“For me it’s really important turning up to a race and being in the best form because then mentally I’m there. It’s so much more satisfying turning up to a race knowing that you’re in good enough form to actually compete.”
No decisions were made at the time on Ruthe’s availability for the upcoming events or a time frame on a possible return to the track.
Competing at the Commonwealth Games was never on the agenda for Ruthe heading into 2026, however everything changed in late January when he ran the fastest ever mile by a New Zealander, beating the record Sir John Walker set in Oslo in 1982.
Ruthe’s time of 3m 48.88s at the John Thomas Terrier Classic indoor meet at Boston University, met the A performance standard set by Athletics New Zealand to be considered for the Commonwealth Games.
He then beat the B standard time two weeks later, which then meant he could be nominated for one of Athletics New Zealand’s allocated 18 quota spots, although the final decision rests with the New Zealand Olympic Committee.
Ruthe’s coach Craig Kirkwood said going back to their original position at the start of the year made sense.
“Let’s make World Juniors the focus again and not push for a Commonwealth Games that might not be as successful as we would have liked and to be an experience that wasn’t up to the standard we were looking for,” Kirkwood said.
“We’re safer doing that rather than trying to push to get a performance at a level that we would deem acceptable and be happy with at the Comm Games, and that’s really kind of what it really boiled down to.
“We also want to make sure that when you do represent New Zealand at such a pinnacle event that you do it to the best of your ability and we’re not going in there undercooked. I think if we pushed for this year we would probably find that you’d be underdone.
“You wouldn’t want to be standing on that start line not ready, it would not be a great experience.”
It has been an incredible 12 months for Ruthe who holds every U20 New Zealand middle distance record between 800m and 5000m.
New Zealand nominations for the Commonwealth Games close on May 20 and the full athletics team will be announced in mid June.
The games start in Glasgow on July 23.
Ben Francis is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.