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The full set: Why Sam Ruthe decided to take on the 3000m
Sport Nation •  February 24th, 2026 1:59 pm
Sam Ruthe | Photo: Photosport
Kiwi phenom athlete Sam Ruthe continued his record-smashing ways in the US on Monday (NZ time).
Racing at the Battle for Boston meeting, the 16-year-old Bay of Plenty product blitzed the field to set a new mark of 7:43.16, crushing a five-year old New Zealand record by more than 10 seconds.
Proud dad Ben Ruthe was on hand to watch his son in action in the US, revealing why he'd decided to make the unorthodox decision to compete at the longer distance.
Essentially - with Commonwealth Games qualification sealed - it was all a means to tick off the final distance missing from his repertoire, completing the full set of national U17 to U20 records.
"Normally you'd do the longer stuff earlier on in the season when you've got a bit more base and you get shorter as things get a bit sharper," Ruthe told Sport Nation.
"But he'd come over here to try and run an 'A' and a 'B' standard for the Comm Games and he'd done that so instead of having another crack at a mile, he thought, oh, there's one record that was missing.Â
Sam Ruthe on racing against the best in the US | Scotty & Izzy
"So you may as well mix it up a little bit, keep it a little more interesting and test him out over 3000km late in the season."
The result rounds out a successful US jaunt for Ruthe, who's gained some valuable experience lining up with some elite athletes, including reigning Olympics 1500m champion Cole Hocker.
"He's just stoked with the whole experience," Ruthe added. "They came over here and learned so much.
"He's a 16 year old and he's on start lines with Olympic champions and some of the best runners in the world who are all an average of maybe 10 years older than him.
"He made some mistakes but he's come away with the two fastest ever high school miles of all time and that 3,000 was a good 10 seconds quicker than any Americans ever run at high school for a 3k as well, so it's been a pretty successful trip."Â
The Ruthes have also made use of their time in the States by making some college visits in anticipation of his steps after he finishes up at Tauranga Boys' College in a few years' time.
Ben Ruthe on parenting an athletics prodigy | Scotty & Izzy
Until then, it's a matter of ensuring the teenager is allowed to grow into his own skin - both on and off the track.
"He's doing no live interviews today at all. He just made that call," said Ben from the thick of a Massachusetts snow storm.Â
"He is building an igloo outside with Sam Tanner in two foot of snow in Boston. So it's just keeping things simple and enjoying life, just trying to keep a bit of balance there.Â
"He's really lucky he has got a great group of mates that keep him grounded, enjoy life and just try to keep everything as normal as possible. He sort of fronts a little bit when he needs to, but he can back off as well.Â
"He doesn't really have the desire to be stoneless or anything like that. He does what he needs to do and he's okay doing that, but just quite enjoys his own private time."
Listen to the full interview below:
