By Terry Boehmker
NKyTribune sports reporter
The runners who stack the starting line for the annual Firecracker 5K road race in Ft. Thomas on Friday morning will be treading the streets where one of America’s all-time fastest marathoners once trained.
Ethan Shuley, a former Ft. Thomas resident and 2016 graduate of Highlands High School, finished the Osaka Marathon in Japan last February in 2:07.14, which ranks eighth among best times ever posted by United States marathon runners.
The current U.S. record-holder is Conner Mantz with a time of 2:04.43 set during the 2025 Chicago Marathon, according to a list posted on the Runner’s World website (see below).
Thirteen runners from five countries finished ahead of Shuley at Osaka, but the 28-year-old American still drew a lot of attention as a rising newcomer in international marathon racing. Over a span of 13 months, he lowered his personal best time from 2:20 to 2:07.
Shuley signed with the Asics running shoe company shortly after the Osaka Marathon. He made his debut as a paid professional athlete on May 30 when he placed fifth in a field of 3,384 runners at the Peppers Silo Half-Marathon in Launceston, Tasmania.
Japan was listed as Shuley’s country for that race. He began living and working there in 2023 after graduating from Brigham Young University with a degree in Japanese Studies.
In the spring of 2024, he finished the Nara Marathon in 2:20 despite some setbacks during his training build for the 26.2-mile race in Japan.
“Coming into that race, I’d been dealing with lots of injuries and I was telling myself, ‘This is my last real attempt,'” Shuley said during an interview on the Citius Mag podcast in February. “I was going to give it 100 percent and just see how good I could do.”
Overcoming injuries is something Shuley has dealt with since high school. After winning the Class AA boys state country meet for the second consecutive year as a Highlands senior, Achilles tendonitis kept him from competing in high school track that spring.
He postponed his freshman year at Brigham Young to go on a Mormon mission trip to Ukraine. When he returned to running, Achilles tendonitis sidelined him once again and he ended up quitting the BYU cross country and track program.
“Up until then, running was a big part of my life and it was almost like an identity crises,” he recalled in the Citius Mag interview. “I didn’t know what to do with my free time. That’s actually how I stumbled into language learning and studying Japanese. It was just as big transition period.”
His running comeback continued in Japan when he finished second in 2:11.30 at the 2025 Kobe Marathon last November. Three months later, he posted a personal best at Osaka and put his name on the list of all-time fastest U.S. marathoners.
“In terms of future goals, I’d like to continue to be more competitive place-wise in races and hopefully one day get some wins,” Shuley said.
The qualifying time for the 2028 U.S. Olympic Trials in the men’s marathon is 2:16. Shuley beat that standard twice in the last few months, but the trials are a long-range goal that won’t take place until March of 2028.
“I think it’s a goal for anyone competing at a high level in the marathon,” he said. “It’s definitely a goal to do the trials and compete there, and then the Olympics as well.”
Runner’s World: Top 10 United States men’s marathon times
2:04.43 — Conner Mantz (2025 Chicago Marathon)
2:05.38 — Khalid Khannouchi (2002 London Marathon)
2:05.45 — Zouhair Talbi (2026 Houston Marathon)
2:05.54 — Vincent Mauri (2026 Glass City Marathon)
2:06.07 — Galen Rupp (2018 Prague Marathon)
2:06.17 — Ryan Hall (2008 London Marathon)
2:06.53 — Biya Simbassa (2024 Valencia Marathon)
2:07.14 — ETHAN SHULEY (2026 Osaka Marathon)
2:07.47 — Dathan Ritzenhein (2012 Chicago Marathon)
2:07.56 — Leonard Korir (2019 Amsterdam Marathon)