Matt McDonald (runner)
Matt McDonald (born May 10, 1993) is an American distance runner who specializes in the marathon. He grew up in Annandale, New Jersey, went to North Hunterdon High School, and then ran for Princeton University, where he competed in NCAA cross country and track.
After college, McDonald shifted to longer road racing. He finished 5th in the 2017 Indianapolis Half Marathon (1:05:10) and made his marathon debut at the California International Marathon in 2017 with 2:18:34, earning a spot at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials. He shaved his time in CIM in 2018 to 2:14:06 (11th) and in 2019 posted strong times in Boston (21st) and Chicago (14th), with 2:11:10 in Chicago that year.
While pursuing his PhD in chemical engineering at Georgia Tech, he trained hard, running up to about 135 miles per week. He finished 10th at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta. After completing his PhD, he moved to Boston to train with the BAA high-performance team. He placed 20th at the 2021 Boston Marathon (2:15:47) and 14th at the 2022 Boston Marathon (2:10:35). He set a career best of 2:09:49 at the 2022 Chicago Marathon, finishing 12th.
In 2023 he won the New Bedford Half Marathon, and his wife Maegan Krifchin won the women’s race. He was 10th at Boston and 13th at Chicago that year. At the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials in Orlando, he finished 63rd in hot conditions. His wife competed while seven months pregnant.
As of 2025, McDonald lives in Philadelphia with his wife and child. He is an assistant professor of chemical and biological engineering at Drexel University, researching autonomous synthetic chemistry, with work published in Science Magazine. His personal bests include Marathon 2:09:49, Half Marathon 1:03:43, and 10,000 meters 29:38. He has finished in the top 25 at seven World Marathon Majors.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 16:51 (CET).