Cooper Lutkenhaus competes in the 800-meter final at the USATF Outdoor Championships last month. Patrick Smith/Getty Images

More than 2,200 elite track and field athletes are descending on Tokyo for the upcoming world championships, but Cooper Lutkenhaus might be the only one to pack homework.

The 16-year-old from Texas is the youngest person in history to make the US team for the World Athletics Championships, taking time off from high school to compete. He won’t be able to escape schoolwork entirely, anticipating that it could even be a healthy distraction ahead of the biggest race of his life.

“It might be kind of good, just so I have something to do instead of sitting in the hotel room all day after training,” Lutkenhaus tells CNN Sports . “It’ll give me a break from that runn

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