Tom Black, a second-grader from Brentwood, Tennessee, ran 1:39:48 at the Nashville Half Marathon on 24 October at the age of seven, a time that beats the age-seven mark held by the Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) by 3 minutes 48 seconds. The ARRS lists the boys' best as 1:43:36, set by Jaden Merrick in Waterloo, Iowa, in 2015, and Black also beat the girls' age-seven mark of 1:40:59 by Makenzie Kolvoord in 2014.
The run averaged about 7:37 per mile on a hilly course, and Black finished ahead of more than 2,100 of the 2,299 finishers. His father, Kyle Black, 39, ran alongside him and crossed the line one second behind at 1:39:49. The boy had improved dramatically on the same course in a year: aged six in 2025 he ran 1:50:52, well inside the previous six-year-old best of 2:06:51 set by Charlie Westrip in Huntsville, Alabama, in 2016.
The times come from the official race results, but they are not yet on the ARRS list, whose page was last updated in November 2017. Youth bests of this kind are often tracked informally through local news and race organisers, which is why similar claims, including one for an 11-year-old in May, have been reported as unofficial. The record should therefore be read as well documented rather than formally ratified.
The performance is the more striking because Black broke a finger in a fall at home the night before the race and was treated in an emergency room. His father says the family's paediatrician approves of the training, that his son runs voluntarily and that the pace is deliberately slow, and that the pair began running together at a local park while listening to Harry Potter audiobooks.
Online reaction has included concern about growth and joint health, and accusations that the parents are pushing the child too hard. Guidance is cautious: the Road Runners Club of America advises that races of 10K and longer wait until after puberty, and New York Road Runners sets a minimum age of 16 for half marathons. The Nashville race has no age limit, and the case illustrates how organisers' rules, family judgement and public opinion can pull in different directions.