Yared Nuguse is worried about the gap in his résumé.
It’s just that becoming one of the fastest 1,500-meter runners in the world has upended the timeline he set out for himself at age 12.
“I was going to go to university, and then go to dental school, and just be a great orthodontist,” he said, 24 hours after becoming the American national champion in the 1,500 meters in July. “Then running kind of comes along in high school and it’s like, ‘OK, it doesn’t interfere with my plan,’ and then in college it doesn’t interfere with my plan.