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Former BYU distance runner Clayton Young and his family are greeted near his home in Springville by neighbors and fans on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, Young and former BYU teammate Conner Mantz qualified for the Olympic marathon this summer in Paris.

Courtesy Run Elite Program

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Former BYU distance runner Clayton Young, interacts with friends and family near his home in Springville on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, Young and former BYU teammate Conner Mantz qualified for the Olympic marathon this summer in Paris.

Courtesy Run Elite Program

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Former BYU distance runner Clayton Young, center, interacts with friends and family near his home in Springville on Monday, Feb. 5, 2024, Young and former BYU teammate Conner Mantz qualified for the Olympic marathon this summer in Paris.

Courtesy Run Elite Program

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Former BYU distance runner Clayton Young and his training partner, Conner Mantz, qualified for the Olympic Marathon at the US trials in Orlando on Saturday, with Mantz finishing first and Young right behind him well ahead of the rest of the pack.

Young, who ran for American Fork High School, said they spent the better part of the weekend posing for selfies and signing autographs with strangers. While he was happy to do it, Young was looking forward to returning to Utah.

Young, his wife and their two daughters (5 and 3 years old, respectively) departed Salt Lake Airport on Monday afternoon exhausted from a busy weekend. With his wife driving, the family reached the exit to their Springville home and saw a large gathering of police lights.

“I asked my wife, ‘How fast were you driving?'” Young said with a laugh. “Then I saw what was happening.”

The Youngs received a police escort to their home, where the streets were lined with American flags as well as friends and family.

“It was really cool to celebrate with the people who got me to the start line,” Young said. “It takes a village and when we pulled up my entire village was there waiting to celebrate with me. It was really special. I’ve dreamed about being an Olympian for a long time. I hit the Olympic standard at the Chicago Marathon (in October) but it became a reality in Orlando. We prepared and executed a perfect game plan.”

Young said he had some nerves at the start line on Saturday. The first lap, with the crush of runners and the large crowd, was overwhelming. As the race went on, Young and Mantz separated with two other runners from the rest of the pack.

“Conner turned and raised his hand to give me a high five,” Young said. “At this point, I was thinking, ‘This is awesome. Conner is still Team Clayton.'”

Young said the rest of the race felt like a typical morning training run with Mantz, though the weather in Orlando (in the 70s) was much warmer than in Utah.

“I decided that whatever it took to get Conner and I across the finish line, I was willing to do,” Young said. “We crossed the line 1-2 and it was pretty special. It was nothing short of a dream come true.”

So what’s next?

Young said its common in the running world to take just 24 hours to enjoy or stew on a race result before moving on.

“For most races, that rule applies,” he said. “But with the marathon, the recovery process takes so much longer, the celebration process is longer. I’ll definitely be enjoying the next week or two. I may go on some shorter runs to flush out the legs, then the real work starts to get ready for Paris. I’m excited to continue to train with Conner. We have lots of work ahead of us. We were really enjoying the last couple of miles of the race in Orlando, so that probably shows we have more in the tank. I’m excited to see what it will be like in Paris with the heat and humidity this summer.”

When Young went pro in 2019 he had finished his degree at BYU in mechanical engineering. ASICS pays him a base salary and he can earn more income based on bonuses. Young decided to also take an engineering job with Stryker Medical Devices on a contract basis so he can continue to devote time to his training and his family.

Young and Mantz are still in the planning stages for their training regiment over the next six months leading up to the Olympic marathon. ASICS is also a sponsor of the Paris Marathon in April. Young and Mantz will accompany ASICS to France for the race as ambassadors, which will also give them a chance to check out the course that will be used for the Olympic marathon.

“I like to get the visualization juices flowing,” Young said. “We went to Orlando three times to get a feel for the course. I like to paint a picture in my mind and visualize it every night. The race in Orlando was as if I was reliving the visualization I dreamed every night.”