Who is Nico Young? Know more about the top seed and 5000m champion at the NCAA Indoor Championships 2024

Nico Young is an American sprinter who competes for Northern Arizona University on the collegiate level. Young has won various medals on the NCAA level and has even appeared for the US Olympic trials.

The 21-year-old first rose to fame in 2019, when he breached the American high-school record for the three-mile cross-country race while running at the Woodbridge Invitational. That same year, he won the Nike Cross Nationals and was named both the XC National Gatorade Player of the Year and the Track and Field National Gatorade Player of the Year.

In 2020, Nico Young signed with Northern Arizona University, officially becoming a “lumberjack”. In his freshman year for the team, he finished fourth in the 10km run at the 2020 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, clocking a 29:58.3.

The following year, he set an American junior record in the 5000m at the 2021 Drake Relays with a time of 13:24.26. 2022 was another good year for Young as he got the chance to win his first individual NCAA medals. He finished with a silver in the 10k at the NCAA Cross Country Championship and a bronze in the 5k at both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field Championships.

After a mediocre 2023, the Northern Arizona University student started his Olympic year on a high. While racing at the Boston University's John Thomas Terrier Classic in January, the youngster clocked a 12:57.14 in the 5k, setting a new NCAA record and ducking under the Paris 2024 Olympics' qualifying standard of 13:05.00.

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Nico Young on his first NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships gold

After his historic performance in Boston earlier in the year, Nico Young was an easy favorite to win the 5000m at the 2024 NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships.

The 21-year-old certainly delivered, charging ahead of the field and storming to his first NCAA individual gold medal with a time of 13:25.29. On his way to the win, Young clocked an impressive 54.3 in the final 400m, furthering his dominance in the event.

Speaking on his race to Citius Magazine after the event, Young said:

“I think it’s a testament to the training I’ve been doing all season. I’ve been practicing moving off already fast paces and that’s kind of what happened here. Being able to close off a sub 13 minute race, I knew that no matter what pace we were going I was going to be able to close hard.”

Nico Young was joined on the podium by Northern Carolina's Parker Wolfe in second place, while Stanford’s Ky Robinson finished third.