Meet the Texas High School Senior Who Just Beat the Reigning Olympic 800-Meter Gold Medalist (Exclusive)
Meet the Texas High School Senior Who Just Beat the Reigning Olympic 800-Meter Gold Medalist (Exclusive)
Anna Lazarus CaplanThu, July 2, 2026 at 1:15 PM UTC
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Cooper LutkenhausCredit: Dan Mullan/Getty -
Cooper Lutkenhaus is dominating the track world at just 17 years old
The Texas teen, who came onto the international track scene one year ago, just beat the 2024 Olympic gold medalist in the 800-meters
Lutkenhaus next race is at The Prefontaine Classic on Friday, July 3
It doesn’t take two minutes of talking to Cooper Lutkenhaus to get the feeling he’s not your average 17-year-old high school senior.
It also doesn’t take two minutes for the Texas teenager to run 800 meters.
He only needs 1:42 and change — and he’s getting faster by the hundredth-of-a second.
So fast that last month, he beat the 2024 Summer Olympics gold medalist, Emmanuel Wanyonyi of Kenya, in the event.
“I mean, racing the Olympic gold medalist, you don’t expect to be doing that,” Lutkenhaus tells PEOPLE exclusively about winning the Diamond League race in Oslo, Norway on June 10. “But I felt like I belonged in the race. Obviously you give those guys a ton of respect because they are the best, he's the best in the world but you have to be able to think that you can beat everyone in it.”
Cooper Lutkenhaus edged out 2024 Olympic gold medalist Emmanuel Wanyonyi by one one-hundredth of a second to win the Diamond League race in Oslo last month.Credit: Sona Maleterova/Getty
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The Justin, Texas teen did just that, as he looks to his next challenge — racing in The Prefontaine Classic on Friday, July 3 in Eugene, Ore.
“I race late [scheduled for 9:07 pm local time], so under the lights will definitely be fun,” he tells PEOPLE. “I just try to represent the best I can. Obviously being on American soil, I’m going to try to give the crowd a good race.”
That’s nothing unusual for the teen, who shocked the international running community nearly one year ago on the same track — Hayward Field at the University of Oregon — seemingly coming out of nowhere, literally and figuratively, to finish second in the 800-meters at the USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships.
Emmanuel Wanyonyi and Cooper Lutkenhaus following the men's 800-meter final at the Diamond League race on June 10.Credit: Sona Maleterova/Getty
Lutkenhaus then decided to turn pro — a decision he says “wasn’t easy” — foregoing a college career and signing a contract with Nike, becoming one of the youngest athletes to ever rep the brand.
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At the age of 16, he became the youngest American to compete at an outdoor worlds where he uncharacteristically stumbled and was eliminated in the first round at the World Athletics Championship last September.
Judging from his results since then, it’s safe to say Lutkenhaus has put that result in his rear view.
This past March, while on spring break from Northwest High School — which is located about 20 miles north of Fort Worth — Lutkenhaus won the World Indoor Championships 800 in Poland, becoming the youngest World Indoor men’s medalist.
Still, the track star insists his friends from his high school running team — who he still trains with — treat him “pretty normal.”
“We all like to make fun of each other on stuff,” he says. “I love competing with them and enjoy hanging out with them all the time.”
That means Lutkenhaus still finds time to go to the movies with friends and while away hot Texas summer afternoons by the pool.
As for another summer not too far in the distance — specifically, Los Angeles in 2028 — Lutkenhaus is typically understated.
“What's nice about it is I pace myself,” he says. “Right now, I'm focused on tomorrow's workout and then focus on the next day. The people around me, they're focused more on looking ahead to LA.”
He adds, “Obviously that's a big year with the Olympics, especially being in America. It's something I'm really not focused on just because this sport is extremely tough, anything can happen in any given moment, and you never know when your last race is. So you just be grateful for every one that you get and I think that's something I do pretty well just because you never know, you know, when it might end.”
on People
Source: “AOL Sports”
