Sam Ruthe completes U20 grand slam to hold all NZ middle distance records

Sam Ruthe has broken the NZ U20 3000m record. Photo / Athletics NZ

Teenage running star Sam Ruthe has completed the U20 grand slam by capturing the age-grade 3000m record, to hold every New Zealand middle distance record between 800m and 5000m.

Competing at the Saucony Battle for Boston indoor event at Boston University, Ruthe finished second in 7m 43.16s, which broke the previous New Zealand U20 record by over 10s, which was held Liam Black, who ran 7m 54.30s at the same venue back in 2021.

His time was the second-fastest 3000m by a Kiwi, with Georgie Beamish holding the record at 7m 36.22s.

It was just Ruthe’s third time competing at the distance, and he shaved 13s off his previous best time.

“My expectations weren’t high, but I was stoked with the time,” Ruthe said.

“Going into the race I didn’t know what to expect because it’s been a long season, but we did a good job at maintaining that base.”

The race was won by Ernest Cheruiyot in 7m 40.53s.

The record completes a successful trip to the US for Ruthe, where he put himself in contention to compete at the upcoming Commonwealth Games by beating the A and B standards for the mile.

Competing in Glasgow was a long shot at the start of the year, but after Ruthe ran the fastest-ever mile by a New Zealander in 3m 48.88s, beating the record held by Sir John Walker for 44 years, he catapulted into contention.

New Zealand has 18 allocated quota spots for the Commonwealth Games, which run from July 23 to August 2, and the decision on who gets to compete rests with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.

Ruthe also intends to compete in the Under-20 World Championships, scheduled to take place days after the Commonwealth Games in Oregon.

His dad, Ben Ruthe, felt his son has plenty of newfound confidence from his three races overseas.

“I’m really proud of him,” Ben Ruthe said. “The way he has focused on the job at hand, he’s taking lessons on and he’s surprised himself.

“In the second race he learned lots from competing against Cole Hocker, he took those lessons and applied those to the 3000m race.”

Sam Ruthe will now return home and will have one race in New Zealand, at the Track Stars meet on March 7 in Auckland.

Meanwhile, Sam Tanner managed to complete the mile race at the same venue, but struggled with the Achilles injury he suffered last month. Tanner finished 11th in his heat and 27th overall with a time of 4m 3.55s.

Meanwhile, 2025 World Indoor representative Alison Andrews-Paul raced in the elite section of the women’s 800m, finishing in third in 2m 1.42s, and Thomas Cowan was just 0.01s off his own NZ Indoor 800m record, clocking 1m 46.84s to finish fourth in his heat.

Sam Ruthe’s complete bag of under-20 records:

• 800m – 1:45.86
• 1000m – 2:17.82
• 1500m – 3:33.25
• Mile – 3:48.88 (NZ mile record)
• 3000m – 7:43.16
• 5000m – 13:40.48

Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.