NYRR Media Center

Tyler Pennel notched the most surprising result of his career last year with a fourth-place finish at the 2018 Boston Marathon in terrible weather conditions.

Pennel won his marathon debut at the 2014 Twin Cities Marathon in 2:13:32, which remains his personal best to this day. The event doubled as the USATF Marathon Championships, meaning Pennel also won his first national title and earned a spot at the 2015 IAAF World Championships. Also in 2014, he finished in the top 30 and as the second American at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. He went on to run his first sub-four minute mile in 2015.

In 2016, he took fifth at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials but then had to sit out of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials with a stress fracture. He returned from a back injury that November to finish eighth at the TCS New York City Marathon; he was the third American man to cross the finish line.

Pennel is one of the most decorated athletes in the history of Western State College in Colorado, where he was an 11-time All-American and won an individual national title and team national title. He was introduced to running after his freshman year of high school and was urged by his father to join his school’s cross-country team.