Don Janicki (born April 23, 1960) is an American long-distance runner. As a student at Mesa High School (Mesa, Arizona) in 1978, Janicki set the state high school record for the mile with a time of 4:09.95. The record would remain 35 years until Andy Trouard of Salpointe ran a 4:09.71. He later competed for the

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...

and earn All-American honors in 1980 and 1981 in cross country. During his 1982 track season, Janicki ran the 5,000 meters in 13:44.20 and the 10,000 meters in 28:27.87, putting him in the top 10 fastest University of Arizona runners in each event. In 1987, won the Holiday Bowl Marathon in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, California. He drove away from the race with $4,000 in prize money and a new convertible. The 1989 year took him to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

and St. Paul for the

Twin Cities Marathon The Twin Cities Marathon is a marathon in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area which normally takes place the first weekend in October. The race is often called "The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America" due to a course that winds through down ...

, which he won in a time of 2:12:18, earning him $25,000. Janicki ran his fastest marathon time in 1985 in the

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a road marathon held in October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the seven World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is one of the largest races by number of fini ...

, which fielded strong competition with world-class finishing times. Janicki's PR of 2:11:16 put him in seventh, four minutes behind British runner Steve Jones, who was hoping to set a second consecutive world record that morning. While Jones did take the win in 2:07:13, a minute faster than his previous world record the year before, it wasn't fast enough to beat

Carlos Lopes Carlos Alberto de Sousa Lopes (, born 18 February 1947) is a Portuguese former long-distance runner and world-record holder in the marathon. He won the Athletics at the 1984 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon, marathon at the 1984 Summer Olym ...

's 2:07:12 set in April 1985. Janicki's time was the fourth-fastest marathon time by an American in 1985. He won the Cleveland Marathon in 1993 and 1994 with times of 2:11:39 and 2:15:04 respectively. He was back in the top finishers at the 1994 Chicago Marathon with a fifth-place finish in 2:13:21. In 2016, Janicki was inducted into the Colorado Running Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janicki, Don Living people 1960 births American male marathon runners Sportspeople from Arizona University of Arizona people Arizona Wildcats men's track and field athletes Arizona Wildcats men's cross country runners Mesa High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen People from Louisville, Colorado