him in 10th place. In January 2009, Ritzenhein placed 2nd at the U.S. Half Marathon Championship. Three months later, he set a personal best at the 2009 London Marathon, finishing 11th in 2:10:00. In May 2009, Ritzenhein and longtime coach Brad Hudson parted ways. He moved from Eugene to Portland, Oregon in order to train with Alberto Salazar's Nike Oregon Project. On August 17, 2009, Ritzenhein placed 6th in the 10,000 metres at the World Championships in Berlin, Germany. He set a personal best of 27:22.28 in that race. Just eleven days later at the Weltklasse Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, Ritzenhein placed 3rd in the 5,000 metres, setting a new American record with a time of 12:56.27. He became just the third American to run under 13 minutes in the 5,000, as well as the third fastest non-African of all time in that event behind Dieter Baumann and Craig Mottram. At the Half Marathon Championships, in Birmingham, Ritzenhein placed third with a time of 60:00. That time is the second fastest American time ever just behind Ryan Hall's 59:43. Ritzenhein finished just one second behind the second-place finisher. With his 1-hour and 25 second personal best time, Dathan became the first American to go home with a medal from these World Championships. In the January 2012 Olympic Marathon Trials, Ritzenhein ran a personal best 2:09:55, but placed 4th, narrowly missing a spot on the US Marathon Team by eight seconds behind the third-place finisher Abdi Abdirahman. On the evening of June 22, 2012, Ritzenhein placed third in the US Olympic Trials in the 10K run and successfully achieved the Olympic 'A' standard of 27:45.00. Conditions were extremely rainy and cold, and he had not yet achieved the Olympic 'A' standard before the race. He and his teammate and training partner, Galen Rupp, worked together to pace the race for the first 5000 meters, with Rupp pulling away to win it in the final three laps. On August 4, 2012, at the 2012 London Olympics, Ritzenhein finished 13th in the 10,000 m finals with a time of 27:45:89 behind winner Mo Farah (27:30:42) and second-place finisher Galen Rupp (27:30:90). After the Olympics he ran at the Philadelphia Half Marathon and came third, running a time of 1:00:57 – the fastest by an American that year. A fast finish at the 2012 Chicago Marathon saw him move up into ninth place, the