NYRR Media Center

Olympic and World Championships medalist Jenny Simpson will be making her United Airlines NYC Half debut, but she is no stranger to the Big Apple or New York Road Runners. She is an eight-time winner of the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile, having taken the tape in 2011 and every year from 2013 to 2019. In 2017, Simpson tied the event record of 4:16.6 set by PattiSue Plumer in 1990 before it was broken by Laura Muir in 2022.

Simpson was also previously an Ambassador and Special Advisor to Rising New York Road Runners, NYRR’s free youth running program. She helped lead Rising New York Road Runners’ Active at Home program during the pandemic to provide free and fun fitness activities to kids of all ages and abilities.

A former American record-holder at the 3000-meter steeplechase, Simpson placed ninth in that event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and fifth at the 2009 World Athletics Championships in Berlin. After shifting her focus to the 1,500 meters, she garnered tremendous success at the distance, claiming a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, gold at the 2011 World Championships, and silver at the 2017 and 2013 World Championships.

She recently moved up in distances, making her half-marathon debut at the 2023 Houston Half Marathon, where she finished ninth in 1:10:35, and competed at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in February.

Before turning pro, Simpson had an impressive collegiate career at the University of Colorado where she was the inaugural winner of the 2009 Bowerman Athlete of the Year Award. During her time as a student-athlete she set NCAA records in distances from 1,500 meters to 5,000 meters and was multi-time All-American.