The Runner Who Cheated
Hippomenes — Melanion in Hesiod's earlier telling, the name changes more than the story does — watches suitor after suitor lose a footrace to Atalanta and pay for it with his life, and enters anyway, certain he can find an edge no one else thought to use. Aphrodite gives him three golden apples from her own garden, useless for actual speed but perfectly built for distraction.