Shelby Houlihan wins race outright in trail running debut

Track athletes often experiment outside their lane during the off-season, but this American distance runner didn’t just dabble. On Jan. 3 in Arizona, Shelby Houlihan made a triumphant trail running debut, winning the Christiansen Trail Run outright and setting a women’s course record in the process.

The 2016 U.S. Olympian took top spot in the 24-kilometre trail race in Phoenix, clocking 1:34:12 and finishing nearly seven minutes ahead of the second-place runner, who was the first male finisher. Houlihan averaged 4:15 per kilometre over the technical 24.19-kilometre course, which featured roughly 500 metres of elevation gain.

Houlihan later shared the result on her Strava, titling the activity “My first ever trail race,” and hinted it may not be her last. “Wow, that was so much fun!’ she wrote. “Did a one-mile warm-up and then a 14-mile trail race. 1st overall!”

This isn’t the first time Houlihan has had success stepping off the track. In 2023, while serving a four-year doping suspension, she competed at the Beer Mile World Classic and won the women’s race in a then-world-record time of 5:43.81.

Houlihan’s doping suspension, stemming from a positive test for nandrolone, ran from 2021 to 2025. She maintained the substance came from a contaminated pork burrito purchased from a food truck, though the Court of Arbitration for Sport later ruled the likelihood of that scenario was “close to zero.”

Since becoming eligible to compete again last January, Houlihan has returned to the world stage. During her 2025 season, she represented the U.S. at both the World Athletics Championships and the World Indoor Championships, earning a silver medal in the women’s 3,000m in Nanjing, China.

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A few well-known figures in track and marathoning have often made the transition to the trails in the closing stages of their career, but to our recollection, not many have had instant success. In 2024, two-time Olympic marathoner Suguru Osako of Japan ran the 40-kilometre Martigny-Combe to Chamonix (MCC) race at UTMB. He finished 52nd overall, and almost an hour behind the winner, France’s Kevin Vermeulen.

Nonetheless, it’ll be interesting to see whether Houlihan continues with this new hobby. Who knows? With no major track‑and‑field championships this year aside from World Indoors in March, maybe this experience leads her to try more competitive trail races in France, Italy and Switzerland, like the MCC. 

Shelby Houlihan shatters beer mile world record