Karissa Schweizer

Schweizer at the2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships West preliminary rounds
Personal information
Nationality	United States
Born	(1996-05-04)May 4, 1996 (age 29)
Home town	Urbandale, Iowa, U.S.
Height	5 ft 4 in (163 cm)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Track,long-distance running
Event(s)	1500 m,3000 m,5000 m,cross country,10,000 m
College team	Missouri
Club	Bowerman Track Club
Turned pro	2018
Coached by	Jerry Schumacher
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2020 Tokyo 5000 m - 11th 10,000 m - 12th
World finals	2019 Doha 5000 m - 9th
Personalbests	Outdoor 800 m: 2:02.77 (Portland 2020) 1500 m: 4:00.02 (Portland 2020) 3000 m: 8:40.25 (Phoenix 2021) 5000 m: 14:26.34 (Portland 2020) 10,000 m: 30:18.05 (Eugene 2022) Indoor Mile: 4:27.54i (New York 2018) 3000 m: 8:25.70i (Boston 2020) 5000 m: 15:11.56i (Boston 2019)
Medal record Women'sathletics Representingthe United States

Karissa Schweizer (/ˈʃwaɪtsər/SHWYTE-sər; born May 4, 1996)^[1] is an Americanmiddle- andlong-distance runner, Olympian and World Record holder in the women's 4x1500 meters relay. She competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 5000 meters and 10,000 meters events finishing 11th and 12th, respectively. In 2020, she set the indoor 3000 metersAmerican Record with a time of 8:25.70.^[2]

Representing theUniversity of Missouri, she won the2016 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships and holds five other NCAA individual championship titles including being the two-time NCAA Champion in the 5000 meters event.^[3]

Schweizer grew up inUrbandale, Iowa and attended Dowling Catholic High School. She is the daughter of Mike and Kathy (Petricka) Schweizer, both of whom had successful collegiate track careers at Mankato State, with her father earning All-American honors. Karissa's grandfather, Frank Schweizer, was an NCAA Division II All-American runner atMankato State. He coached track atDowling Catholic High School for over four decades but retired before Karissa began her high school career. Her family has a rich running heritage at Dowling with her father and uncles, Steve and Doug, running track for the school. Her siblings Kelsey and Ryan also ran for Dowling, with Ryan winning eight state championships including a swimming title. He also ran a 3:49.04 PR in the 1500m to earn him a 3rd at the 2017 USA Track and Field Junior Championships. He is a member of the University of Notre Dame's track team. Karissa's cousins Alexis and Tyler ran cross-country for Dowling and a younger cousin, Lily, competed in 5th-grade track at Saint Francis.^[4][5]

Karissa never won an individual state or national cross-country title while at Dowling, never qualified for theFoot Locker Cross Country Championships, and her only track title was for 3 kilometer the 2011IAHSAA championships.^[6][7]

Recruited to theUniversity of Missouri for track and cross country in 2014, Schweizer's first NCAA championship appearance was at the2014 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, where she finished 155th.^[8] Two years later, she qualified for and placed third in the5000 m at the2016 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships.^[9]

The followingcross country season, Schweizer was not considered a favorite for the individual NCAA title.^[10] Despite this, Schweizer defeated favoritesErin Finn andAnna Rohrer to win the 6 kilometer race in 19:41.6, becoming the first female national champion in any sport inMissouri Tigers history.^[10][11]

Schweizer ran the3000 m and5000 m at the next2017 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, finishing second and first respectively.^[9] At the2017 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Schweizer ran 15:39.93 in the5000 m to win her third national collegiate title.^[12]

Despite victories at the 2017 NCAA Midwest Region andSoutheastern Conference cross country championships, Schweizer did not repeat her win at the2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships, finishing 11th.^[9] That following indoor season, she completed her first title defense by winning the 5000m at the2018 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships, in addition to a 3000m victory.^[13]

She won theHonda Sports Award as the nation's top female cross country runner in 2017.^[14][15]

