Craig Virgin

Virgin is still the only American man to win the senior world cross-country title, and he did it twice, in Paris in 1980 and Madrid in 1981. Those wins came against deep European and East African fields at a time when US runners rarely contested the event seriously. His aggressive mid-race moves and willingness to run hard on soft ground made the difference; the US boycott kept him out of the 1980 Olympics he might otherwise have targeted.