Ben Blankenship (born December 15, 1988) is an American middle distance runner. He is a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

holder as a member of the 2015 USA

Distance medley relay The distance medley relay (DMR) is an athletic event in which four athletes compete as part of a relay. With its inclusion in the IAAF World Relays program, the IAAF announced on May 1, 2015 that the event would be an official world record event. ...

team, of which he ran the 1600-meter anchor leg.

Running career

Elementary school

Blankenship attended St. Croix Catholic school in Stillwater, Minnesota. Classmates from his elementary recall Blankenship to be the fastest runner at St. Croix Catholic when running the mile run at the Old Athletic Field located near the elementary school.

High school

Stillwater Area High School Stillwater Area High School (SAHS) is a public school located in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota, United States. It serves as the primary high school for the Stillwater Area Public School District (834), the oldest public school district in Minnesot ...

, Blankenship was the Minnesota State AA Champion at 1600 meters in both 2006 and 2007. Also in 2005, he led his team to second place in Cross Country. His high school had previously molded other prolific distance runners such as

Luke Watson Luke Asher Watson (born 26 October 1983 in Port Elizabeth) is a South African former rugby union footballer who can play at flank or eighthman. He has represented and captained the South African Schools rugby team (2001), South Africa's under ...

and Sean Graham.

Collegiate

He began his collegiate career at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

. After a year there he transferred to his home state

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

. By 2010, he became the first Golden Gopher to break the

4 minute mile A four-minute mile is the completion of a mile run (1609 m) in four minutes or less. It was first achieved in 1954 by Roger Bannister, at age 25, in 3:59.4. As of April 2021, the "four-minute barrier" has been broken by 1,663 athletes, and is n ...

, when he ran 3:57.83 at the indoor Washington Qualifier meet. In December 2011, his

sacrum The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30. The sacrum situates at the upper, back part o ...

fractured from his training, and Blankenship made a decision to quit running during his junior year at Minnesota.

Post-collegiate

After graduating from Minnesota, he moved to Colorado and worked for a friend's excavation company. However, he traveled to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

to watch a friend participate in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

, and became interested in returning to running after he felt his injuries were gone. He subsequently moved to Washington, D.C., where he lived for a year. After working out consistently for the first time in college, he won the 2013 Crystal City Twilighter, a 5K road race, in 15:10. His agent, Stephen Haas, worked to convince Oregon Track Club to invite Blankenship to train professionally in Eugene, and eventually Blankenship accepted the offer. Both his best

1500 meters The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athleti ...

and

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

personal track records have been set indoors, his 3:53.13 mile set while finishing second in a world class field at the

New Balance Indoor Grand Prix The New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, formerly known as the Boston Indoor Games, is an annual indoor track and field meet which is held in late January or early February at the Reggie Lewis Track and Athletic Center. It was first held in Roxbury, a ...

in 2015 ranks as the #8 time by an American. His road mile personal best of 3:52.7, set while winning the "Minnesota Mile" is the fastest mile in Minnesota state history. At the

2015 IAAF World Relays The 2015 IAAF World Relays was the second edition of the biennial, global track and field relay competition between nations. As in the previous year, it was held in May in Nassau, Bahamas. Apart from contesting for the Golden Baton for the best t ...

Blankenship put the weight of his team on his shoulders at the end of the distance medley relay. While he received the baton in first place, similar to a move in

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

strategy, he immediately conceded the lead to Kenyan

Timothy Cheruiyot Timothy Cheruiyot (born 20 November 1995) is a Kenyan middle-distance runner specialising in the 1500 metres. He is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the event. At the World Athletics Championships, Cheruiyot won the silver medal in 20 ...

, who in turn broke contact and attempted to run away with the race. Blankenship's even paced lack of aggression also let the Australian team anchor by Collis Birmingham back into contention. When Cheruiyot paid the price for his front running, Blankenship passed the tiring Cheruiyot. But Cheruiyot was not broken and stayed with in contact all the way to the final straightaway where Blankenship's speed put the race away. With the oddly strategic ending, the 0.06 of a second improvement on the existing world record by a Kenyan team in 2006 was more of an accident than a plan. A month and a half later, at the

2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships The 2015 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships were held at Hayward Field, University of Oregon in Eugene, Oregon. Organized by USA Track and Field, the four-day competition took place June 25–28 and served as the national championships i ...

, Blankenship finished a disappointing fourth place, .02 behind

Leo Manzano Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

, only 0.03 behind second place

Robby Andrews Robert Adrian Andrews (born March 29, 1991) is an American middle distance runner who specializes in the 800 and 1500 meters. While competing with University of Virginia he won the men's 800 meters at the 2011 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Fie ...

who finished with a late rush, to miss making the team for the 2015 World Championships. He won the 2016 Medtronic TC 1 mile, setting a course record of 3:55.8 and taking home the USATF Road Mile title. On July 10, 2016, Blankenship finished third in the

finals at the 2016 United States Olympic Trials, qualifying him to compete in the 1500 meter race at the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Blankenship then finished 8th in the Olympic Final. In September 2017, Blankenship set a record for the fastest 1 mile time in Alaska, achieving a time of 3:57.85. This makes Blankenship one of only two to run a mile in under 4 minutes in Alaska ever, along with

Kyle Merber Kyle Merber (born November 19, 1990) is a former American mid-distance runner who specialized in the mile and the 1500 metres. He was sponsored by Hoka One One and competed for the New Jersey New York Track Club before retiring from the sport in 2 ...

. Blankenship currently lives in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, ...

and trains with the Oregon Track Club. Blankenship won a US national xc title over 10 km in 29:21 at 2018

USATF National Club Cross Country Championships The USATF National Club Cross Country Championships are an annual cross country running, cross country competition for running clubs in the United States organized by USA Track & Field. The championships typically feature a 10K men's race and a 6K ...

.2018 USATF National Club Cross Country Championships - December 8, 2018 - Plantes Ferry Sports Complex - Spokane, WA

USATF USA Track & Field (USATF) is the United States national governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was known between 1979 an ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blankenship, Ben 1989 births Living people People from Stillwater, Minnesota Sportspeople from Minnesota American male middle-distance runners World Athletics record holders (relay) Minnesota Golden Gophers men's track and field athletes Mississippi State Bulldogs men's track and field athletes Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes of the United States USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners