Shadrack Kipchirchir's Resilient Career Path To Success From Kenya To Winning U.S. National Titles

"I was planning to go to the marathon last year but this injury came up. I still have unfinished business on the track so after world champs, I’m going to try to debut at a fall marathon. Hopefully New York or something. That was my main thing. Once I switch my focus and I’m doing the marathon, I’m going to do some damage there."

Shadrack Kipchirchir is the newly-crowned 2022 USATF cross country champion. He is a 2016 Olympian and has not missed a U.S. world outdoor championship team since he switched allegiances from Kenya to America in 2014. After he kicked to the win on Saturday, I tried doing a little bit of research into his upbringing and his career path and honestly couldn’t find much. This is someone who has the 4th-fastest U.S. 10,000 meter time and has won six U.S. titles. So I reached out to him and invited him onto the show. This is his first-ever podcast interview and we went through his early days in Kenya growing up as one of nine kids, why he came to America to run for Western Kentucky and then Oklahoma State, why he enlisted in the Army before even thinking of the opportunity of being able to run for Team USA and how he’s found success. Last year, he suffered the first major injury of his career with a torn calf that knocked him out of making his second Olympic team. He cross-trained his butt off and roared back with the cross country victory in his first race in 294 days.

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