This week's stop on the Diamond League circuit took us to Oslo, Norway, for the world famous Bislet Games. Just like every other Diamond League meet, the usual clichés applied: the stars are out!... the world's fastest and strongest competing for glory!... the best fields assembled in the world this year! But one notable and new storyline deserved top billing: three wunderkinds headlined their events, and the track and field world tuned in, enraptured, to catch a glimpse of the future - and perhaps present - of our sport.
In theory, this should mean millions of fans supportively cheering on three high schoolers who are just getting started in their hopefully long and fruitful careers. But you already know that in practice, people lack the necessary chill to approach young and prodigious talent with that sort of outlook.
Professional sports are a young person's game. In just about every physical endeavor, it helps to be in your early 20s! A 35-year-old still competing at the highest level is viewed as some sort of walking miracle. But every once in a while, a kid who is maybe in possession of their driver's license emerges on the scene and everyone trips over themselves to anoint them the next god-king of planet earth.
Expectations can be weighty, even when self-imposed. They can be crushing when levied by entire nations of deranged sports fans. For every "chosen one" who actually assumes that mantel by the time they reach physical maturity, there are dozens who burn out, hit their peak earlier than anticipated, or have solid careers but still fail to meet the lofty standards set for them.
Accordingly, we feel it's in everyone's best interests to discuss how to appreciate the current crop of teenage track and field prodigies already blazing a trail of glory through the professional ranks. Each of the three young stars - Cooper Lutkenhaus, Gout Gout, and Yan Ziyi - had their own quality of performance, but each outcome carries an important lesson for us fans.
From watching Cooper Lutkenhaus, we can practice balance in our fandom.
A year ago, Lutkenhaus was establishing himself as the best American high school 800m runner of all time. In June of 2025 he broke the longstanding national record, going 1:46.45 at Brooks PR, then lowering his PB further at Nike Outdoor Nationals to 1:45.45. He entered the U.S. Championships as something of a curiosity - a 16-year-old kid who was probably just happy to be there. Until he shocked the track world by qualifying for Worlds with a 1:42.27, a new U18 world record. Since then, though still attending school at Northwest High school, he went pro, and has been on a tear. Lutkenhaus hasn't lost an 800m final in 2026, a streak that includes a victory at this year's World Indoor Championships, last week's Stockholm Diamond League, and this week's Bislet Games.
In Oslo, Lutkenhaus squared up against Emmanuel Wanyonyi, the reigning World and Olympic champion over 800m, and a man in possession of a 1:41.11 PR. If the teenager was intimidated by his opposition's resume, he didn't let on. After a 50-second opening 400m, Lutkenhaus overtook Wanyonyi with 200m to run, and looked to be flat out running away from the multiple-time global gold medalist. If that's what had happened, the narrative would have been simple: Lutkenhaus is the best 800m runner on the planet as a 17-year-old and it's not particularly close right now.
Instead, what happened is Wanyonyi reeled Lutkenhaus back in - was his kick mistimed? The two ran stride for agonized stride down the closing meters, and leaned at the line for a photo finish. When the dust had settled, Lutkenhaus was awarded the victory by .01 seconds in 1:42.08, a new PB.
The temptation to overreact is strong. "Is our young prince of the two-lap tango already crashing back to earth?!" No! He's adding to his tactical toolkit. Remember, he's a kid. (That's easy to be reminded of when the camera pans to his face.) This time last year he was still racing American high schoolers! The fact that even in a moment of total systems failure and fatigue-induced haze, his instinct was to lean is incredible. His racing acumen is already impressive and only improving.
We don't need to crown him the next GOAT of the event just yet, and we definitely shouldn't call him a bust if he never betters David Rudisha's 1:40.91 world record. Instead, let's appreciate that right now Lutkenhaus is winning professional races against the best 800m men the world can offer, in a variety of ways that will serve him well in future championship settings. He's still building his fitness, and he's certainly still figuring out the idiosyncrasies of racing at this level. Strike a balance between being stoked about how good he is now, being stoked about how good he could still become, while recognizing that even if he never runs another race in his life, he's already had a pro career 99% of his peers would likely commit unspeakable crimes to match.
From watching Gout Gout, we can practice patience in our fandom.
He came into the race with perhaps the biggest target on his back of anybody at the Bislet Games. The 18-year-old is still the current world leader over 200m. His 19.67 was run at April's Australian National Championships in a race with a legal wind reading, but where several athletes ran massive lifetime bests. There was natural speculation that maybe something was amiss with the wind gauge, so plenty of eyes would be on Gout's next outing to see if he could back up that mark. Oh yeah... and with that PR, he broke the U20 record set by none other than Usain Bolt! To add to the intrigue, this was Gout's senior Diamond League debut.
