Springville welcomes home its newest Olympian marathon runner Clayton Young
Feb 5, 2024, 6:33 PM | Updated: Feb 6, 2024, 7:56 am
SPRINGVILLE — The Olympic spirit is strong in Springville where the community welcomed home its newest Olympian, marathon runner Clayton Young.
As Young and his family returned home from the U.S Olympic Marathon Trials Monday, they were surprised with a police escort from the Springville Police Department as they exited Interstate 15 at 1400 North.
“All of a sudden the lights flick on and I’m like what is this?” Young said. “For a second, I was like, Ashley, how fast were you going?”
Young quickly realized the lights and sirens were to celebrate his return to Utah as an Olympian. The escort led into his neighborhood, where he received another surprise – dozens of friends and neighbors who had decorated his home in red, white and blue hearts, and lined his street with American flags.
“Just to start with the American flags, one by one as they came in, and wow, what a crowd, like I just told them, it takes a village and it really does,” said Young. “These are my people.”
“We’re surrounded by the best people and as I’ve bought into Clayton’s dream they’ve bought into our dream, and it’s just been wonderful,” said Ashley Young.
A silver medal
To a cheering group of loved ones, Clayton Young put on the silver medal from Saturday’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trails in Orlando, Florida, where he finished just one second behind close friend, training partner, and fellow Utahn Conner Mantz.
A welcome home surprise in Springville for Utah’s newest Olympian Clayton Young! Young will represent Team USA in Paris in the marathon. @TeamUSA @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/JIXrqVGezY
— Shara Park ✨ (@KSLSharaPark) February 5, 2024
“A couple miles out, he wasn’t feeling too well, and it’s been a goal of ours for a long time to go 1-2 at the Olympic Trials, and so at that moment of two miles out I decided I was going to do whatever I could to help him get to the finish line,” Clayton Young said. “He really has been there for me over these last couple of years as I’ve developed as a pro athlete, and he deserves a lot of this as well.”
Young said now that he’s home he plans to take a little time off of running to let his body recover. But then he’ll jump back into training for Paris with the goal of bringing home an Olympic medal.
“We’re getting ready for Paris, it’s a long way away but also a short distance away, so we’re on that recovery train and getting ready to dial in and do what we can to represent the United States and place as high as we can,” Young said.
