NYRR Media Center

In 2018, Ben True became the first American man to win the United Airlines NYC Half, covering the course in 1:02:39. He returned to New York the following year and finished 10th in the race. In 2021, he made his 26.2-mile debut at the TCS New York City Marathon, finishing as the second top American in seventh place overall.

True was fourth in the 10,000 meters at the 2021 U.S. Olympic Trials – his third time competing in the event – and ran a personal-best 27:14.95 in the distance earlier that year. That time makes him the eighth-fastest American of all time at the distance.

True has won the B.A.A. 5K four times, taking the title in Boston in 2017, 2015, 2012, and 2011, and finishing as runner-up in 2018 and 2019. In his 2015 win he broke the 19-year-old American record for the road 5K, running 13:22; he bettered that to 13:20 in 2017, a mark that still stands as the American record. In 2015 he also won his third consecutive U.S. title at 15K and captured the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K title in Central Park, and then returned to New York to win the adidas Grand Prix, at which he became the first American man to win an IAAF Diamond League 5000-meter event. Later that month, he placed second in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the USATF Outdoor Championships, and finished sixth in the World Athletics Championships 5000 meters.

Raised in North Yarmouth, Maine, True competed on the cross country, track, and ski teams at Dartmouth College. He was the top American at the 2013 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, placing sixth to lead the U.S. to a silver team medal. In 2014, True married Sarah Groff, a three-time ITU Triathlon World Championships medalist who competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympics. The couple had their first child in 2021.