Two Months Sidelined....to Olympic Top 10

Dear Happiness & Leadership@Work Community,

After last week’s column ran, I received this text from Reed Pryor , Division I student athlete and member of Professor Ellen Langer’s Mindfulness Lab at Harvard.

"Just read your article where you mentioned Graham - I don’t know if you knew this, but I thought you might want to know - Graham made the Olympic team in the 5k, made it to the final and placed 9th in the world!"

I wrote back: "WOW!!!!! ?? I didn’t know!!! Thanks for letting me know…you mean he was in Paris??? No you mean next Olympics? I will research.."

Reed responded: Yes, he was in Paris!"

To which I responded: "Can’t wait to go watch that race.? I will do a post focused on his win next week.? So happy for him/your team!!

Today we walk through the against the odds journey to Paris for an elite college athlete whose winning strength may be his "emotional midline" as well as his resilience.

A version of this story appeared in NBC affiliate, WRAL TechWire.

A rising senior and psychology major at Harvard, Reed is teammates with Graham.? We connected because of our common interest in positive psychology. After I told him that I benefited from reading The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey (How to Win the Inner Game!) he told me that he did also, by borrowing a copy from his teammate….

Reed went on to share a bit about this friend of his, and I said I’d love for him to interview Graham as I thought our Happiness & Leadership@Work readers could benefit.

Sidelined by Injury, Building Mental & Physical Strength after Winning National Title and Breaking NCAA Record

Earlier this year, we featured a March 2024 interview with Graham Blanks when he was sidelined from competition while working through an injury. He told us how reading The Inner Game of Tennis the prior year helped him learn how to talk to his own inner critic.?

He shared how he learned to put just as much focus into his mental game as his physical training. In November, Graham went on to become the first male runner from the Ivy League to win the individual national title at the 2023 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships.

Commentators on The CITIUS Mag Podcast said afterwards, “After listening to him speak at the press conference, how can you not root for that guy?? He is so authentic and real, he’s a legend for what he did today…he didn’t take the lead for quite awhile. He ran so smart and took the lead at the right time. He is super young, not anywhere near his full potential, his natural race instincts are so good.”?

Just two weeks later, he went on to break the NCAA record and achieve the Olympic standard of 13 minutes, five seconds, in the 5000m last December with a time of 13:03.78, positioning him for a spot in the June Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon.

In Inside the Mind of an NCAA Champion: From Confidence to Belief , we explain Graham’s approach to dealing with the irrational voice in his head and leveraging cognitive diffusion to separate his thoughts from the physical pain during a race. One reader, Rick Waechter wrote, “remarkable story - he is so wise beyond his years”.

How Graham Qualified for Team USA

Graham was last of six in his heat to qualify for the men’s 5000m finals at the Olympic Trials.

"The trials were like nothing I've ever done before," Blanks said. "I've never raced in a professional level race before, much less one that has very high stakes. This is the biggest race of the year for professional distance runners because it only happens every four years. It's your ticket (to the biggest stage).

"I had a lot less expectations than a lot of people there. I'm just a college runner and it's not often a college runner makes those teams. I also didn't have an ideal season, so I was just happy to be there. I just had to take it one race at a time. ... After the first race, I had a lot more confidence. You'd think I wouldn't, because I was the last one, but it helped me realize I could compete with these guys."

Placing fourth in the finals originally kept him out of the lineup for Paris.? But the third-place runner, Parker Wolfe lacked the Olympic standard of 13 minutes, five seconds, which Graham earned in the December invitational meet. So after rankings and other factors were calculated, Graham was named one of the three men to represent Team USA.

After the Olympic Trials, Graham traveled to Zurich, Switzerland to spend three weeks in St. Mortiz, a high alpine resort, around 6,000 feet in altitude, to prepare for Paris.

At that time, he said, ?“It should be a really good experience just to go and train a little bit more, because I haven't trained as much as a lot of these guys. If anything, they have a two-month head start on me. I really need to throw everything at the wall."

The Finals

With the third member of Team USA, Abdihamid Nur, falling during the last 100 meters of his heat, preventing him from advancing, Graham was one of the two representing Team USA in the 5000m finals . The other was Grant Fisher, 27 and a graduate of Stanford, who earned the bronze, with a strategically placed late surge. Both Grant and Graham have strong finishing kicks, a testament to their tactical acumen to deliver a strong finish when it counts the most.?

Blanks posted a time of 13:18.67, placing him in the Top 10 of the 22 runners at #9. Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won Gold with a time of 13:13.66 minutes. Ronald Kwemoi of Kenya won Silver at? 13:15.04 and Grant Fisher of Team USA finishing at 13.15.13 to complete the podium.

Harvard Coach Gibby and Teammate Pryor on Graham Blanks

“No race circumstance is too big for him.? He always rises up. Most of the time, most kids shrink. They just don’t have the mental fortitude to handle the higher level. But as the level gets higher, and as the gravity of the race gets larger and more intense, Graham Blanks rises up.”

- Harvard Coach Alex Gibby

“When Graham got his stress fracture in February, I was devastated for him as his teammate, knowing that it would really hurt his chances of reaching his goals. But Graham was unfazed. “Injuries are part of the sport,”? he told me. His ability to keep to an emotional midline, independent of his successes and downfalls, is what, in my opinion, helped him go from cross training on the bike in March to 9th in the world in August.”?

- Harvard Teammate Reed Pryor

It is interesting to note that Fisher also finished 9th in Tokyo, at age 24, two years older than Graham, at 22 with his 9th place finish in Paris.?

We will be watching Graham in Los Angeles, and cheering him on!

For more on Graham’s keys to track leadership success...

Our interview with Graham:

Our column:

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About Grace Ueng

Grace Ueng is founder of Savvy Growth , a management and marketing consultancy dedicated to helping leaders and their companies realize their fullest potential.?

With a proven track record in strategic reviews, marketing audits, and executive coaching, Grace guides organizations through their growth journeys.?

Contact her firm to schedule a complimentary introductory call.?