Nicholas Boone Symmonds (born December 30, 1983) is an American YouTube personality and retired middle-distance track athlete, from Boise, Idaho, who specialized in the 800 meters and 1500 meters distances.[2] Symmonds signed with Brooks Running in January 2014 after a 7-year sponsorship with Nike.[3] In college at Willamette University he won seven NCAA Division III titles in outdoor track. Symmonds is a 6-time US National 800 meters champion. He has competed in the 800m at two Olympic Games, reaching the semi-finals in Beijing 2008;[4] in London 2012, he finished fifth in the final, running a personal best of 1:42.95 behind David Rudisha's world record. He won a silver medal in the 800 meters at the 2013 World Championships, having previously finished sixth in the 2009 final and fifth in the 2011 final.
Symmonds is also the co-founder and former CEO of a supplement company called Run Gum, which makes functional chewing gum used by athletes, students, professionals, etc. He launched Run Gum with his coach Sam Lapray in October 2014 with their flagship product, Energy Gum.
Following his retirement, Symmonds gained more popularity in 2020 through his YouTube channel which primarily focuses on running, powerlifting, and fitness. He is also pursuing the Seven Summits, the highest mountain on each continent.
While at Willamette, he won the 800 m NCAA championship race all four years and 1500 m NCAA championship race as a freshman,[9] junior, and senior.[10] Symmonds collegiate best in the 800m (1:45.83) currently ranks No. 1 in NCAA Division III history.[11] His 1500m collegiate best (3:40.91) ranks No. 3 all-time in NCAA Division III.[11] Though Symmonds is widely regarded as Willamette's most decorated athlete, his poor relationship with Head Coach Matt McGuirk has prevented wide celebration of his athletic achievements at his alma mater.[12]
In 2008, Symmonds won the United States Olympic Trials 800m final held in Eugene, Oregon with a personal best time of 1:44.10.[15] He was the first of three Oregon associated athletes to finish at the top of this race before the home crowd, the other two being Andrew Wheating from the University of Oregon and Oregon Track Club training partner Christian Smith, an event referred to as the "Oregon sweep" and replayed many times in television coverage of the meet. This qualified all three men for the U.S. Olympic Team for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, for the 800 m race.[5] At the Beijing Olympics, Symmonds won his first-round heat, then finished a non-qualifying fifth place in his semifinal heat with a time of 1:46.96, 0.73 seconds behind the winner of that heat.
Symmonds continued to improve in 2009, winning the USATF Championships over Khadevis Robinson, which qualified him to represent the United States at the World Championships. As part of his preparation for the championships, Symmonds ran a personal best of 1:43.83 on July 29, 2009, in Monaco.[6] A few weeks later, Symmonds became the first American to qualify for the final of the men's 800m since 1997. He finished sixth in 1:45.71.[2] In 2010, he lowered his personal record again, to 1:43.76, while finishing third behind David Rudisha's 1:41.01 world record at the IAAF World Challengetrack and field meet in Rieti, Italy.[16]
On June 25, 2012, Symmonds returned to the 2012 United States Olympic Trials again on his home track in Eugene, Oregon. The race went out fast, with Charles Jock leading Duane Solomon through a sub-50 second first lap. Atypically, Symmonds was not far off that pace. As Jock faded, Solomon charged off to a big lead through the final turn. Symmonds ran around the field and sprinted past Solomon on the homestretch to make his second Olympic team.
At the London Olympics, Symmonds was one of the two time qualifiers for the final of the 800m. He placed fifth in the final with a new personal best of 1:42.95; David Rudisha placed first in the world record time of 1:40.91, with Nijel Amos of Botswana second, Timothy Kitum of Kenya third, and Symmonds' teammate Duane Solomon fourth.
In 2013, Symmonds achieved his highest placing at an international championship, winning a silver medal at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Athletics by running a season's best of 1:43.55, 2nd only to Ethiopia's Mohammed Aman. At the time, this was the highest an American had ever finished in the men's 800 meters at the World Championships.
