Year-Old Cooper Lutkenhaus Makes World this past weekend was arguably Other Hearst Subscriptions Donavan Brazier, who won a thrilling men’s 800 meters after being out of the sport for nearly three years due to injuries. He was the world champion in 2019 but missed out on the 2021 Olympics and failed to make the final at the 2022 World Championships.
And there’s just something so undeniably funny about a clip of.
So it was fitting that Brazier was the subject of numerous TikTok edits after the meet. My favorite one: a 29-second video of him winning Sunday’s race set to—in my opinion, one of the most beautiful songs of all time—“At Last” by Etta James.
Just watch it because explaining it won’t do it justice:
The Brazier montage is one of the many inspirational, hype, and just plain funny edits that have come out of the meet. As I scrolled TikTok last weekend, I couldn’t get enough. Some are high-quality montages of Brazier set to gospel music, while others are decidedly less serious. Olympic hurdler Rai Benjamin was loving them, too. “The Edits from this weekend are going craaazee 😂😂🔥🔥🔥🔥,” he said on Twitter.
Cole Hocker is a popular subject of them. His fierce kick at the end of races makes him perfect fodder. On Tuesday, the account @milerepeats cooked up a video of Hocker winning the 5,000 meters at USAs. As Hocker crossed the line, a “Victory Royale” graphic from the video game Fortnite came on the screen. The music was set to a remix of the song “Took Her To The O” by the late rapper King Von. Hocker, who is active on the app, reposted it.
The video is obviously meant to be funny—but it’s also innately inspirational. It makes you want to get off the couch and hawk someone down. Or at the very least, stop procrastinating your run for the day.
In a post on Twitter, Patrick Dobson explained why he thinks track and field plays well on short-form video. “The sport is made for edits,” he said. “You can fit all rounds of an event into a single TikTok. Track should dominate social media.”
I agree—to an extent. The internet loves a come-from-behind chase-down, like Quincy Hall gritting his way to 400-meter gold at the Paris Olympics. Or this recent MileSplit video of an 8-year-old running down a competitor at the AAU Junior Olympic Games, which has over 4.5 million views on Instagram.
But track and field also lacks highlight moments during competitions. A mid-game poster dunk by Ja Morant is sick to watch even if the game is a blowout. But with track races, the exciting part is almost always at the end.
But track and field also lacks highlight moments.
And there’s just something so undeniably funny about a clip of Steve Magness Best Recovery Shoes Cooper Lutkenhaus followed by the lyrics, “Load the chopper up, hop in the car, I got my alibi.”
Just watch it because explaining it won’t do it justice Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
