Ilsa Paulson (born November 8, 1988) is an American long-distance runner who specializes in marathon running. She was the winner of the 2009 USA Marathon Championships, hosted at the Twin Cities Marathon. [1] [2]
Paulson attended Sherwood High School in Oregon and was a state high school cross country champion while there. [3]
Originally from Oregon, Paulson decided to leave Northern Arizona University at age 19 after her first year there in order to concentrate on a professional running career. A religious person, she made the decision after a period of prayer. [4] [5] She trained under coach Jack Daniels. [6]
Paulson won the citizen's race of the 2008 Bolder Boulder in her first 10K run outing and moved into the professional ranks two months later, placing in the top twenty at the Peachtree Road Race as the fastest American woman. [7] She made her first half marathon appearance by placing ninth in the New York Half Marathon with a time of 1:13:22. [8] She ran in the USA 20K Championships held at the New Haven Road Race and placed third in 1:08:55 after losing a sprint to the finish against Jill Steffens and Elva Dryer. [9] She closed her debut year with eighth at the Rock ‘n’ Roll San Jose Half Marathon and 15th at the New York City Marathon, recording 2:41:17 hours on her debut over the marathon distance. [7]
In 2010 she was runner-up at the Arizona Half Marathon, fourth at the Mardi Gras Half Marathon in a personal record of 1:13:15, then won the Country Music Marathon with a time of 2:33:41 hours. [7] Paulson was the first ever American winner at the Country Music Marathon. [10] [11] She did not compete in 2011 or 2012 and, after completing three half marathon runs slower than 80 minutes in 2013, she stopped competing at a high level. [7] She later moved to Abu Dhabi. [6]
Khalid Khannouchi is a Moroccan-born American retired long-distance runner. He is the former world record holder for the marathon and held the former road world best for the 20 km distance. He is one of only five men to break the marathon world record more than once, and one of only five to break their own marathon world record.
Ryan Hall is a retired American long-distance runner who holds the U.S. record in the half marathon. With his half marathon record time (59:43), he became the first U.S. runner to break the one-hour barrier in the event. He is also the only American to run a sub-2:05 marathon. However, this time is not eligible to be a record due to the course being point-to-point and a net-downhill course. Hall won the marathon at the 2008 United States Olympic trials and placed tenth in the Olympic marathon in Beijing.
Madaí Pérez Carrillo is a Mexican long-distance runner. She represented Mexico in the marathon at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics.
Kara Goucher is an American long-distance runner, author, television commentator, and podcaster. She was the 10,000 meters silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and represented the USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. She made her marathon debut in 2008 and finished third the following year at the Boston Marathon.
Shalane Grace Flanagan is an American long-distance runner, coach, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area records in both the 10k and 15k road races.
Tadese Tola is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He has represented Ethiopia at World championship level in cross country, road running, and on the track.
Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, commonly known as either Magdalena or Magda Boulet, is an American runner from Oakland, California. Born in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Poland, Lewy-Boulet became a U.S. citizen on September 11, 2001.
Sammy Kirop Kitwara is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in road running events. He is coached by Moses Kiptanui. As of November 2023 he is the 33rd fastest half marathon runner in history, having run 58.48 in 2011, which was the 4th fastest ever at the time.
Amy Cragg is an American track and field athlete, specializing in long distance running events. She is the 2015 American champion in the Marathon, the 2012 American champion in the 10,000 meters, and a qualifier for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Molly Huddle is an American long-distance runner who competes in track and cross country running events. She held the American record in the 5000 meters set in 2014 in Monaco (14:42.64), which has since been lowered by Shannon Rowbury, Shelby Houlihan and Alicia Monson. Huddle held also the American record in the 10,000 meters set at the 2016 Rio Olympics with a time of 30:13.17, which has since been lowered by Alicia Monson.
Sara Hall is an American professional distance runner for ASICS. Hall's personal best time for the marathon is 2:20:32 set at the Marathon Project in Chandler, Arizona on December 22, 2020, making her the third-fastest American woman in history. She is the second-fastest American woman ever to run the half marathon, running 1:07:15 on January 16, 2022–an American record at the time.
Buzunesh Deba is a Bronx-based Ethiopian long-distance runner. She won the 2014 Boston Marathon in her personal-best time of 2:19:59. In the race, Deba finished behind Rita Jeptoo, who was later disqualified for doping.
Shirley Reilly is an American wheelchair racer who competes in track races and the marathon distance in the T53/T54 categories. She has represented the United States at the Summer Paralympics in 2004, 2008 and 2012. She was the winner of the 2012 Boston Marathon race.
Caroline Rotich is a Kenyan-American long-distance runner who competes in half marathon and marathon races. She has won the Las Vegas Marathon, New York Half Marathon and the Boston Marathon. She represented Kenya at the World Championships in Athletics in 2011 and has personal bests of 2:23:22 for the marathon and 1:09:09 for the half marathon.
Peres Jepchirchir is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner who competes mainly in road running competitions. She won the gold medal in the women's marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Jepchirchir was the champion at the 2016 and 2020 World Half Marathon Championships. She claimed victories at the 2021 New York City and 2022 Boston Marathon and finished third at the 2023 London Marathon. She claimed a further victory at the 2024 London Marathon, finishing in two hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds and breaking the women’s only world record.
Cynthia Jerotich Limo is a Kenyan female long-distance runner who competes mainly in road running competition. She has the silver medallist at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 2016. Her half marathon personal best of 66:04 minutes, set in 2016, ranks her as the fourth fastest woman ever for the distance.
Thomas Osano is a Kenyan former long-distance runner who competed across track, road, and cross country running disciplines. His greatest individual honour was a 10,000 metres gold medal at the 1991 All-Africa Games. He also shared in a team gold medal with Kenya at the 1993 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.
Betty Jo Geiger is an American former long-distance runner who competed in events ranging from 3000-meter run to the marathon.
Janice Ettle is an American middle-distance and long-distance runner, winner of major marathons and top finisher in dozens of road races, as well as a competitor at the 1987 World Marathon Cup and fourth-place finisher at the Havana, Cuba, 1991 Pan American Games women's marathon. Ettle was a five-time competitor at the US Olympic Marathon Trials.
Annie Frisbie is an American long-distance runner sponsored by Puma.