In Track Town USA, Frank Shorter and Kenny Moore intentionally tied in 2:15:58 as co-champions, the first and only tie in U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon history. Their time was also an Olympic Trials record. This second U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon edition was also the first time a qualifying marathon time standard (2 hours, 30 minutes) was used for the Olympic Trials.

At the 1972 Munich Olympics in Germany, Shorter, 24, a Yale grad, won the marathon in 2:12:20, the first U.S. gold medal in the marathon in 64 years since Johnny Hayes in1908. Shorter’s landmark victory is often credited as starting the First Running Boom. His teammates, Moore and Jack Bacheler, finished 4th (2:15:40) and 9th (2:17:39) respectively, and the trio produced the best U.S. team performance all-time at the Olympic Marathon.

Shorter returned to the Olympic Games in 1976, and in Montreal, he won the silver medal in the marathon to become the first and only American to earn multiple Olympic Marathon medals.