Go ahead and overlook Adriaan Wildschutt. Really, he doesn’t mind. Welcomes it, even, strategically. That makes it easier for him to cruise under the radar in races before swooping in and trying to lay siege to the field, leaving competitors and fans saying, Oh yeah, forgot all about that guy from South Africa.
Take, for instance, January in Boston. Wildschutt, on his way to compete in the 5,000 meters indoors at the BU John Thomas Terrier Classic, happened to bump into Woody Kincaid and a gaggle of other distance runners at the airport.
In recalling the encounter one recent day in Flagstaff, Wildschutt, who’ll race the 5K in the Diamond League Oslo meet on Thursday to prep for the Olympics, flashed his signature slightly crooked smile and shook his head.
“That indoor meet, like, they didn’t even know I was going to come race,” Wildschutt said. “I met Woody in the airport, and he turned and just randomly said to other guys, ‘Just watch out for Adriaan.’ That’s the first time anyone acknowledged where I was at. Two or three days later, I won the meet that was so stacked.”
Indeed, Wildschutt surprised many — though not himself and his Hoka NAZ Elite coaches – by taking the overall win in all combined heats in Boston, running 12:56.76. That bettered performances that day by the likes of Yared Nuguse, Kincaid, Abdi Nur, Edwin Kurgat, George Mills, George Beamish, and some college kid named Nico Young.
Afterward, though, all anyone wanted to talk about was Young’s breakout 12:57.14 performance, shattering the NCAA record. (Wildschutt ran 12:56.76.)
Was Wildschutt a little rankled, considering he beat Young in his heat and all?
“No, it didn’t bother me at all,” he said. “It’s where I’m most comfortable being. I don’t even think about pressure, but I do think of getting focused in my mind. If I’m on every front page of every social media site or something, my attention may be on that instead of focusing on the work. I’m really good, either way. Even if everyone, all of a sudden, starts talking about me, I think I can still focus on what matters.”
Good thing, too, because a similar experience happened two months later at the The Ten in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. Wildschutt was one of eight runners to go under the difficult 27-minutes-flat Olympic standard that night, but all the buzz was about Grant Fisher holding off the late charge of Young, who set another NCAA record at that distance.
“I understand that Nico Young is an amazing talent,” Wildschutt said. “He’s really young and to be running that fast, man. He’s from the US, so (the attention) makes sense. I’m from South Africa, so…”
True, geography matters.
Observers back home in Cape Town and beyond certainly took notice of Wildschutt’s performances. It seems as if every time he runs, he’s setting a national record. And when he returned to South Africa in April for the country’s Olympic Trials, he was celebrated after easily winning the 5,000 meters. (He had already qualified to represent South Africa for the 10,000.)
“Obviously, everyone in the running community there knows me, so it’s fun to go back home,” he said. “I get to really experience how they look up to me and the influence I’ve been able to create. I never run there, really, because I’m based here (in Flagstaff). So whenever I go, it’s really fun. Last year, I ran a 10K road race in Cape Town, and that was one of my best experiences. I think I’m the first guy ever to run under 28 in Capetown, and people noticed that.”
More than noticed; it made headlines. As did his Olympic Trials victory.
There’s no sneaking up on people over there, to be sure.
“I like the pressure, though,” Wildschutt said. “There’s a thing on my shoulder to keep me grounded. If there’s no pressure, you think you’re going to win everything. Going to South Africa, I was the favorite in the 5K. I knew it was going to be a technical race; I didn’t want to make it fast. I wasn’t in the best shape because I’d run that 10K. But I got it done.”
“I don’t even think about pressure, but I do think of getting focused in my mind. If I’m on every front page of every social media site or something, my attention may be on that instead of focusing on the work. I’m really good, either way.”
Adriaan Wildschutt
After which, he returned to the United States and under the radar, again. But Wildschutt, who ran collegiately at Coastal Carolina and Florida State, said he prefers the lower-key lifestyle in the states, particularly running in Flagstaff, where elites working out or hanging out is commonplace. And the competition stokes his competitive fire.
“There are so many good people in the U.S. that makes me get better,” he said. “I never can sit back and relax.”
It is not in Wildschutt’s nature – or upbringing – to relax. He is driven. Always has been. Whether it’s gunning for the Olympic standard, pounding out reps with teammates Ahmed Muhumed and Olin Hacker on the track, or studying for his MBA, which he earned in 2022, Wildschutt always puts in maximum effort.
He grew up in the Ceres Valley in the Western Cape Province and played all manner of sports as a kid – rugby, cricket, soccer. He was a top member of his school’s chess team, too. But he never thought much about running competitively.
In his family, academics came first, so Adriaan and older brother Nadeel spent much of their time studying.
“My dad and mom never had an opportunity to go to college,” Wildschutt said. “When we grew up and became really good in sports and could get scholarships or whatever, they said, no, academics is first. They wanted to make sure we had a better life than they had, so school was always No.1.”