Symmonds was removed from the U.S. team at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics due to a sponsorship rights conflict between personal sponsor Brooks and U.S. sponsor Nike.[17]
Symmonds had to forego racing the 2016 Olympic Trials due to an injured ankle.[18] He retired after being eliminated in the heats of the 2017 US Championships.
Run Gum
In 2014, Nick and his former coach, Sam Lapray, founded Run Gum, which markets a caffeinated chewing gum to athletes.[19][20] In January 2016 Run Gum filed an antitrust lawsuit against USA Track and Field for rules that Symmonds feels suppress competition.[21] In May, a federal judge dismissed the suit.[22]
Symmonds often advertises Run Gum on his YouTube channel, through giving away Run Gum products as challenge prizes. There has also been several Run Gum social media accounts created, the most prominent of which is a TikTok account with over 750 thousand followers and 38 million likes.[23]
Mile To Mountain, climbing career
On May 1, 2018, Symmonds announced his official retirement from track & field, along with his next major personal goal; to climb the Seven Summits, that is, the highest mountain on each continent.[24]
With an Everest expedition set for spring of 2025,[25] if he is successful, Symmonds would become the first person in history to both summit Mount Everest and run a sub four minute mile.[26]
Alongside his Mile to Mountain goal, Symmonds worked on summiting all fifty US state highpoints over a period of ten years, finishing in 2024 on Denali, the highest point in Alaska, the United States, and North America.[25]
As of May 2024, Symmonds has climbed three of the Seven Summits; Kilimanjaro,[27] Puncak Jaya,[28] and Denali.[25]
In 2017, Symmonds' original intention of creating his YouTube channel was to vlog the final two weeks of his pro running career.[30]
His channel broke out in late 2019, and currently has over 1.6 million subscribers and 570 million views. In his YouTube videos, he often refers to himself as "The Bison". His content focuses on challenges involving fitness and running. He is good friends with fellow YouTuber A.J. Lapray. Sometime in 2020 he signed a deal with Gymshark.
In March 2020, one of Symmonds' YouTube videos led to the suspension of three NCAA college athletes from his alma mater, Willamette University, when he gifted them Run Gum prizes for participating in his video.[31]
In June and July 2020, Symmonds became a topic of controversy in the running community when he organized events ignoring social distancing guidance for his videos.[32]
Beginning in 2020, Symmonds started a second YouTube channel named 'Nick Symmonds Too', consisting of many reaction, tutorial and challenge videos of shorter length. As of 2024, the channel has 55.8 thousand subscribers, and 6.49 million views.[33]
Throughout the 2020s, Symmonds' channel grew in popularity. As his channel grew, Symmonds became known by many as "The MrBeast of Fitness",[34] with the channel motto being, "It Pays to Be Fit!".[30]
With the growth came more elaborate, unique, and obscure challenges, along with more widespread competitions by Symmonds, who was based in Eugene. Symmonds traveled across the western United States, and even to Florida,[35] the East Coast[36] and Europe[37] to film competitions. Symmonds also began to branch away from only running content, also doing general fitness challenges and powerlifting competitions. In doing so, he collaborated with other fitness YouTubers, such as Nick Bare[38] and Stan Browney.[39] He also has featured other notable athletes on his channel, such as ultrarunner Cameron Hanes[40] and decathlete Ashton Eaton.[41]
As a one million subscriber special, Symmonds gathered one million pennies, and subscribers were allowed to keep as many as they could carry to a scale.[42]
Some notable challenges on Symmonds' channel included:
Nick Symmonds Track Classic, where Symmonds held various track and field events over several weeks. Each male and female winner would go home with $100 cash and a packet of RunGum.[43]
Stop Nick, where Symmonds raced subscribers in a distance ranging from 100 meters to 1,000 meters. Symmonds raced fans in Eugene, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. For every video, the prize money increased by $1,000 until the eventual winner earned $5,000.[44][45]
