In the past four years, few if any American runners have posted results better than Graham Blanks.

In his last two fall seasons at Harvard, Blanks won the NCAA Div. 1 Cross-Country Championships. After graduation, he qualified for the Paris Olympics, the 2025 Tokyo World Championships, and the 2026 World XC Championships in Tallahassee.

After Tallahassee, Blanks ran two strong indoor races in the New Balance Games in Boston and the Millrose Games in New York City. At Millrose, he hit 8:08.60 in the 2-mile. 

Now he looks to the future. It's a future in which he believes he can continue to improve on the track, and even win global competitions. (First he has to work on his kick.)

Of course, he can't help but wonder about the marathon. One of his less-accomplished Harvard teammates, Ben Rosa, already ran a 2:09:47 in December, 2025. He and Blanks plan to hook up again for some tough training sessions later this year. 

We imagine there will be much marathon talk on their grinding 20-milers. In addition, one of Blanks's advisors at Harvard was professor Paul Gompers, also known as the fourth place finisher in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. 

While some other top collegians have switched to corporate/professional coaches in their post-University days, Blanks is still working with Harvard coach Alex Gibby.

A hallmark of their program? Blanks and Gibby don't believe in the "easy days" that underpin many other training plans. 

Even on slower days, Blanks almost never dials things back any further than 6:00/mile. He figures this means he is always adding to his aerobic development. He does take one day off per week, usually Thursday.

You can follow Graham Blanks on Instagram.

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