Teenage middle-distance running sensation Sam Ruthe intends to compete at this year’s Commonwealth Games, as well as the Under-20 world championships, which is scheduled to take place days later.
The Commonwealth Games was considered a long shot for Ruthe weeks ago, but after setting the fastest mile ever by a New Zealander at the John Thomas Terrier Classic indoor meet in Boston last week, where he ran 3m 48.88s, it suddenly became a realistic proposition for the 16-year-old to compete alongside the world’s best.
Heading into the year, the primary focus for the 16-year-old had been the World Athletics Under-20 Championships in Oregon, but Ruthe’s coach Craig Kirkwood told the Herald his historic feats would force a rethink.
After some discussions, his father, Ben Ruthe has confirmed to Newstalk ZB that his son’s intention will be to race in Glasgow - as well as the world juniors just afterwards in Oregon.
“The plan at this stage is for Sam to do both,” Ben Ruthe said.
“The world U20s is five days after the Commonwealth Games final is scheduled for the mile in Scotland.
“Our plans had to certainly change quite a lot after Sam did what he did, so all of a sudden now he’s competing in the category of the top top men in the world.
“He’s just wanting to race, make it through to the final and if he’s on that start line with those men, he’ll be giving it his all to to win that race.”
Ruthe’s time was well under Athletics NZ’s A (3m 50.40s) and B (3m 51.80s) performance standards for Commonwealth Games selection, and to be considered for one of the 18 quota spots, he must achieve the A standard again before May 3, while final approval sits with the NZ Olympic Committee.
The time rewrote the history books, eclipsing Sir John Walker’s iconic NZ mile record of 3m 49.08s set in Oslo 44 years ago, while also surpassing Nick Willis’ national indoor mark of 3m 51.06s from 2016. It is the fastest mile – indoor or outdoor – ever run by an athlete under 18 and stands as the 11th-fastest indoor mile in history.
Ruthe will be hoping to surpass the mark again this weekend when he competes at the Sound Invite in North Carolina in a field that includes Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker.
If he can produce a similar time, he would rank among the best in the Commonwealth, although because of high school commitments, his build-up might not be as steady compared to others.
“The other runners that are in the Commonwealth Games final will be fulltime professionals that are based overseas in the summer, whereas he’ll be doing maths and English in a prefab in Tauranga,” Ben Ruthe said.
“He’s only going to have seven weeks out of the country, whereas those guys will have a 12-week build-up. He will probably have a couple of races in America before the Commonwealth Games.
“He’s got to fly back from Glasgow to NZ somehow, so he may as well fly back through Eugene. He also loves racing, he’s keen to race and it’s a short campaign.”
After racing in North Carolina, Ruthe will return to Boston where he will compete in the 3000m race, where he intends to break the NZ U20 record, the only age-grade record in middle distance running he doesn’t hold.
A Games appearance in Glasgow would carry added significance for Ruthe. His grandmother, Rosemary Wright, nee Stirling, won gold in the 800m at the 1970 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, competing for Scotland after missing out on NZ selection.
His grandfather, Trevor Wright is also a renowned runner who secured a silver medal in the 1971 European Marathon Championship.
The mile was last contested at the Commonwealth Games in 1966.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the NZ Herald who covers breaking sports news.