Lukas Verzbicas was the fifth of only seventeen American high school boys to run a sub four-minute mile, running 3:59.71 at the end of his senior year of high school.
22 Facts About Lukas Verzbicas
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Lukas Verzbicas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania and moved to the US with his mother and stepfather at age nine.
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The family lived in Orland Park, Illinois where Lukas Verzbicas attended Carl Sandburg High School, graduating in May 2011.
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Lukas Verzbicas graduated at age 18 after attending high school for just 3 years.
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In May 2009, Lukas Verzbicas won the Pan American Triathlon Confederation Junior Championships.
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In September 2009, Lukas Verzbicas won the Duathlon World Junior Championships.
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In June 2010, Lukas Verzbicas won the 2010 Adidas High School Boys' Dream Mile in New York City in a time of 4:04.
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Shortly afterwards, Lukas Verzbicas won the 2010 IHSA Class 3A state championship in the 3 mile run with a time of 13:53.7, only 3 seconds off the state record held by world cross country champion and three time Olympian Craig Virgin.
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In February 2011, Lukas Verzbicas signed a national letter of intent to run for the University of Oregon beginning in the fall of 2011.
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Lukas Verzbicas told the Chicago Tribune he had a passion for running which he didn't have for triathlon.
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In March 2011, at the New Balance Indoor National meet, Lukas Verzbicas won the 5000 meters, the 2 mile, and the mile becoming the first high school runner to win all three events at the national meet.
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In June 2011 at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon, Lukas Verzbicas set a national high school record in the 2 mile with a time of 8:29.46, breaking the old record of 8:34.23 set by German Fernandez in 2008.
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One week after setting the 2 mile record, Lukas Verzbicas won the 2011 Adidas High School Boys' Dream Mile in New York City in a time of 3:59.71 joining Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquori, and Alan Webb as the only American high school runners to break four minutes in the mile.
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In July 2011, Lukas Verzbicas won the Pan American Triathlon Confederation Junior Championships and in September 2011 went on to win the ITU World Junior Championships in Beijing.
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In November 2011, after running in only two cross country races for the University of Oregon, Lukas Verzbicas announced that he would be leaving the school to pursue a career in triathlon with the hopes of making a future US Olympic team.
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In 2012, Lukas Verzbicas planned to attend classes at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs in Colorado Springs, CO as member of USAT's Elite Triathlon Academy before making the decision to leave school and train full-time as a professional triathlete at the Olympic Training Center.
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However, by June 2012 Lukas Verzbicas was making waves in the professional triathlon world by defeating established professionals and olympic qualifiers to win the 2012 Dallas ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup in Dallas, TX as well as the 2012 Banyoles ITU Triathlon World Cup in Barcelona, Spain.
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On July 31,2012 Lukas Verzbicas was involved in a bicycle accident while training in Colorado Springs.
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Bob Babbit of Competitor Magazine reported via Twitter that Lukas Verzbicas had a broken collarbone, blood in his lungs and was scheduled for back surgery the following day.
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The results of the surgery were released on August 14,2012 and indicated that Lukas Verzbicas had a broken collarbone, 2 fractured vertebrae, and a collapsed lung.
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Lukas Verzbicas suffered post-op paralysis in his right leg but slowly regained motor control in it.
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Since then Lukas Verzbicas has begun training again and competed in the 2013 Carlsbad 5000.