Conner Mantz, the former BYU collegiate champion from Smithfield, Utah, has made no secret of his plans for Sunday’s Chicago Marathon: he will pursue the American record, one that has stood for 23 years, even surviving the arrival of the carbon fiber-plated super shoes that have advanced performances by light years.

“I want to get the American record,” Mantz said in June after announcing that he would compete in Chicago. “I’m well prepared. On the right day you can do something pretty special in Chicago.”

“As good as his (training) build has been, as good as he’s raced, it’s not whether he’ll break the American record, it’s how much he breaks it by.” — BYU track coach Ed Eyestone on Conner Mantz

The record is 2:05:38 set by Khalid Khannouchi in 2002. Khannouchi twice set the mara

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