Who is Ethan Shuley?
That’s what everyone in the running world wanted to know after the unknown, unsponsored, former BYU student completed the Osaka Marathon in February with a time of 2:07:14, making him the seventh-fastest American ever.
Almost overnight, he went from a nobody who was studying film in Japan to a contender for the next Olympic team. Agents are calling, hoping to represent him. Shoe companies are trying to sign him to a contract — reps from Asics and Puma flew in to meet him.
Almost no one was surprised when it was revealed that the 27-year-old Shuley had once competed for BYU, even if only briefly. The school has become an assembly line for world-class distance runners in recent years, making their mark in the Olympics, national collegiate championships and major marathons, setting American and NCAA records along the way. Shuley becomes the third BYU alum to join the list of the 10 fastest American marathoners ever.
Shuley, who was a two-time Kentucky state cross country champ, was beset with Achilles injuries and burnout in high school and missed his senior year of track. After returning from a two-year mission in Ukraine for The Church of Jesus Christ, he enrolled at BYU with no plan to resume his running career.
To his surprise, he learned that BYU coach Ed Eyestone had held a spot for him as a walk-on. He was included on BYU’s 2018 cross country roster, along with four future Olympians — American record holder Conner Mantz, Rory Linkletter, Clayton Young and silver medalist Kenneth Rooks.
He trained with the school’s farm team — a group of developing runners hoping to make the varsity roster — under the direction of coach Isaac Wood.
“I came back and worked with the farm team,” Shuley told Citius Magazine. “Isaac Wood told me I was good enough to get back on the team. So that fall — roughly August, right around when they had cross country camp — I got back on the team and trained through that whole cross country season.
“Social media was blowing up — who is this guy? When I saw his time, I realized it was No. 7 (among Americans) all-time and that now he’s in the conversation for the Olympic team.”
— coach Isaac Wood on Ethan Shuley's breakout performance in Japan
“It went relatively well. I was finally getting relatively fit without any injuries. Then we entered indoor track season. I did one race, and a week later, I got injured. That was my only race in a BYU uniform. I had another Achilles injury, was out for four months, and I just couldn’t take it anymore. I decided to quit the team. … Up until then, running was a big part of my life and it was almost like an identity crisis.”
“He was hurt a lot in high school and college,” recalls Wood. “Achilles issues. It just didn’t click at BYU. He was hurt. It was clear he wasn’t going to help us. On the farm team, he got better. He had that one race and then got hurt after that. He lost the desire at that point. Everyone knew he was crazy gifted. It was this conversation of what could’ve been. He was just dinged up all the time — it was injuries and recovery mode.”
After his lone collegiate race in December 2020, he walked away from the sport. After graduating from BYU in 2023, he moved to Japan to work, and a year ago he began film studies. He eventually took up his old sport again, focusing on trail and ultra running, and gradually built up his weekly training load to 100 miles.
He decided to try marathoning, but he was such an unknown that he had to talk his way into elite marathons in Japan, not always successfully. In December 2024, he ran a marathon in 2:20:53. In March of 2025, he ran another marathon (Nagano), this time in 2:18:13, good for fifth place.
In November, he ran a third marathon (Kobe) in 2:11:30, placing second. Then came February’s shocking result in the Osaka Marathon, a fast race in which 2:07 placed no better than 14th. In a matter of 24 months, he dropped nearly 14 minutes from his best marathon time.
For much of the time, Shuley was writing his own workouts, which he managed by following what elite marathoners posted on Strava. Then, last summer, he reconnected with Wood, the director of track and cross country at the University of Pacific. Previously, he had also built a national championship program at Salt Lake Community College. On the side, from his home in California, he has continued to coach a training group in Salt Lake City remotely.
As Wood tells it, “Last summer, one of the runners, Michael Ottesen, called to tell me that Ethan — who was visiting family in Utah — had hopped in a workout with the group and crushed it. He said, ‘Ethan is really fit. I’m fit and he killed me.’ Michael is a 2:15 marathoner.”
Wood and Shuley talked on the phone and decided that Wood would oversee his training program. They worked together while preparing for the breakthrough performance in Osaka. Shuley consistently trained 110-115 miles per week, and about six weeks before Osaka, he reached 148.
“When you can stack weeks of training like that, and stay healthy, good things are going to happen,” says Wood. “He was better about his diet, sleep and recovery. He ran a 1:02:02 half-marathon in January, and I was like, oh, this is serious, he’s in sub-2:10 shape.”
Wood, who watched the Osaka race on livestream, says, “Social media was blowing up — who is this guy? When I saw his time, I realized it was No. 7 (among Americans) all-time and that now he’s in the conversation for the Olympic team.”
Shuley, for one, was rather nonchalant about the race. Based on his fast half-marathon in January and the progress of his training, he had told Japan Running News that he could run 2:06 if everything went well.
“This has been a crazy week,” he told Citius. “My Instagram has tons of comments. My Strava blew up. I figured if I ran the time I had in mind, something like this would happen, but it’s just weird to actually experience it.”
What’s next? “He wants to run a world major (marathon),” says Wood. “He might wait to run Chicago (in the fall). He wants to stay healthy and get ready to make the Olympic team in two years.”