This thread was started before the race. We changed the title and merged it with a 2nd thread that was started with the title of "Ethan MF Shuley 2:07:13 Marathon at 2026 Osaka Marathon". We have an article up oon the race here: https://www.letsrun.com/news/2...
I was reading JRN’s Osaka Marathon preview and Japan-based American Ethan Shuley is looking to run a 2:06 at Osaka. I had never heard of him and could not find any mention of him on these boards. I did some research and it appears that he ran at BYU and was a High School state champ in Kentucky. He set a half marathon PR of 1:01:01 last month.
One of the fastest marathons by an American not named Conner Mantz, and barely anyone knew it was even happening. Still coached by Ed Eyestone I assume (?) Ex-BYU, ran 61:01 half marathon a month ago. Dark horse for 2028?
I changed the thread title since Ethan Shuley just ran 2:07:13 in Osaka.
This has gotta be one of the most out-of-nowhere results in the history of US marathoning. I thought Matthew Richtman running 2:07:57 in LA last year was wild (and it still doesn't make sense to me given the low volume he was running) but Richtman was at least 26th at NCAA XC.
Here is Shuley's progression, best I can tell. He's 27 years old:
2014-15: Two-time Kentucky 2A state champ in XC. 2016: Graduates HS with track pbs of 4:14/9:10 (full mile/2-mile). Those are both from his junior year (no results as a HS senior) -- those are pretty strong marks for a HS junior in 2015. 2016-20: Goes to BYU but barely races. Only mark is 8:45 for 3000 in January 2020 -- or 10+ seconds slower than Jane Hedengren. That's at altitude in Provo on a shitty track, but still not very impressive. 2021-24: Only one result during this span: 8:42 for 3k on the JDL Fast Track (flat track) 2025: Surfaces in Japan, runs 2:18 at Nagano Marathon in April. Runs 63:06 half in October, then 2:11 at Kobe Marathon in December. 2026: Runs 61:02 half in Osaka on January 25. Now four weeks later runs 2:07!
So he barely raced at all for almost a decade -- two races from 2016-24. Now 2:18 to 2:11 to 2:07 in the span of 11 months.
Isaac Wood just told me he coaches him. I'm going to call him and get the scoop.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
I think the 2:11 in Kobe was worth a lot more than that, he placed 2nd behind 2:04 guy Elisha Rotich, very different kind of race to Osaka. Still crazy progression. Brett Larner said he's a film student in Tokyo
