Shelby Houlihan is having a career year

© Copyright – 2018 – Athletics Illustrated

Sioux City, Iowa’s Shelby Houlihan is having a career year with a slew of new personal bests and an American record to her credit. She doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

She earned national titles in the 1500-metre and 5,000-metre distances earlier this year. Most recently, the 25-year-old took down the national 5,000-metre record with her performance at Heusden, Belgium. She finished first in the time of 14:34.45. She bettered Shannon Rowbury’s national record of 14:38.92 by more than four seconds. She won the race by 25 seconds over Molly Huddle.

Houlihan’s previous best was 15:00.37. It was her first track race as a professional, and she did not disappoint.

She is a four-time national and NCAA champion and four-time national indoor champion.

She has won two other Diamond League meet this year in Lausanne and Eugene in the 1500-metre distance. The Lausanne race got her a new lifetime best at 3:57.34.

The world record for the 1500-metres is currently held by Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba at 3:50.07 from the Hercules meet in 2015, while the 5,000-metre world record is 14:11.15 and is held by her sister Tirunesh Dibaba from the 2008 Bislett Games.