A 15-minute 5K is a dream milestone for many sub-elite male runners, but on Aug. 10 at the Recordløpet 5K in Drammen, Norway, 13-year-old Per August Halle Haugen came close, clocking an impressive 15:52 to finish second overall.
This marks a significant leap for Halle Haugen, who shaved 21 seconds off his previous best of 16:13 from 2022. The young phenom also set the second-fastest 10K time ever for a 12-year-old last year, running an incredible 33:18.
Despite limited age-specific competitions in Norway for athletes under 13, Halle Haugen continues to shine in local road races, proving his potential as a future distance-running star.Distance running runs in Halle Haugen’s blood. His grandfather, Per Halle Haugen, represented Norway 40 years ago, clocking an impressive 13:27 in the 5,000m. His mother and coach, Gunhild Halle Haugen, boasts personal bests of 15:09 for 5,000m and 31:47 for 10,000m, while his older brother Simen, born in 1999, posted a 13:37 for 5,000m last year.
Though Halle Haugen’s recent 5K time is 20 seconds shy of the U13 world record, his trajectory looks promising. Drawing comparisons to Norwegian distance-running legend Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who began dominating at age 14, Halle Haugen’s current 2,000m best of 6:02 shows he’s not far behind Ingebrigtsen’s 5:52.50 at the same age
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