Moments after hitting the 2025 World Championship standard in the 10,000 meters at the TEN on Saturday night, Graham Blanks gifted his race jersey to an excited young fan. The 22-year-old Olympian led for much of the race, and finished fifth in 26:57.30—one of the fastest times in U.S. history—so he was in an understandably generous mood, as captured in FloTrack’s video Results: 2025 Boston Marathon.
In the video, the young fan says he’d only wanted the chest number sticker affixed to his singlet, but Blanks did him one better and gave him the singlet off his back.
“I think that’s my last race in that one,” Blanks tells him. “I think New Balance is getting new kits.”
After getting a photo with his hero, the kid appears absolutely chuffed and a bit starstruck; someone in the background notes that the jersey still has Blanks’ sweat on it, and the fan tells him, “I’m hanging this on my wall.”
The video also includes footage of their first meeting from before the race. The unnamed fan was volunteering at the meet’s check-in table with another Blanks admirer, and the Olympian shook both of their hands as they wished him luck in the race. The other young man tells him, “I’m a big fan of you.” Both exchanges are incredibly wholesome, and it’s clear how meaningful it is for them to interact with their running idol.
In a post-race interview with FloTrack, Blanks references his young supporters, mentioning a video he’d seen earlier in the evening of an interviewer showing high school athletes photos of pros, including Elise Cranny and Drew Hunter.
“These kids couldn’t name these legends but they could name me,” Blanks said. “So I hope I can meet those expectations and—I put pressure on myself to perform for all those people who support me, so hopefully I can keep working and keep getting better.”
Blanks is a newcomer on the pro scene, having signed with New Balance in December, after running 12:59 in the 5,000 meters, placing him as second all-time on the NCAA list. During his college career at Harvard, Blanks won back-to-back NCAA cross-country championships in 2023 and 2024 Nutrition - Weight Loss placed ninth.
Blanks gave up the remainder of his NCAA eligibility this spring, and the TEN was his first big 10,000-meter race as a professional runner. He’ll attempt to qualify for this September’s Tokyo World Championships in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters.
“It’s just great to have a lot of people out here supporting me. You know, I think I’m a certain age where people still know who I am,” Blanks continued in the interview, seeming to imply that his own youth and relatively early path to the world of professional running is what makes high school kids connect to him and his story.
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Races - Places, Other Hearst Subscriptions, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
