Birthday: 02/08/93 Mile PR: 4:20.30 (indoors) - 2025
Metric Mile (1500m) PR: 3:54.99 - 2019 (U.S. record)
High School: East HS '11
Hometown: Sioux City, IA
College: Arizona State University '15
Current Residence: Portland, OR
Shelby Houlihan, after ending a 4-year drug suspension in January 2025, clocked a 4:20.30 Mile (personal record, #2 U.S. all-time indoors) on Boston University's ultra fast track. At the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China, she won the 3000m silver medal (8:38.26). In April, Houlihan finished second at the Drake Relays Mile in 4:23.84, an outdoor PR.
The Rio Olympian set her then track Mile personal record at the 2020 UW Invitational, clocking 4:23.68, the fastest Mile on Washington soil for a woman. In February, she won the USA Indoor 1500m & 3000m titles, running 4:06.41 & 8:52.03, respectively, at altitude (Albuquerque). Overall, Houlihan has won 13 national titles so far in her career.
On July 10, 2020, Shelby shattered her U.S. 5000m record by 10-plus seconds, breaking the beam in 14:23.92 at the Portland Intrasquad Meet II.
On July 31, 2020 at the Portland Intrasquad Meet IV, Houlihan anchored her BTC team (also Colleen Quigley, Elise Cranny & Karissa Schweizer) to 4 x 1500m relay world record clocking of 16:27.02, a 4:06.75 average per runner.
At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, she finished 4th in the 1500 meters, shattering the U.S. record in 3:54.99; arguably in the greatest women's 1500m race.
Also in 2019, Houlihan, showing her range and beating a deep American women's field, won the 2019 USA 10K Cross Country Championship crown in Tallahassee, FL, and later in February, she defended her USA Indoor 2 Mile title, running 9:31.38 and was runner-up in the USA Indoor Mile on Staten Island. At the USA Outdoor Championships in Des Moines, Shelby, an Iowa native, defended her 1500 title, beating Jenny Simpson, 4:03.18 to 4:03.41, and the next day, she also defended her 5000m title.
At the 2018 USA Outdoor Championships, Houlihan won her first outdoor 1500 meter national title with a strong closing kick, beating veteran and 4-time defending champion Jenny Simpson, 4:05.48 to 4:06.21. The next day, she took the USA 5000m title with a devastating final 100 meters.
Also in 2018, Houlihan defended her two indoor USA titles, again in Albuquerque, winning the 1500m & 3000m races in February to qualify for the World Indoor Championships. At the WIC in Birmingham, GBR, she finished 4th in the 1500m and 5th in the 3000m. In May at the Prefontaine Classic, Shelby defeated a top international field, clocking her first sub-4 metric Mile, 3:59.06, and in July, she won the Lausanne 1500m in another PR, 3:57.34. For her masterful year, Track & Field News selected Shelby as the U.S. Women's Athlete-of-the-Year and ranked her #1 in the world for the 1500m / Mile.
On July 21, 2018 at Heusden, Belgium, Shelby shattered Shannon Rowbury's U.S. 5000m record by 4-plus seconds, clocking 14:34.45!
In 2017, Houlihan won the Mile at the BU Valentine Invitational in an indoor personal record, clocking 4 minutes, 24.16 seconds, and she capped-off an impressive indoor season in March, by becoming a double national champion, winning the USA Indoor Mile and 2 Mile titles on back-to-back nights in Albuquerque. At the USA Track & Field Championships, she won her first outdoor national title as a professional in the 5000 meters (15:13.87), besting fellow U.S. Olympians Shannon Rowbury and Molly Huddle to earn a Team USA berth for the London World Championships.
In her first professional outdoor track season, Shelby set a personal record 1500m time of 4:03.39 at the 2016 Prefontaine Classic, finishing 7th overall and 2nd American in a world class field. At the U.S. Olympic Trials, she qualified for the Rio Olympic Games in the 5000m and placed 11th in the Olympic 5000m later that summer. Following her Rio run, Shelby dropped down in distance to place 6th at the Fifth Avenue Mile, with a personal best Mile time of 4:23.0.
As a collegiate runner at Arizona State University, Shelby won the 2014 NCAA Outdoor Championship 1500m title in 4:18.10 and followed with a runner-up finish in the 1500m at the 2015 NCAAs. While competing for the Sun Devils, Shelby was a 12-time All-American and set school records for 800m, 1500m, Mile and 3000m. After graduating from ASU in 2015, Shelby joined the Bowerman Track Club to be coached by Jerry Schumacher.
Top two finishers also qualify for 2025 World Athletics Road Running Championships; top five women under previous U.S. record; 11 men sub-4 at Grand Blue Mile
From USATF & Drake Relays with BBTM support
DES MOINES, Iowa – The 2025 USATF 1 Mile Championships hosted by the Grand Blue Mile...
