoming parents for the first time. Their son, William, was born last January and Mantz loves being a father, an experience that has helped ground him during his comeback.
“Being a father has been great,” said Mantz, lighting up. “I think it makes life more fun, more enjoyable and, in turn, makes running more enjoyable. Instead of looking forward to my runs, I’m looking forward to getting home and being with the baby, and holding him, and helping out with him.” He added: “Laying the baby on my chest and just holding him, watching him, it just makes life better. It just makes life great.”
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The 26th World Athletics Half-Marathon Championships will be held in Copenhagen on Sunday, September 20, part of the second World Athletics Road Running Championships which will also feature one mile and 5-K events on Saturday. For USA fans, the event will be broadcast on Peacock TV (https://www.peacocktv.com/ or the Peacock app on Roku/smart TV’s). The race schedule is as follows (Central European Time; subtract six hours for U.S. Eastern Daylight Time):
Saturday:
10:10 a.m. Women’s Road Mile
10:30 a.m. Men’s Road Mile
2:10 p.m. Women’s 5-K
2:40 p.m. Men’s 5-K
Sunday:
9:10 a.m. Women’s Half-Marathon
9:45 a.m. Men’s Half-Marathon
More on the Peacock TV broadcast here: https://www.nbcsports.com/olympics/news/world-road-running-championships-how-to-watch
PHOTO: Conner Mantz finishing fourth at the 2025 Boston Marathon in 2:05:08 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
PHOTO: Conner Mantz after setting the North American marathon record in Chicago in October, 2026 (photo by Jane Monti for Race Results Weekly)
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