Hall, he’s the future, says Olympic champion

High fives from Beijing bound Ryan Hall! (Getty Images)

London, UK - His Marathon career may be less than a year old, but Ryan Hall is already being hailed as the man of the future, and not just by the entranced running fraternity of the United States.

The 25-year-old American was handed the ultimate accolade this afternoon by no-less a marathoner than the Olympic champion Stefano Baldini as the two discussed their prospects of upsetting a phalanx of fast and furiously talented Africans in this Sunday’s Flora London Marathon.

It was just 12 months ago that Hall, a young, Marathon virgin, was lapping up the atmosphere before his debut race at the 2007 London Marathon.

“We were signing autographs,” remembered Hall, who had just become the fastest non-African half-marathoner of all time but otherwise was little known outside his native US. “I kept asking Stefano about his training. I was so keen to learn from these guys.”

He must have learned quickly. While Baldini was forced to drop out of last year’s race, Hall produced the fastest debut ever by an American, 2:08:24, to finish seventh and went on to win the US Olympic Trials in New York last November, running a highly-impressive 2:09:02 on a cold, windy day across the undulating terrain of Central Park.

A year later, Hall is no longer unknown and with those two Marathon displays behind him is already being tipped as a possible successor to the veteran Italian champion at the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have been giving him advice,” said the smiling Baldini as he was reminded of the incident. ”I watched the New York race on TV and was very excited about his performance in the last two or three kilometres.

“I was smiling, thinking, here is an athlete who can win a lot of medals because he can read a race and react. He’s the future.”

Hall: ‘I certainly believe I can win’...