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Native Iowans - Schweizer & Houlihan - showdown set in women's races, including Drake Relays Mile; deep fields to vie for $50,000 national championship prize purse & Team USA berths
From Drake Relays
DES MOINES, Iowa – The stakes have been raised heading to the 115th Drake Relays for a...
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"I want to try and get as many medals as possible: that gold Olympic medal; World Championship medals... I also have world records in my sights"... but "the more important thing for me is to enjoy the process and not to get too hung up on the end goals."
By David Hunter, RunBlogRun.com
The...
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Her career to-do list is just as long as the places she wants to go: Break 3:50 in the 1500 meters; break 14 minutes in the 5000 meters: “I still feel like there’s so much more untapped potential there that I’m very excited about.”
By Erin Strout, Women's Running
It’s mid-April. The year is...
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She intends to run both the 1500 and 5000 at the Olympic Trials next year even though the Tokyo Games schedule precludes serious consideration of racing both there.
By Sieg Lindstrom, Track & Field News
“We become what we behold. We shape our tools and then our tools shape us.”
Case in...
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"I am grateful there is that opportunity even though it's delayed a little bit... As long as I stay healthy, not push too hard, there's no reason I can't be even better. It's another year to train if I look at it optimistically."
By Justin Rust, Sioux City Journal
For about the past four...
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Longstanding indoor and outdoor Mile world records broken; Herrera & Kampf BBTM Grand Prix Tour champions and more BBTM Effect!
By Ryan Lamppa, Bring Back the Mile
The Bring Back the Mile campaign was launched in January 2012 to elevate & celebrate the storied distance, and over the past 8...
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"Right now, the plan would be to double her in the 1500 and 5000 meters at the Olympic Trials."
By Kerry Eggers, Portand Tribune
When effort intersects with talent, the results can be spectacular.
Enter the world of Shelby Houlihan, who at age 26 is on the precipice of unprecedented success...
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Eight women bettered the previous World Championship record in epic race; Hassan earned one-of-a-kind 1500-10,000m gold double!
By Steve Landells for the IAAF
DOHA, Qatar - On Saturday evening, Sifan Hassan completed the unprecedented 1500m and 10,000m double at the IAAF World Athletics...
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American Doha quartet includes 2011 world champion Simpson, Houlihan, Hiltz & Johnson
By Steve Landells for the IAAF
With major question marks against all the chief contenders, predicting the outcome of the women’s 1500m with any great level of confidence is a tricky business.
The world #1...
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“I was definitely nervous coming into this race because I had a little more pressure than I usually feel."
By Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register
It wasn’t until after the 1500 meter finals at the USATF Outdoor Championships that Webster City native Jenny Simpson finally caught up to Sioux City...
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Big goals for 2019 include U.S. record, defending USA titles and a medal at World Championships in Doha
By Ken Goe, The Oregonian / OregonLive
BEAVERTON — Shelby Houlihan beat some of the best runners in the world in 2018 and crushed the U.S. record in the 5000 meters.
It looks like a...
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“I’d like to get the American record in both the 1500m and 5000m as well as the Mile and 3000m indoor American records. I’d like to win an Olympic gold medal and a World Championship gold medal...”
By Cathal Dennehy for Spikes
It's the most feared weapon in middle-distance running, and now...
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"I’ve looked up to her as a runner throughout high school. She’s been someone that has been talked about throughout Iowa. To come out here and race against her and put on a good show was really cool.”
By Tommy Birch, Des Moines Register
DES MOINES - With about 100 meters remaining in the 1500...
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Iowa natives headline 1500m women's field in Des Moines
By Kevin Liao, Citius Mag
If anything has characterized the 2018 track season thus far, it’s been the changing of the guard we’ve seen in many events, particularly in the sprints.
The aging Justin Gatlin and retired Usain Bolt have...
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My diet has come a long way since high school and college. I really started from the bottom. I used to have no idea what was healthy.
By Ally Spiroff, Runner's World
The 24-year-old 5000 meter specialist has her sights set on the 2020 Olympics, with a full racing schedule this year. In 2017, ...
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Iowa natives part of "one of the best women’s 1500 meter fields we’ve ever assembled.”
By Cody Goodwin, The Des Moines Register
A slew of local athletes and plenty of Olympians will make their way to Des Moines in just a couple of weeks.
New Drake Relays director Blake Boldon said on...
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Sioux City native and rising star convincingly wins two USA Indoor titles: Mile & 2 Mile
By Terry Hersom, Sioux City Journal
SIOUX CITY -- Less than a month past her 24th birthday, Shelby Houlihan is clearly to Sioux City women’s track & field what Kirk Hinrich became to local basketball.
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By Next Level People
Sioux City East and Arizona State standout Shelby Houlihan has made a significant statement during her sophomore season this year. She was an All-American in cross country with a 31st place finish in the fall. She won the Mile at the MPSF meet (Pac-12’s Indoor...
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