Two weeks after winning back-to-back titles at the NCAA cross-country championships in Madison, Wisc., Harvard University’s Graham Blanks announced his plans to begin his professional running career with New Balance. The 22-year-old has been working with the apparel brand since signing a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deal with them last December.
The news comes just two days after Blanks made a thrilling transition from cross-country to track, opening his season at Boston University’s Sharon Colyear-Danville Invitational. At Saturday’s race, Blanks became only the second athlete in collegiate history to break 13 minutes in the 5,000m, clocking 12:59.89 and sneaking under the world indoor championship standard (13:01) in the process.
At the Colyear-Danville Invitational in 2023, Blanks set the collegiate record of 13:03–which had since been broken by Northern Arizona University’s Nico Young (12:57.14). This year, Blanks wore his Harvard singlet one last time, with hopes of taking back the record.
In July, days after a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Olympic trials, Blanks found out he’d secured a spot on the American Olympic team. He went on to claim ninth in the men’s 5,000m final in Paris.
Monday’s announcement comes as no surprise to track fans; rumours first began circulating after Blanks made his Olympic debut, but the athlete decided to return for another cross-country season with the Harvard Crimson. He successfully defended his NCAA cross-country title with a decisive victory; Blanks is the first and only athlete in Ivy League history to win an individual national title in the sport.
With the New Balance headquarters located in Boston, just a short run from Blanks’s dorms, the partnership couldn’t be more convenient. In his professional career, Blanks will still live and train out of Boston while completing his studies in economics and philosophy at the Ivy League school. “I’m excited to continue building this relationship as I transition to the professional level and to keep working with Coach Alex Gibby while staying connected to the Harvard community,” he said in a press release.
