Four-time NCAA Champion. Two-time U.S. Road Race Champion. Sub-2:09 marathoner. At 41 years old, Sam Chelanga is returning to the marathon at the 130th Boston Marathon for the first time since 2023.
He has a shot at the American Masters Best and he could make some waves at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
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Collegiate Champion
Chelanga’s journey began in Kenya, but his rise to prominence took shape in the United States.
He first competed at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, where he immediately made an impact, finishing as the top freshman at the 2006 NCAA Cross Country Championships and winning the Penn Relays 10,000m.
He transferred to Liberty University, a defining move in his collegiate career.
He redshirted cross country and took another win at Penn Relays, winning the Olympic Development 5,000m.
By 2009, Chelanga had established himself as one of the best distance runners in the NCAA, winning the NCAA Cross Country Championships in 28:41.9 at Terre Haute, Indiana, setting a new course record in the process.
He returned the following year and did it again.
With that second title, Chelanga became just the 11th athlete in NCAA history to win multiple cross country championships.
His time in the NCAA was marked with four NCAA titles, six Big South Conference titles, and fifteen All-American titles.
Turning Pro
After graduating in 2011, and raced his professional road race debut at the B.A.A. 10k in Boston, Massachusetts.
His early pro years were defined by versatility, racing in the track and road racing scenes.
In 2014, Chelanga raced the 5,000m at the Boston BU Open Meet, where he finished behind college rival Galen Rupp, who set the American record in 13:01.26. This record was only recently broken by Grant Fisher in 2022, and stands at 12:44.09 from 2025.
Chelanga's first race as a U.S. citizen and first race as a pro was won in a photo finish at the 2015 USA 12k Road Running Championships in 34:35, marking Chelanga's first National Title.
At the 2016 USATF 10-mile championships, he won his second National Title in 47:25.
After a DNF in the 2016 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, he returned in 2017 to finish his first marathon at the Chicago Marathon (2:15.02), with a fifteenth-place finish.
Primarily focusing on track races after the COVID pandemic, Chelanga continued to dabble in road racing, setting a new personal best at the 2023 Chicago Marathon in 2:08.50, which stands as his PR today.
Saucony Sponsor Switch
2024 marked the changing of the guard for Chelanga's sponsor, with the switch from Nike to Saucony. With an Olympic Standard in the Marathon, Chelanga, with the help of Saucony, would focus the year on the 10,000m at the 2024 US Olympic Trials, with high hopes on Paris.
Unfortunately, he fell short of his Olympic dreams with a seventh-place finish at trials.
This marked a turning point for the Saucony athlete as he turned his focus to primarily road racing, where he has spent the last year and a half racing 8ks up to half marathons.
Returning to a familiar stage, at the 130th Boston Marathon, marking his first Marathon since his PR at Chicago in 2023.
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