By ELLIOTT DENMAN

"I'm not freaking out about all these things," Donavan Brazier tells you.

"I can't let that happen.

"I can't look that far ahead."

And that's a very wise strategy.

"All these things" can be a very heavy burden for a 22-year-old.

A ton of expectations have been heaped on this Michigan-raised, Texas-trained middle distance runner's slender shoulders after his brilliant 2019 campaign at the races - setting American indoor and outdoor records at 800 meters, claiming Diamond League and World Championships titles, and earning the Jesse Owens Award as the nation's top track athlete - heading into this Olympic year's schedule.

All this brilliance has made him the World Number One and the solid favorite to run off with the men's Olympic 800-meter gold at the Tokyo Olympic Games. And Olympic gold at 800 is something no American has achieved in 48 years.

Once upon a time, Team USA's delegates virtually "owned" the Olympic 800.  There was "Long John" Woodruff of Pittsburgh - and the legendary nine-foot stride pattern - at Berlin in 1936.   There was Air Force vet/Ohio State University stalwart "Marvelous Mal" Whitfield at London in 1948 and Helsinki in 1952.   There was Tom Courtney - "the Fordham Flash" - at Melbourne in 1956.  And Dave "The Hat" Wottle of Bowling Green at Munich in 1972.

But the pattern has been very/very different in the years since.

Eleven Olympic Games have flown by since Wottle's gold and no American 800-meter runner has been invited to the top rung of the podium. Top American performances over that long stretch have been four bronze medals - brought home by Notre Dame's Rick Wohlhuter at Montreal in 1976, Eastern Michigan's Earl Jones at Los Angeles in 1984, Arizona State's Johnny Gray at Barcelona in 1992 and Akron's Clayton Murphy at Rio in 2016.

Of course, the all-embracing U.S. college system has been complicit in all this - University of Oregon product Joaquim Cruz won the 1984 Olympic 800 gold for Brazil and Virginia's Paul Ereng of Kenya succeeded him as Games champion in 1988.  The 1980 U.S. Olympic boycott of the Moscow needs to be remembered, too - when Villanova's Donald Paige would have been at least co-favorite with Great Britons Steve Ovett and Seb Coe, the eventual 1-2 finishers.

Kenyans have won the last three Olympic 800 titles - Wilfred Bungei at Beijing in 2008, and David Rudisha at London in 2012 and Rio in 2016.  With his twin wins, the remarkable Rudisha joined USA's Whitfield (1948-52) and Britain's Douglas Lowe (1924-28) on the short list of two-time Olympic two-lap winners,

"I've heard about Wottle, but I have to admit I don't know too much about all those other guys," Brazier said at a pre-NYRR Millrose Games press conference Friday morning at the NYRR's midtown Run Center.

Of course, that's not unlike most other American 22-year-olds.  There's far too much going on in the here-and-now to get wrapped up in the what-had-been.

The most remarkable phase of Brazier's run to the world lead has been has been his devastating finishing kick.  His event may never have seen a closing burst to match his.

"It looked like you were running the last 100 meters in 11 flat," suggested a media member who had seen his devastating closing dash to the gold at the Doha Worlds last fall.  It elicited a smile - and then a denial.

"No, it wasn't that fast," he said.  "It might have been a 12, maybe a 12.4"

That's still as quick of a close as anybody in his event's history and good enough to solidify his status as top choice for Tokyo.

"I just can't look that far ahead," he reminded. "Got to stay day to day, one workout at a time, one race at a time."

 He knows there is a pack of other American challengers eager to upset his applecart.  He knows that Kenya's Rudisha - after years of ailments and assorted problems - may still be lurking and dreaming, of the chance to make it make a wildly unprecedented three straight Olympic golds.  He's well aware of the potential of such other veterans of the global circuit as Botswana's Nigel Amos, Bosnia's Amel Tuka and Canada's Brandon McBride.  Puerto Rico's Wesley Vasquez, too.

And that set the scene for the 113th edition of the classic NYRR Millrose Games at the Armory.

In the New York-Presbyterian Hospital men's 800, he was arrayed against an all-star field - fellow Americans Bryce Hoppel, Isaiah Harris. Brandon Kidder. Eric Sowinski. Mark English and Robert Downs, a group he'll likely have to duel at the Olympic Trials.

He's a graduate of Kenowa Hills High School in Michigan,  had a brilliant freshman year at Texas A&M before turning pro.  His American indoor record stands at 1:44.41, his USA outdoor mark at 1:42.34.  At 6-2 and 165 pounds, he has the lean, mean build of a world-beater.

Millrose fans will fill the Armory expecting very big things.  Donavan Brazier pledges not to disappoint his growing legion of admirers.