After an 18-year reign, Ryan Hall’s American half marathon record of 59:43 has fallen. U.S. Olympian Conner Mantz blazed through the streets of Houston on Sunday, clocking a stunning 59:17 to break the record by 26 seconds and further cement his place among the nation’s elite distance runners.

Mantz, 27, narrowly finished second overall to Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobena, who was credited with the same time of 59:17.

Here’s what you need to know:

– The performance is even more impressive considering Mantz’s build-up to the race. Mantz overcame a quad earlier in January, leading to missed workouts and limited running mileage.

– Mantz’s record-breaking effort came in a race filled with star power, including fellow U.S. Olympians Joe Klecker and Clayton Young. In the pre-race press conference, Mantz acknowledged that Klecker’s decision to race in Houston motivated him to chase the record.

“Pretty much when I heard that Joe was running it, I was like alright I want to be in this race,” Mantz said. “If he’s gonna go out and run 59:30, I want to be there to try and beat him so I can be the one that takes the record.”

With freezing conditions at the start and heavy wind gusts, Klecker never went with the leaders and stayed on a much more conservative pace. He finished 18th overall in 1:01:06.

– Mantz tucked in behind pacer Amon Kemboi, who took the field through 14:01 for the first 5K; 28:01 for the 10K split and then stepped off shortly after. Mantz ended up in a four-man race with Gobena, Jemal Yimer (last year’s champion) and Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay. All four stayed together into the final half mile before Mantz pressed and ended up in a photo finish with Gobena.

What Mantz Had To Say After The Race:

Mantz (via ABC 13 Houston): “It was a special day today. I was grateful for the pacers and my competitors. My coach, Ed Eyestone, has really been preparing me well. I’m grateful to be out here, compete, and try to go for the win. When things got really hard, it was all about, ‘How do I make sure I can still get that record if these guys start speeding up?’

It’s a special one to me because the half marathon is how I got into running. How I got into running was trying to finish a half marathon when I was 12 years old. My dad inspired me to try and finish a half marathon. This is a record that I really wanted. I want to lower it down the road, but I'm grateful to be here and to hit a time that I've been wanting to hit for a long time.

About 4 or 5k to go, I realized, ‘Crap—I’m struggling, we're running into the wind, we’re slowing down a lot.’ It was kind of about damage control. It was like, ‘What do I do to make sure I can still get the American record?’ I knew we were about 100 meters to go and I was like, ‘I can win this right now—why am I not sprinting toward the finish?’

So I made a move and then the winner, [Addisu] Gobena, who had done a lot of the leading into the wind—which I'm really grateful for—had a little bit more. Then I was like, ‘Wait a second, I can't let him off to the finish.’ I think if I focused more on competing, I might have been able to beat him, but I'm just grateful for him because he led a lot of the miles that were into the wind. I could just sit behind him and run the time I wanted to run today.”

Mantz (via post-race press conference): "I don’t know if it’s settled in yet. It feels pretty good. I think in the race, it was nice to go out and be at a really good pace. As the race went on and we hit 5K, I felt pretty good. I was like, ‘Okay, today it’s doable.’ But I wanted to be conservative and not push the pace because I knew we were going to have that big headwind coming around miles 10, 11, and 12. It feels great though! I’m really happy that it ended up working out today.

That finish line—obviously when you come in second by just that little bit, you start to have some regrets. But I don’t think I have too many regrets. My goal today was to run a fast time. When there were four of us at the end, they kind of formed a V shape and I was just running right behind it. I was like, ‘I’m just grateful that I have these three great guys to run with, pushing the pace for some of those miles.’

I was happy that [Gobena] did well. Obviously I wanted to win, but he was the one pushing the pace, helping us move forward, so I could drop almost a minute and a half off my personal best from over three years ago. I’m happy about that.

I think that last mile I took off a little too late. I was a little more concerned about conserving as much energy as possible so that this record goes down. I didn't know what pace we were on with about a mile to go. I was doing some math in my head… I think I should’ve been more concerned about racing at that point in time because the American record was going to come.

When I started to take off, it wasn’t like I was making a hard move, trying to win… I realized I had a lot more left in the tank, but I was so worried about the eleventh mile, that tenth mile into the wind that I would fade that I wasn’t as focused on trying to beat my competitors as I was focused on: ‘How can I make sure that I conserve enough energy so that I don’t fade in the last few miles?'"

Other notable American men at the Houston Half:

– Hillary Bor, 6th place in 1:00:20 (No. 6 on the U.S. all-time list)

– Andrew Colley, 8th place in 1:0047

– Alex Maier, 9th place in 1:00:51

– Clayton Young, 10th place in 1:00:52

– Reed Fischer, 12th place in 1:00:52

– Ryan Ford, 14th place, 1:00:59

– Morgan Pearson, 15th place, 1:01:01

– Joe Klecker, 18th place, 1:01:06

Before today, only 11 American men had run under 1:01:00 for the half marathon. Today, seven American men broke 1:01:00.

The new U.S. men’s all-time list (sub-61:00 club)

1. Conner Mantz, 59:17 (2025)

2. Ryan Hall, 59:43 (2007)

3. Galen Rupp, 59:47 (2018)

4. Leonard Korir, 59:52 (2017)

5. Dathan Ritzenhein, 1:00:00 (2009)

6. Hillary Bor, 1:00:20 (2025)

7. Sam Chelanga, 1:00:37 (2018)

8. Biya Simbassa, 1:00:37 (2022)

9. Mohamed Trafeh, 1:00:39 (2010)

10. Kirubel Erassa, 1:00:44 (2022)

11. Andrew Colley, 1:00:47 (2025)

12. Diego Estrada, 1:00:49 (2024)

13. Alex Maier, 1:00:51 (2025)

14. Clayton Young, 1:00:52 (2025)

15. Reed Fischer, 1:00:54 (2025)

16. Mark Curp, 1:00:55 (1985)

17. Ryan Ford, 1:00:59 (2025)