Jeff Atkinson (athlete)

Jeff Atkinson, in Mammoth Lakes, California, icing his legs

Jeffrey Patrick Atkinson (born February 24, 1963 in Manhattan Beach, California) is a male former middle distance runner from the United States. He currently holds the mile record at Stanford University and has held the record for 28 years.^[1] He competed at the Summer Olympics in 1988 in Seoul, South Korea and came in tenth place in the 1500m race. He tried to make a comeback at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, but did not get past the Olympic Trials.

Coaching

Atkinson currently holds coaching positions in both cross country and track and field at Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates, CA. Jeff, along with fellow head coach Brian Shapiro, coached both the boys' and girls' cross country program at PV to much success in 2007, when both varsity teams competed in both the Division III CIF Southern Section Finals and State Championships. The boys have since won a CIF-SS title and a CIF State Championship titles in 2009 & 2011 (setting record team times for Division III) and gone on to compete at the Nike Cross Nationals in 2009. The girls also won a Southern Section title in 2010, 2011 & 2013 and CIF State Championship title in 2011^[2] under Atkinson.

Olympic Runner

Ranked 1st as the fastest American in 1500m in 1989 ^[3]

Ranked 3rd in 1500m in 1988 ^[3]

Stanford Track Record

3:55.16 Mile, 1986 ^[1]

Former United States Track Record Holder

3:38.12 1500m, 1989 (record was broken by Bernard Lagat in 2005 ^[4]^[5] Indoor American Record

Personal Records

800m 1:48
1500m 3:35.15
Mile 3:52.80
5K Road 14:01
10K Road 29:56
Marathon 2:46

Marathon career

2005 Won Catalina Marathon in 3:05:27 which today is the masters record.

References

sports-reference