Julian Francis Matthews (born 21 July 1988) is a New Zealand middle distance runner who represented his country at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Early life

Born in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

in 1988, Matthews was educated at

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

from 2002 to 2006, representing the school at basketball as well as athletics.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition (CD-ROM). In 2006 he won the New Zealand secondary schools 1500 m title. His grandfather, Trevor Wright, was a national basketball coach, and his mother played basketball for New Zealand; thus Matthews took up basketball as his first sport, and eventually was included into the national junior team. He changed to athletics because he wanted to have more personal control, that is, to move from team to individual sports.

United States college career

Auburn University

In 2008, Matthews took up an athletics scholarship at

Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...

in Alabama, where he ran cross country and track. He placed 175th at the 2008

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

championships 10 km cross country, and 38th in the same race at the NCAA South Regional meet. On the track he achieved a personal best of 3:46.79 in finishing fourth in the 1500 m at the War Eagle Invitational meet on 17 April 2009.

Providence College

After a year at Auburn, Matthews transferred to

Providence College Providence College is a Private university, private Roman Catholic university in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1917 by the Dominican Order and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence, it offers 47 undergraduate Academic ...

in Rhode Island. In the 2009–10 season, he finished 176th in the NCAA championships 10 km cross country and 9th in the NCAA championships 1500 m (outdoors). On 10 May 2010 he ran a personal best time of 3:43.95 for the 1500 m at the Swarthmore Last Chance meet. The following season, he came 130th in the NCAA 10 km cross country. At the Boston University Valentine invitational on 14 February 2011, Matthews became the 34th New Zealander and second person from Nelson (after

Rod Dixon Rodney Phillip Dixon (born 13 July 1950) is a former New Zealand middle- to long-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 1500 metres at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, and in 1983 won the New York City Marathon. Biography Dixon was ...

) to run a sub-four-minute mile, recording a time of 3:58.57 indoors. In the 2011–12 season, he was 93rd in the NCAA 10 km cross country, recorded two sub-four-minute miles (one indoors and one outdoors), and was a member of the Providence team that won the

distance medley relay The distance medley relay (DMR) is an athletic event in which four athletes compete as part of a relay. With its inclusion in the IAAF World Relays program, the IAAF announced on May 1, 2015 that the event would be an official world record event ...

at the Big East championships. Representing Tasman, he won the 2012 New Zealand 1500 m national championship in Auckland, recording a time of 3:54.37 in a slow, tactical race. In his final year at Providence, Matthews improved his personal best for the mile to 3:58.14 on 14 February 2013, won the 1000 m races at the Big East championships and URI Sorlien Invitational meet, and was a member of the winning distance medley relay team at the New England championships. He graduated from Providence College in 2013.

2014 Commonwealth Games

Matthews qualified for the New Zealand team for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow by twice meeting the 'B' qualifying standard for the 1500 m, first running 3:38.59 on 13 July 2013 at Heusden, Belgium, and then 3:38.20 at the USATF high performance meet in Eagle Rock, California, on 15 May 2014. In his 1500 m heat at Glasgow, Matthews finished fifth in a time of 3:40.33 and progressed to the final as a fastest loser. In the final, he clocked 3:41.84 to finish ninth.

Personal bests

Matthews' personal best times are as follows:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Julian 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Nelson, New Zealand People educated at Nelson College Auburn Tigers men's track and field athletes Providence Friars men's track and field athletes New Zealand male middle-distance runners Commonwealth Games athletes for New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for New Zealand Olympic athletes for New Zealand Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Auburn Tigers men's cross country runners Providence Friars men's cross country runners New Zealand Athletics Championships winners 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen