EUGENE, Ore. – Four-time Olympian and 2017 NYC Marathon champion Shalane Flanagan will join the Oregon staff as an assistant coach to help lead the team’s distance program, the head coach announced Monday Jerry Schumacher. Flanagan has spent the past three years working with Schumacher as an assistant coach for the Nike Bowerman Track Club.
“Shalane will be a phenomenal addition to our staff,” said Schumacher. “Her accomplishments speak for themselves and her seamless transition into coaching has been outstanding. Most importantly, she will be a wonderful resource and mentor to our student-athletes as they navigate both their athletic careers and life off the track . Shalane has the experience, drive and compassion to be an outstanding leader for our student-athletes and I look forward to seeing the impact she will have on our team.”
In her coaching role, Flanagan has been part of Bowerman Track Club’s emergence as one of the top running groups in the world. At the recent World Athletics Championships in Oregon22 in Eugene, BTC was represented by 11 athletes from four countries including Elise Cranny (5,000m), Courtney Frerichs (steeplechase) and Karissa Schweizer (5,000/10,000m).
Frerichs ran a season-best time of 9:10.59 to finish sixth in her signature event, while both Cranny and Schweizer were ninth in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, respectively. With her lifetime best of 30:18.05, Schweizer became the third-fastest American woman over 10,000 meters.
In February 2022, Cranny set an American record of 14:33.17 in the indoor 5000 meters, surpassing Flanagan’s previous record of 14:47.62 from 2009.
Flanagan enjoyed 10 years of success (2009-19) within the Bowerman Track Club, making two Olympic marathon teams—2012, 2016—as a member of the group. She finished in the top 10 in both, including sixth at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
The following year, Flanagan ended a 40-year drought for American women in the 2017 New York City Marathon by winning the prestigious event.
Flanagan made her Olympic debut in 2004 and returned in 2008 to win a silver medal – upgraded from bronze – in the 10,000m. Flanagan also has a bronze medal to her credit from the 2011 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Spain.
The Marblehead, Mass., native represented the United States at six World Track and Field Championships, finishing sixth in the 10,000 meters at the 2015 Championships in Beijing.
Showing range from track to road to cross-country, Flanagan is an 18-time USA champion with six titles in each discipline. She won two of those titles — the 10,000 meters in 2008 and 2011 — at Historic Hayward Field in Eugene.
In late 2021, Flanagan halted her retirement from professional running to complete six marathons in a span of seven weeks. She did just that, completing all six races in under three hours.
Flanagan was a three-time NCAA champion and 15-time All-American during her distinguished collegiate career at North Carolina (2000-03). She won back-to-back national titles in cross country in 2002 and 2003 and was the NCAA indoor champion in the 3,000 meters in 2003.
She has previous coaching experience in the college ranks as a volunteer assistant at alma mater North Carolina in 2009 and Portland State in 2013.
Flanagan and husband Steve have a son, Jack.
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