Simeon Birnbaum Smashes NCAA 1500m Record with 3:31.69

Simeon Birnbaum of the University of Oregon smashed the NCAA 1500-meter record by running 3:31.69 at the Oregon Team Invitational at Hayward Field in Eugene. Thanks to a sensational 53.59 final 400m, Birnbaum easily took down Liam Murphy’s previous record of 3:33.02. It was a huge improvement over Birnbaum’s previous best of 3:37.02.

You can watch the final lap or race below.

Last lap

Wanna see the final lap of a COLLEGIATE RECORD⁉️

3️⃣:3️⃣1️⃣.6️⃣9️⃣

SIMEON. BIRNBAUM.#GoDucks

📺 @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/g3KDui4Fbr

— oregontf (@OregonTF) April 19, 2026

Full race: 

Afterwards Birnbaum said he felt he could break the NCAA record today. Once his coach Jerry Schumacher saw the weather forecast, he agreed and history was made.

Birnbaum told The Daily Emerald afterwards, “It feels incredible. During the race, my pacer, Tom (Palfrey), and I were running pretty quick, maybe a tiny bit slow at one point, and I told him, ‘Faster.’ I was that confident that I could handle a little bit faster, and I said that two or three times. It’s like you’re doing something really, really hard and it doesn’t feel that hard, and it’s one of the best feelings ever.”

2026 has been a breakout year for Birnbaum, as he was runner-up at NCAAs in the 3000 and ran the fastest time in the 1600 on the DMR leg.

Birnbaum was the guest on the LetsRun.com podcast earlier this month and said, “Who really cares how fast you run? What does that really get you?…almost anyone can run like fast times, but it’s very few people who can like win consistently.”

3:31.69 got Simeon the NCAA record. Well done Simeon! Podcast here.

Men’s 1500m Results