In a surprise move, President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order abolishing "the practice of measuring, certifying, or promoting any foot race using the metric system."

In practical terms, this spells the end for such popular road races as the 5K and 10K as well as a virtually all track events as we know them, from the 100 meters to the 10,000m.

"The voters spoke," Trump told reporters afterward. "They voted for change, OK? They voted for putting America first, and that means using American ways to measure things. Not foreign."

"The metric system is a disaster," he continued. "Look at the countries using it. France. Germany. South America. They're failing, big league. They're falling apart. Not us. Not us. We're going back—and by the way, when I was in military school I was a tremendous athlete, everyone said it, I used to run the 440, won many awards, probably could've gone to the Olympics, decided not to—but the metric system, all these meters and kilowatts and K's and all of these things, they're going away, OK? They're going away."

"Starting now, if you're in the United States of America, you measure your race American."