With the bar set that high - "beat an insanely good pro field in a time that matches your lifetime best in a race very far from home" - there wasn't really much room for anything other than letdown.
Not known for his start even under the best of circumstances, Gout looked sluggish out of the blocks, never appeared to find his rhythm, and his world-class top-end speed wasn't given the chance to shine on the homestretch. He wasn't a factor, and finished sixth in 20.60 - well behind 2024 Olympic 200m champ Letsile Tebogo's winning mark of 19.84.
Sports fans can be... in a word... awful. And while it's never advisable to spend any time on X.com, if you felt so inclined and searched "Gout Gout" in the hours after his race, you'd see a flurry of dismissive and occasionally mean spirited tweets - or whatever tweets are called now. It's easy to - at worst - join the pile on or - more generously - absorb the rhetoric of the for-clicks knee-jerk reaction cycle until they become your own opinions. But regardless of how you feel about Gout Gout's 200m PB, he is undeniably an immensely talented young man, with plenty of years of growth ahead of him before he enters his theoretical prime.
We would have loved to have seen him pop off a 19.8X in Oslo and give the tape a scare, but ultimately, if he's to stand on a global podium some day, days like this one and the lessons they can impart will be just as much a part of that story as effortless victories as a teenager. It's easy to dismiss young talent when it doesn't deliver exactly when we want it to, but it's important to remember that he's 18 and especially in the sprints, execution under pressure is a learned skill.
And from watching Yan Ziyi, we can give into our most base impulses as fans... within reason.
Cooper Lutkenhaus had to go to the well to win his race by an inch. Gout Gout - very reasonably - raced like a nervous 18-year-old. For both of these ascendant stars, victory was never assured in Oslo. But Yan Ziyi, China's 18-year-old javelin-hurling sensation, obliterated the competition by over six meters, unleashing a 67.11m heave in the opening round, throwing one more time, then shutting things down because nobody else came remotely close.
And that's exactly what anyone paying attention would have expected to happen. Yan's last time in the ring, she threw 71.74, the world lead by over six meters, the U20 world record, and the Asian continental record. She was a top-10 javelin thrower in the world in 2024 - when she was 16 - but was too young to compete in the Paris Olympics. Last year, competing as a 17-year-old, she was ranked third in the world, but was still too young to represent China at the World Championships. She's likely the best thrower ever who hasn't competed in a global championship (yet).
Fortunately, the women's javelin is included in the pared down list of events that will comprise this summer's World Ultimate Championships, so we will very likely get a look at Yan on the sport's biggest stage in September. Between then and now, it'll be tempting to tune into her competitions expecting a world record throw, or at least a continued streak of pure dominance. And you know what? In this case? Fair. She's already in possession of the second further throw in javelin history. It's been almost a year since she lost a javelin competition. And after going a perfect two-for-two in Diamond League competition this season, it looks like she's unfazed by the bright lights.
Go ahead and have ten t-shirts printed that say "DEATH. TAXES. YAN." (Be prepared to explain the shirt's significance to basically any civilian you encounter in your daily life.) Just remember that sports fandom is supposed to be fun! Take a beat every once in a while and consider how fortunate you are to be able to watch a talent like Yan competing at a historically great level.
The world record - Barbora Špotáková's 72.28m - has stood since 2008. Javelin throwers of Yan's level don't come around the bend too often! If Yan becomes the first woman to throw the javelin beyond the 73-meter mark at some point in her career, incredible! If she doesn't, that's alright, too. You still get to witness somebody operating at the height of their craft, throwing a spear super far thanks to a rigorous combo of incredible strength and tightly dialed technique.
This week's stop on the Diamond League circuit took us to Oslo, Norway, for the world famous Bislet Games. Just like every other Diamond League meet, the usual clichés applied: the stars are out!... the world's fastest and strongest competing for glory!... the best fields assembled in the world this year! But one notable and new storyline deserved top billing: three wunderkinds headlined their events, and the track and field world tuned in, enraptured, to catch a glimpse of the future - and perhaps present - of our sport.
In theory, this should mean millions of fans supportively cheering on three high schoolers who are just getting started in their hopefully long and fruitful careers. But you already know that in practice, people lack the necessary chill to approach young and prodigious talent with that sort of outlook.