He is a world record holder as a member of the 2015 USA Distance medley relay team, of which he ran the 1600-meter anchor leg.

[3] In December 2011, his sacrum fractured from his training, and Blankenship made a decision to quit running during his junior year at Minnesota.

[4] However, he traveled to London to watch a friend participate in the 2012 Summer Olympics, and became interested in returning to running after he felt his injuries were gone.

While he received the baton in first place, similar to a move in track cycling strategy, he immediately conceded the lead to Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot, who in turn broke contact and attempted to run away with the race.

Blankenship's even paced lack of aggression also let the Australian team anchor by Collis Birmingham back into contention.

With the oddly strategic ending, the 0.06 of a second improvement on the existing world record by a Kenyan team in 2006 was more of an accident than a plan.