But a kid can’t spend all his time studying. And that’s how Adriaan eventually drifted toward distance running. The story goes — and it’s been repeated in nearly every profiler of Wildschutt in his home country — that, one day, Adriaan had finished all his homework and was “bored,” so he asked Nadeel if he could tag along to his brother’s running practice.
“It is absolutely true,” Wildschutt said, laughing. “I’d never run before that. My parents said you can’t do anything until your homework’s done. I didn’t have any other practices. I’m alone at home, and my brother was my best friend. He had just gotten a new coach and was so excited to go work out and he went with another friend. I want to see what this is. I thought if I don’t like it, I’ll stop. I wanted to find out why they wanted to run so much.”
Adriaan found it fun and rewarding. Plus, he was good at it. A natural. He started running at age 15. By 17, he was the country’s top runner in his age division.
“It was the best experience for me – really hard, though. I’d never run to that point. Every Tuesday, we’d go 20 minutes out, 20 minutes back, as fast as you can. Each week, I went farther and farther in that 20 minutes. That was so much different from all the other sports I played. Running is very individualized, and I like that.
“The more I ran, the longer I went in those 20 minutes, the more I cut off other sports. No more rugby, no more cricket. Making my province team in cross country was fun; it meant I got to travel.”
And, eventually, running helped him earn a college scholarship in the U.S. Both Adriaan and Nadeel were recruited by former South African star Zola Budd-Pieterse (a teen phenom in the 1980s, running barefoot), who was coaching cross country and Coastal Carolina University.
At that point, Wildschutt said, he had no thoughts of a professional running career. He just wanted a degree – he’s been interested in business since a youth – and to post some good results in cross country and on the track. Plus, it was his first experience away from home, and getting used to the culture shock of the U.S. took some time.
It helped that Coastal Carolina had about eight South Africans in their athletic programs, six in track and field. Still, Adriaan recalled with a smile, he had a lot to learn.
“I was embarrassed in the beginning,” he said. “Here’s a random example: If I see a really pretty girl, in South Africa, I’d go up to her and tell her, ‘You are very beautiful,’ and then move on. Zero intention, not trying to get with her or anything. Just complimenting her. I might never see her again, and that’s completely acceptable in South Africa. I’d try to do that here and my friend, Zola’s son, was like, ‘Adriaan, that’s a little creepy. You can’t do that.’ We (South Africans) believe, you know, someone might be going through a terrible day and if some stranger says to her, ‘You are really beautiful,’ that might change her entire day. In South Africa, at least, it’s completely normal.”
Eventually, Wildschutt said he learned to tone down his behavior. (For the record, he does have a girlfriend from Florida, who soon will be moving to Flagstaff.)
“I started getting better in how I’d do it, let’s put it that way,” he continued. “I got more calculated about it, but I still wanted to compliment (young women). I just say, ‘You have a good dress on,’ and then move on.”
In the classroom and on the track, however, Wildschutt had few adjustments to make. He ran well at Coastal Carolina, then blossomed after transferring to Florida State for his final years of eligibility while working on his MBA. He placed sixth in the 2021 NCAA Cross Country Championships, finished fourth in the 2022 indoors 5,000 meters, seventh in the outdoors 10,000 meters, and ran in the 2022 World Championships in the 5,000.
When it was time to turn pro, Wildschutt considered several sponsorship options, but said he chose NAZ Elite because of its team focus and because the group would allow him to finish his MBA at Florida State before joining the squad.
In 2023, he showed steady improvement – qualifying for the 10,000 meters in the World Championships in Budapest – but he has made a huge jump in 2024, especially in the 10,000 meters. Admittedly, he struggled when he first came to Flagstaff after college; he had never trained at altitude before.
He said he couldn’t hit his splits and his heart rate fluctuated for no apparent reason.
“People thought I was overtrained, because my legs felt heavy every single time,” he said. “But Alan (Culpepper, the former NAZ Elite coach)came in and said, ‘OK, Adriaan, if you’re really overtrained, let’s go race at Sound Running (May, 2023, in Walnut, Calif.) and if it looks like you rally are overtrained, we’ll start all over.’”
Wildschutt ran 27:23 and won the 10K.
“I went down to sea level for that race and never felt better,” he said. “Alan knew. He grew up in Boulder, at elevation. After that race, everything was fine.”
Wildschutt continued to improve under new coach Jack Mullaney, breaking 13 minutes in the indoor 5K and then breaking 27 minutes in the 10K within two months.
In Paris, this summer, Wildschutt said he definitely will run the Olympic 10,000 meters. He might also double in the 5,000, but he said he wants to see where his fitness level is after his 5K race next week in Oslo and a 3K he plans to run a week after that in Stockholm.
And after this summer’s Olympics?
Wildschutt said he will slowly transition to road racing – “I’m already planning my first half marathon for next year – but will keep racing on the track in hopes of qualifying for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
And after that?
“After that,” he said, “I’ll start the marathon. At that point, I’ll be 29 or 30. In marathoning, that’s relatively young.”
No doubt, he’ll probably sneak up on people in the marathon, too.
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