Sam Parsons (born June 18, 1994) is a

German-American German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

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runner. He attended the Tatnall School of

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

and later competed on the collegiate level at

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and p ...

. In 2019, he gained German citizenship and has since represented the country at the

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2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, and

2023 World Athletics Championships The 2023 World Athletics Championships (), the nineteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships, were held from 19 to 27 August 2023 at the National Athletics Centre (Budapest), National Athletics Centre, in Budapest, Hungary. The tourna ...

Athletics career

High school

Parsons was coached by Patrick Castagno and competed in cross country or track and field all 12 seasons. Parsons raced a personal best of 1:58 in the

800 meters The 800 metres, or 800 meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event sin ...

, 4:12 in the

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a imperial unit, British imperial unit and United States customary unit of length; both are based on the older English unit of Unit of length, le ...

, 9:00 in the

3200 meters 3200 meters is an uncommon long middle-distance, or short long-distance, track and field running event that is 200 m longer than the much more common 3,000 metre run, and slightly shorter than the two mile run. At exactly eight laps on a st ...

, and 14:47 in the

5000 meters The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

at New Balance Indoor Nationals. Parsons also individually qualified for

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as a senior. Parsons led his team to multiple state championships, including going undefeated during the 2012 season by winning the cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track Delaware state championships for the Tatnall School.

College

Parsons ran for Rollie Geiger at

North Carolina State North Carolina State University (NC State, North Carolina State, NC State University, or NCSU) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina sy ...

. He achieved personal bests of 3:44 in the

1500 meters The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometers ...

, 13:52 in the

, and 28:43 in the

10,000 meters The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The r ...

. In cross country, Parsons was a four-time participant at the NCAA Cross Country Championship placing as high as 51st during his final cross country season at the 2016 NCAA Men's Division I Cross Country Championships with a time of 30:33 for

Professional

In 2018, Parsons traveled to Germany to visit his mother’s native country. He was hesitant to continue in track but decided to turn pro by signing a three-year deal with

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

in 2018. Parsons teamed with Drew Hunter to found the professional running team, Tinman Elite.

2019

In February 2019, Parsons acquired

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

citizenship in an attempt to qualify for the

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in the 5000 metres. At the Payton Jordan Invitational (April 2019) Parsons ran with two of his teammates ( Drew Hunter and Jordan Gusman) in an attempt to meet the World Championships qualifying standard (13:22.5) in the 5,000 m. Parsons ran 13:22.32; right behind his teammates who ran 13:21. He would go on to represent Germany

5000 m The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global sport of athletics, athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athleti ...

held in Doha, Qatar. He did not advance to the final.

2022

Parsons competed in the

3000 m The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m shou ...

at the

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, finishing seventh in his qualifying heat, not advancing to the final. In April 2022, Parsons became the first person to break 4 minutes in the mile on

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

soil, running 3:58.17 on the track of his alma mater, Tatnall High School. In May, he ran a 5000 m personal best of 13:21.17 to take tenth at the Track Meet in

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano (also known colloquially as San Juan or SJC) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 35,253 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, San Ju ...

. Following a second place finish at the German Championships, he was selected to compete at the 2022 World Championships in

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in the 5000 m. He advanced to the final as a time qualifier with a 13:24.50 in the first round and ran 13:45.89 to place 15th in the final. Later that summer, he competed at the

2022 European Athletics Championships The 2022 European Athletics Championships were the 25th edition of the European Athletics Championships and were held in Munich, Germany, from 15 to 21 August 2022. They were part of the 2022 European Championships, European Championships, a multi ...

, placing sixth over 5000 m.

2023

In January 2023, Parsons ran a 5000 m personal best of 13:12.78 at

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, setting a German indoor record in the process. In February, he ran a 3000 m personal best of 7:39.94 at the

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and the following month finished seventh at the

2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2023 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held from 2 to 5 March 2023 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena, Ataköy Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, the first time the event took place in this country although the venue did stage the 2012 IAAF Worl ...

over

. He competed in the 5000 m at the World Championships in

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. However with 900 metres to go in his qualifying heat, he tripped, dashing his hopes of making another world final.

Championships results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Sam 1994 births Living people German national athletics champions German male long-distance runners German sportspeople of American descent American people of German descent Track and field athletes from North Carolina North Carolina State University alumni NC State Wolfpack men's track and field athletes Sportspeople from North Carolina American male long-distance runners World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century German sportsmen