'Stoked' 16yo running prodigy Sam Ruthe makes NZ U20 history during US tour

Sam Ruthe now holds every New Zealand Under-20 record from 800m to 5000m.

The 16 year-old finished his four-week US tour with a new national record age-group time in the 3000m in Boston.

Ruthe clocking 7:43.16 to finish in second place at the invitational race, beating the previous NZ Under-20 record by more than ten seconds.

Having mainly raced in 1500m and the Mile recently, Ruthe was pleased with his latest effort at the longer distance.

"My expectations weren't high, but I was stoked with the time. We did a good job at maintaining that base."

Ruthe says that his coach Kyle Kirkwood had come up with a target time before the race.

"He said I'm around 7:45 shape, so the plan was just for me to slot in and I just hung on for as long as possible."

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Kiwi running prodigy though, who’s still getting used to the massive workload and racing against some of the best athletes in the world.

"I step away knowing that at least if I'm running a 7:43 3k and that's all I have in the tank." Ruthe said post-race.

"That just shows how much more I can improve in my mile once I really get used to all that fatigue in the legs."

Ruthe has been studying the numbers and knows the older he gets, the quicker his times will become.

"Most people that run a 3:48 mile can usually go low 7:30s [in the 3000m], but with me, just because I don't do that much mileage, I really can't, my body's really not used to it in the race."

Ruthe now returns home to compete in the Track Stars event in Auckland on March 7th, and to also begin his Year 12 studies at Tauranga Boys’ College.

Ruthe records:

800m: 1:45.86 Jan 17, 2026

1000m: 2:17.82 Jan 3, 2026

1500m: 3:33.25 Jan 31, 2026

Mile: 3:48.88 Jan 31, 2026

3000m: 7:43.16 Feb 23, 2026

5000m: 13:40.48 Dec 20, 2025