It was also at this time that Schweizer began competing at higher-profile invitational meets. At the 2018Dr. Sander Invitational at theArmory Track & Field Center, Schweizer finished third in an international openmile field, her time of 4:27.54 placing her among the top five collegians all-time indoors.^[16] Later that season at theMillrose Games, Schweizer set theAmerican collegiate record in the3000m with a time of 8:41.60, her time beating Olympic medalistJenny Simpson's previous record by one second.^[3][17] In the2018 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, Schweizer ran 32:14.94 in the10,000m to finish third, twelve seconds under the existing meet record, set bySylvia Mosqueda thirty years earlier.^[18] Two days later, after leading most of race, she easily repeated her 2017 5,000-meters win, closing out her remarkable college career with her sixthNCAA outdoor championship andNCAA indoor championship gold, a silver and two bronze medals.^[19]

Schweizer signed professionally with theBowerman Track Club in 2018.^[20]

Schweizer, running the fastest time 5K in the U.S. during the summer season, recorded a personal best 15:01.63 during a win at the Sunset Tour on July 10, 2019, inAzusa, California.^[21]

On February 28, 2020, atBoston University's "Last Chance Invitational" meet, Schweizer set a new indoorAmerican Record in the 3000 m of 8:25.70. HerBowerman Track Club teammatesShelby Houlihan andColleen Quigley finished close behind in 8:26.66 and 8:28.71, respectively. Schweizer brokeShalane Flanagan's 2007 indoor AR by over seven seconds. Also, her time was faster thanMary Slaney's outdoor record of 8:25.83, set in 1985.^[22]

On July 10, 2020, Schweizer finished second to Shelby Houlihan in a 5000 m race conducted by the Bowerman Track Club with a new personal best of 14:26.34. Houlihan won the race in a new American Record of 14:23.92. Schweizer's time beat Houlihan's former American Record of 14:34.45 and made her the 14th fastest performer of all time.

On July 23, 2020, Schweizer set a new world leading time in addition to a new personal best in the 1500m, at 4:00.02, which made her the 8th fastest American to ever run the event, finishing in front ofColleen Quigley andCourtney Frerichs in 4:03.98 and 4:07.39, respectively.

On July 31, 2020, Schweizer, along withColleen Quigley,Elise Cranny andShelby Houlihan established a World Record in the women's 4x1500 meters relay with a time of 16:27.02, eclipsing the previous World Record of 16:33.58 set by a quarter of Kenyan runners on May 25, 2014. The record was ratified in December 2020,^[23][24]

On June 21, 2021, in 94-degree heat in Eugene, Oregon, Schweitzer finished 0.3 seconds behind Bowerman Track Club teammate Elise Cranny in the 5000m, qualifying for the U.S. Olympic team with a 15:28.11. Cranny had run the last 400 meters in 63.72 seconds.^[25] Schweitzer had Achilles surgery that fall.^[26]

On May 27, 2022, at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, competing in the 10,000m event, Schweitzer andAlicia Monson ran together for the last 5,000 meters, which they covered in under 15 minutes. Schweitzer edged Monson by a step crossing the finish line in 30:49.56. It qualified both for theWorld Athletics Championships United States team to be held inEugene, Oregon.^[26]

• Karissa Schweizer atWorld Athletics
• Karissa Schweizer atwww.USATF.org
• Karissa Schweizer atTeam USA (archive January 29, 2023)
• Karissa Schweizer atOlympics.com
• Karissa Schweizer atOlympedia

• 1996 births
• Living people
• American women middle-distance runners
• American women long-distance runners
• Dowling Catholic High School alumni
• Missouri Tigers women's track and field athletes
• Sportspeople from Iowa
• Track and field athletes from Iowa
• People from Urbandale, Iowa
• University of Missouri alumni
• Olympic track and field athletes for the United States
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
• Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics
• NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners
• NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners
• 21st-century American sportswomen

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