The Impossible Obstacle Course, where Symmonds built a $100,000 obstacle course inspired by American Ninja Warrior.[34] The first person to complete the course earned $25,000, while the subsequent fastest finisher of the course earned $10,000.[46] The course consisted of seven obstacles; the Quintuple Steps, a vertical jump test, a sixteen foot pegboard with 15 peg holds, a ten foot lache, a 400 pound tire flip, a 16 foot slack line 1 inch across, and a warped wall. The only rule of the course was to not touch anything red, and, as a result, there was a hidden eighth obstacle which forced competitors to descend a rope without touching the red ladder.[47]
On November 10, 2023, Symmonds announced via a video on his channel he was taking a break from his YouTube career.[30] He returned on August 31, 2024 with a video on climbing Mt. Denali, the highest peak in North America.[25]
Symmonds published an article in the November 2013 issue of Runner's World magazine advocating that Congress should "ban assault rifles and handguns for everyone except police and military personnel."[50]
In 2017, Symmonds was hired by the newly formed Track Town Summer Series Professional Track & Field league to act as General Manager for the team representing San Francisco.[citation needed] Symmonds opposes what he considers absurdly strict rules restricting athletes' ability to market themselves. For the 2012 season, he auctioned off space on his left shoulder for a temporary tattoo to advertise a sponsor. The winning bidder was a Milwaukee advertising agency, Hanson Dodge Creative, which paid $11,000 for the space to advertise their Twitter handle. During restricted competitions like the Olympic trials and the Olympics themselves, Symmonds is required to cover up the tattoo with white tape, which actually draws attention to the tattoo advertising underneath.[51] Symmonds is not the first track athlete to do this; 2004 Olympic champion shot-putter Adam Nelson actively sold space on his shirt during the 2005 season (when he won the IAAF World Championships).[52] The practice is also common in boxing.[53]
I've never had a problem speaking out about something that bothers me, The biggest thing that rubs me the wrong way is that governing bodies want to control the space I feel I should control.[54]
Alberto Juantorena is a Cuban former runner. He is the only athlete to win both the 400 and 800 m Olympic titles, which he achieved in 1976. He was ranked as world's best runner in the 400 m in 1974 and 1976–1978, and in the 800 m in 1976–77, and was chosen as the Track & Field News Athlete of the Year in 1976 and 1977.
Clive Terrelonge is a Jamaican former track and field athlete and current coach for the University of Connecticut. Before coaching, he was an accomplished collegiate and professional athlete who specialized in the 800m and 400m.
Khadevis Robinson is an American retired middle-distance runner and currently serves as the Director of Track and Field for the TCU Horned Frogs.
Duane Renard Solomon is a retired American Olympic track athlete, primarily known for racing the 800 meters. He ran for his home country in the IAAF World Championships in 2007 and 2013 as well as in the 2012 Olympic Games. He also took the gold medal at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Under 23 Championships in 2006.
The men's 800 metres competition at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, was held at the Olympic Stadium on 6–9 August. Fifty-five athletes from 43 nations competed. The event was won in a world record time of 1:40:91 by David Rudisha of Kenya, the second consecutive and fourth overall title for Kenya in the event. Rudisha would later become the fourth man to successfully defend his Olympic 800 metres title, and the 11th to win two medals of any kind in the event. Nijel Amos' silver medal was the first Olympic medal ever for Botswana. Timothy Kitum of Kenya won the bronze medal.
Ayanleh Souleiman, also known as Hassan Ayanleh, is a Djiboutian middle distance runner who specialises in the 1500 metres. He is the Djiboutian record holder for the distance, with his best of 3:29.58 minutes, as well as being the 3000 metres holder with 7:42.22 minutes. He also holds the indoor world record for the 1000-meter which he achieved at the 2016 Globengalan event in Stockholm Sweden. He also set a new IAAF Diamond League record at the IAAF Diamond League in August 2016 in the men's 1000 meters
The Oregon Sweep was the result of the 2008 United States Olympic Trials Men's 800 metres race.
