The NCAA has produced several athletes in recent years who have later dominated their particular disciplines. However, several NCAA sportspersons are now dominating their sport even before joining international senior competitions. A similar breakout athlete recently showed up in the track and field domain and walked away with a record.

Nico Young is a distance-running track and field athlete who runs for Northern Arizona University. A social media post recently revealed that the 21-year-old has made a new collegiate record while achieving two more major feats. One of them is as good as the Olympic qualification mark.

Track and field star defies three major barriers in 5000m

Citius Mag recently broke the news of Nico Young’s phenomenal achievement via a tweet from its official X account. The tweet carried the caption, “NCAA RECORD (check) OLYMPIC STANDARD (check) SUB-13 (check) @NAUTrackFieldXC’s @Nico__Young__ becomes the first collegian EVER under 13 minutes indoors or out with his huge 12:57.14 run for 2nd place in the men’s 5000m at the BU Terrier Classic.”

Young shattered the 13-minute barrier with his run by crossing the finishing line almost three seconds before the mark. The Northern Arizona runner came second to the 25-year-old South African track and field athlete Adriaan Wildschutt who finished the race in 12:56.76. Nico Young has been increasing his dominance and footprint in the distance running scene. 

He is already a 3x NCAA gold medalist and was also the highest-ranking true freshman in the 202 NCAA Cross Country Championship since 2001. The track and field athlete had also earned himself a slot at the Olympic trials back in 2021. With this run, he may get one more at the Paris Olympics trials.

Nico Young to become an Olympian in 2024?

Nico Young had set a new American record at the 2021 Drake Relays by covering the 5000m distance of the course in 13:24.26. While this elevated him to a spot at the Tokyo Olympic trials, he couldn’t make it count and finished ninth in the race. The NCAA track and field star got slower in the race and crossed the finish line in 13:35.94.

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This time, he has a finish of 12:57.14 under his belt. While it took Young almost three years to shave nearly half a minute from his 2021 time, he can get even faster. After all, the track and field athlete has also shown great numbers at high-altitude courses. Will Nico Young be able to elevate himself to the starting line of the Paris Olympics this year?

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