BELGRADE, Serbia — BYU senior distance runner Christian Allen placed fourth for Team USA at the World Cross Country Championships Saturday morning.
"I feel very blessed to be able to represent the United States on the world stage in such a big event like the World Cross Country Championships," said Allen postrace. "All things considered, having come off the diagnosis of bilateral stress reactions in my femurs just nine weeks ago, I couldn't be more grateful for God helping me get to this point. Overall, I'm happy with how I finished and proud of my teammates giving it all out there."
Allen finished the course in 29:54.00 as the fourth American across the line and 37th overall. Team USA took seventh in the competition. The course required runners to navigate through hay bales and over two small bridges. The Cougar from West Jordan, Utah finished just behind his American teammate Ahmed Muhumed who crossed a second before and finished in 36th.
“Anytime you are representing your country in an international competition is a moment to be proud of," said BYU director of track and field Ed Eyestone. "Christian qualified for the sixth and final spot on the team, so to finish in fourth is fantastic. He should be very proud. Anytime you put on a USA uniform, a sense of pride comes with that. He delivered and represented both the United States and BYU very well."
In his final season with the Cougars, Allen most recently competed for BYU track and field in the 3000-meter at the 2023 BYU December Invitational. Without further collegiate cross country eligibility, Allen dove into the trail running circuit in 2023 and won the Speedgoat 50k at the 2023 Speedgoat Mountain Races presented by UTMB. He finished first overall on the Wasatch Mountains course with a time of 5:23.37.
The Cougar qualified for the World Cross Country Championships on Team USA on Jan. 20, after finishing sixth at the USATF Cross Country Championships in Richmond, Virginia. He notched the last spot with a time of 29:27.0.