Francine Niyonsaba is a Burundian runner who specialized in the 800 metres and shifted to longer distances in 2019. She was the 2016 Rio Olympics silver medalist in the women's 800 metres. Her silver medal was the first Olympic medal for Burundi since 1996. Niyonsaba won a silver in the event at the 2017 World Championships.
Nicole Teter is an American middle distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres. She is a three-time U.S. indoor champion, and a two-time Olympian. She also won a gold medal in the same category at the 2002 U.S. Outdoor Championships.
Brenda Martinez is an American middle-distance runner and Olympian. Born in Upland, California, she won a silver medal in the 800 meters at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow and finished first in the 800 meters at the 2014 Diamond League Final. She represented the US at the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in the 1500 meters. Martinez twice set the world record in the Distance Medley Relay at the New Balance Indoor Grand Prix in Boston; first on February 7, 2015, and then breaking her own record on January 28, 2017. In 2016, Martinez qualified for the U.S. Olympic team competing in the 1500 meters after beating Amanda Eccleston by 0.03 seconds.
Brandon Johnson is an American former professional middle-distance runner, who specialized in the 800 metres and previously the 400 meter hurdles until 2012.
Sean Graham is a retired track runner who specialized in middle-distance and long-distance disciplines. Graham was a product of Stillwater High, whose coach Scott Christensen helped make a nationally recognized track history for the high school. Then he ran for William & Mary, after which he ran as a full-time professional for Nike's Farm Team and subsequently for Oregon Track Club. Graham qualified for two US Olympic Trials in 2004 and 2008, although he ran the trial only in 2004 when he finished 11th in the 5000 metres. An injury a week before the 2008 trial prevented him from taking the last chance in his running career to earn a place in the US Olympic team for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Chanelle Price is an American middle-distance runner who specializes in the 800-meter run. She has a personal record of 1:58.73 for the distance. She was the gold medalist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in 2014.
Erik Sowinski is an American middle-distance runner, who specializes in the 800 metres. He won a bronze medal in the event at the 2016 World Indoor Championships, and he is a three-time national champion. He also formerly held the American indoor record in the 600 meters. Sowinski has garnered recognition for pacing other athletes to fast times, often in high-profile competitions.
The men's 800 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22, 23 and 25 August.
Kate Grace is an American middle-distance runner. A multiple All-American runner for Yale University, she turned professional in 2011. Grace competed for the United States at the 2016 Summer Olympics, making it to the final of the 800 metres.
Raevyn Rogers is an American middle-distance athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 800 meters at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the fourth fastest woman in U.S. history in the event. At the 2019 World Championships, Rogers came from seventh with 100m remaining in the race to place silver over USA teammate Ajeé Wilson in bronze. She earned a world indoor title as a member of national 4x400 m relay squad that took gold at the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Boris Berian is an American middle distance runner. He was the 2016 National Champion and represented the United States at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships in the 800 meters where he won the gold medal. He set his indoor best winning the world championships at 1:45.87, boldly front running a sub-50 first 400. Outdoors he set his personal best 1:43.34 at the 2015 Herculis meet. In his collegiate career, Berian ran for Adams State University, where he was coached by Damon Martin. Barely a year before the Herculis meet, Berian was working in a Colorado Springs McDonald's as a college dropout, still trying to train after working the morning shift.
Donavan Brazier is an American middle-distance runner. He holds the American junior record in the men's 800 meters and won the gold medal at the 2019 World Championships. With a time of 1:42.34, he was the American national and NACAC area record holder in the event from 2019 until 2024, when Marco Arop and Bryce Hoppel ran 1:41.20 and 1:41.67 to break the NACAC record and American record respectively.
Michael Saruni is a Kenyan collegiate middle-distance runner. He was the former world record holder for the indoor 600 m with a time of 1:14.79, set in January 2018. Representing the University of Texas in El Paso, he also set the all-time collegiate record for 800 m in April 2018, with a time of 1:43.25.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
