Canada’s Flanagan caps college career by running race of his life

“That was just a huge motivation for me to hear that much belief from an athlete who’s done it himself. That was step one, getting in the right mindset. And Sully’s a legendary racer, so I take every single word he says as gold when it comes to race strategy. He said ‘When I raced, my goal was to never take the lead until I knew I was going to win.’”

Flanagan, a fifth-year senior for the University of Michigan, executed the race plan perfectly, patiently hunting down Alabama’s Vincent Kiprop before passing him on the homestretch in a thrilling finish that had social media buzzing. He crossed the line arms spread, his mustached mouth stretched in a wide grin.

Still talking a mile-a-minute the morning after his win, Flanagan said if he was in striking distance of gold, he wasn’t going to settle for anything less.

“I was running as hard as I possibly could,” Flanagan said, recounting the final few thrilling seconds. “And when I started accelerating, it was one of the coolest moments in my entire life, because the Hayward Field crowd just got so into it, and that really fuelled me that last 50 metres. When they got that excited it was like ‘Oh my gosh, this is really happening.’

“As I got close, it was just this disbelief that slowly transitioned into this amazing feeling of: ‘Wow, I’m really going to do it.’ And in the moment there was nobody in front of me, I just saw the finish line, it was just the biggest ‘oh my god’ moment. . . just pure genuine shock and disbelief, and excitement. It was such an emotionally overwhelming moment for me. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to replicate a feeling like that again.”

The delightful seconds that followed made Flanagan an instant fan favourite. He looked into the infield camera that was streaming live to the stadium’s giant video screen and said: “Where’s my mom? Where’s my mom? Mom!”

“As soon as I crossed the line, that was the only thing I could think of, was ‘Oh my god, my mom saw me do this, I’ve gotta go see her,’” Flanagan said.

Michelle Flanagan, an emergency room nurse practitioner, was thrilled to be trackside for the race.

“I was screaming the whole race,” she laughed. “I’m not usually an in-your-face sports mom, I kind of sit back a little bit, but it was very exciting. I was just a little bit worried that he took it out so early that he had a lot of laps to hang in there with these pretty high-profile runners, so I had to scream.

“The people around me were very very kind, and they were very encouraging, so it’s all good,” added Michelle, who was sought out for an interview by Sports Illustrated post-race.

Flanagan won in a time of 28 minutes 34.53 seconds, a personal best by almost a minute. He blew away his previous best finish at NCAA nationals — 14th in 2016. And his big breakthrough came after he’d missed major chunks of the last couple of seasons with what Sullivan called “horrendous” injuries, first a stress fracture in his back, then a foot injury this past spring. He opened his outdoor season about six weeks after his competitors, and wondered if he’d be healthy in time.

“It’s been a challenge getting him back to a point where healthy enough for consistent training, but we got to a good point in the last six to eight weeks where we were able to get some good work done, and it’s built his confidence and the race results have shown that,” Sullivan said.

The 44-year-old coach, one of Canada’s best-ever middle-distance runners, watched the race from the 180-metre mark. In his head, he ran every step of the way.

“You feel like you’re running the race with each athlete, it’s pretty emotionally exhausting,” said the Brantford, Ont., native. “But when it goes like that, it’s all worth it, obviously.”

Focused on the gruelling NCAA season for the past five years, Flanagan would like to race at the Canadian championships next month in Ottawa. He talked about the strength of Canada’s distance runners such as Justyn Knight, a Syracuse senior who will be a favourite for gold in the NCAA 5,000 on Friday, and Mohammed Ahmed, a double silver medallist at this year’s Commonwealth Games.

Sullivan said when he joined the group of people waiting to congratulate Flanagan on Wednesday night, Knight was at the front of the line.

“The coolest thing is if anyone’s had the chance to talk to (Knight and Ahmed), they’re wonderful human beings,” Flanagan said. “I love that Canadian track is getting the attention that it is, and I love that we have some phenomenal athletes right now on the national and even global stage.”

Lori Ewing, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Canada’s Flanagan caps college career by running race of his life

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