No one would blink if a Kenyan runner had the fastest time in Sunday’s Los Angeles Marathon; after all, athletes from the East African nation of about 58 million people have a reputation for literally outrunning the global competition in marathons from Tokyo to Paris to Boston.

That wasn’t the case yesterday in L.A., where for the first time in the race’s 41-year history, an African-American runner broke the finish line tape. Nathan Martin, a 36-year-old cross-country coach from Michigan, pulled off a last-second sprint to overtake Kenyan Michael Kamau, who was a literal step away from victory before Martin overtook him. Martin finished the race in 2:11:16.50, just 0.44 seconds faster than the stunned Kamau, who lunged for the tape as Martin passed, collapsing with the realization that he’d lost.

If the come-from-behind win wasn’t enough, this weekend’s race didn’t even represent Martin’s fastest marathon time ever. Back in 2020, he broke the record for the fastest time for an American-born marathoner when he ran 2:11:05 at The Marathon Project race in Chandler, Ariz. The previous record, 2:11:52, was set in 1979 by Herm Atkins.

Even that didn’t stand as Martin’s best performance. He ran 2:10:45 in the 2024 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minn. In other words, don’t get in a race with this guy, especially not a long one. You won’t win.

On the women’s side in the L.A. Marathon, Priscah Cherono of Kenya won with a time of 2:25:19. She and Martin took home $25,000 for their first-place finishes.