Teenage Tauranga middle-distance runner Sam Ruthe is making a habit of rewriting the record books.

Ruthe has lowered his own national Under-17 and U18 1500m records and ran his first sub-3m 40s race in the process, Athetics New Zealand reported.

The 16-year-old raced in the Sound Running Sunset Tour Men’s 1500m in Los Angeles on Saturday at Occidental College’s Jack Kemp Stadium.

Athletics New Zealand said Ruthe finished fifth with a time of 3m 49.17s.

His time also came within 0.4s of fellow Tauranga runner and mentor Sam Tanner’s U19 and U20 New Zealand records.

It came a week after he ran another sub-4m mile at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

In March, aged 15, the Tauranga Boys’ High School student became the youngest person in history to run a four-minute mile (about 1.6km) with a time of 3m 58.35s.

“I went out pretty hard,” Ruthe told Athletics New Zealand after the Los Angeles race.

“With one lap to go, the pace lights were right beside me, and I thought ‘ooh, feeling quite good’. The last lap it felt like the pace light sped up.”

On running against senior men, he said, “they obviously race a bit smarter, having a field this deep is obviously handy, there won’t be as many breaks in the line”.

Competing in the top section of the men’s 1500m, Ruthe was right in the race from the gun.

Aside from a strong kick from Ben Allen of Empire Elite Track Club to take out the race, the second- through fifth-place finishers were only separated by less than half a second.

Athletics New Zealand said Ruthe had made a rapid turnaround in his season, flipping from the cross-country season in winter to the international track and field circuit in just three weeks.

He went from finishing second at the 2025 New Zealand Secondary Schools Cross Country Championships in Whangārei in June to setting national records over the 1500m in Los Angeles.

He finished the cross country race behind Caleb Wagener, who since has the world U19 duathlon title in Pontevedra, Spain.