US champion Nico Young is gay, fast… and absolutely covered in houseplants
Nico Young, joint winner of Outsports' 2024 Male Athlete award, says his happy off-track life is pivotal to his success as a pro. The post US champion Nico Young is gay, fast… and absolutely covered in houseplants appeared first on Outsports.
Mark
In his first full season as a professional athlete, Nico Young has not only made more track and field history but has also continued to grow his personal brand.
It seems fast times and fresh content make for an all-round winning combination!
The 23-year-old long-distance runner claimed the 10,000-meter title at the U.S. Championships in August, a few weeks after setting a new national U.S. outdoor record in the 5,000m.
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Gay runner Nico Young makes history as first out man to win U.S. national track title
A late kick at the USATF Outdoor Championships in Eugene delivered 10,00m glory for Nico Young.
These achievements followed on from Young’s performance at the Paris Olympics, where he reached the 10,000m final and was the first publicly out gay man to represent Team USA in track. He was also joint winner of Outsports’ Male Athlete of the Year Award for 2024.
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The Californian, who has a pro contract with adidas, regularly shares snapshots from his life on Instagram, where he has more than 80,000 followers.
He recently reflected on his 2025 season and looked ahead to next year on a new episode of “The Running Effect Podcast,” hosted by Dominic Schlueter.
In their chat, Young also discussed some of his activities away from athletics, and how they contribute towards his wellbeing.
He admits his American record-breaking 5,000-meter run at the Diamond League meeting in Oslo in June was somewhat unexpected. He attributes this in large part to his relatively uncomplicated switch from collegiate life at Northen Arizona University to starting his career as a pro.
“I definitely think I was lucky in a lot of ways to be able to stay in Flagstaff, where I went to college, training under the same coach, with some of the same teammates that I had trained with in college,” says Young.
“I even got to do some stuff with NAU, which was cool. That definitely made the transition really easy.
“Also in terms of friends, social life, it was just seamless, as if I was in a fifth year of school, or something like that.”
Maintaining that consistency while removing college commitments has helped to boost Young’s training regimen, propelling him to new heights domestically and abroad.
He says his most “exciting” race of the year was the 3,000-meter at the Philadelphia Grand Slam in early summer, a victory which came with a $50,000 prize-money tag.
However, since then, Grand Slam organizers have faced a financial emergency, meaning many athletes have not been paid in full.
While that aspect is not discussed by Young on the podcast, he does say he drew “confidence” from the win, which he then took into Oslo two weeks later.
@grandslamtrack Nico Young came off the curve and never looked back #nicoyoung #grandslamtrack #track #gstphilly #distancerunning ♬ original sound – Grand Slam Track
After that, his season continued to build towards the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in September, where he eventually finished sixth in the 5,000m and fifth in the 10,000m.
Plants collection in Nico Young’s home hit triple figures
It’s clear that having a safe and stable life in Flagstaff, with his pet dog on hand and spending time with friends who live close by, is hugely important to Young, who came out as gay in August 2022.
And he’s become very house proud too!
“I’ve gotten into interior design with my house,” he tells Schlueter. “That’s something that I feel is always a project.
“And I have around 60 to 70 house plants… it’s hard to water them all, you have to get into a routine of keeping them alive.
“I used to actually have 100 of them, but now I have less. It’s easier!”
As our sibling site Queerty has documented, there is a recent but already rich tradition of ‘plant gay’ culture. Plenty of blogs, memes and social posts can be found talking about the connection between caring for houseplants and self-care in the LGBTQ community.
Meanwhile, since he’s been back in the U.S. for the fall, Young has been posting videos of his runs — some on the track, others under the aspen trees, and one in spectacular scenery in Alaska.
The most recent reel, captioned “XC,” tees up what’s coming next. On the podcast, he confirms he wants to make the U.S. team for the World Cross Country Championships, taking place in Tallahassee, Fl., in January 2026.
It’s an event that has been dominated in recent years by athletes from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia. But with it being held on American soil for the first time since Boston 1992, hopes are high of a change in fortunes.
The host nation’s athletes will be selected following the USATF Cross Country Championships in Portland on Dec. 6.
LetsRun.com reports: “That sets up the possibility of a U.S. dream team in Tallahassee with Young, double Olympic medalist Grant Fisher, and two-time NCAA cross-country champions Graham Blanks and Conner Mantz, a squad capable of contending for gold on home soil.”
The other 2026 event on Young’s radar is the 5,000m race at the Ultimate Championships, a new three-day meet from World Athletics that is set to have a total prize fund of around $10 million. That’s coming to Budapest, Hungary, next September.
Speaking to Schlueter, he says: “I’d be curious to see what this Ultimate Worlds thing is going to be like. I’d say that’s a bit like an unorthodox World Championship.
“But it’s nice to have a year like this where there’s not a major World Championship or an Olympic year. We can refocus and do some things that we wouldn’t normally do on those years.”
Just so long as his houseplant watering routine is not radically affected, Nico Young looks well placed for another season of success and personal growth as a pro track athlete.
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The post US champion Nico Young is gay, fast… and absolutely covered in houseplants appeared first on Outsports.
