Matt Daniels

About

Matt Daniels is an American professional trail and ultrarunner from Arlington, Texas, whose career traces an arc from scholastic cross-country through the US Navy, NCAA middle-distance track, and elite road racing before arriving at the mountains. After high school he served three years in the US Navy, stationed in Japan, before enrolling at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado — a school with a deep distance-running tradition — where he competed in the mile and middle distances and contributed to the programme's first-ever team title at the NCAA Outdoor Championships, individually placing 7th in the 1500m. Moving to Boulder after college and joining Hudson Elite, he ran a 1:03:43 half marathon and qualified for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials. The same year, at the suggestion of Andy Wacker and Hayden Hawks, he attended the US Mountain Running Championships, qualified for the world team, and fell permanently in love with trail. His ultra debut was striking: fourth place at the 2019 Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, having suffered a concussion at Bandera 100k in January and never having run beyond 34 miles before that February. He has also won the Gorge Waterfalls 50k. A Nike Trail athlete based in Boulder, Daniels is one of the more compelling crossover stories in the sport — a trained miler who found his calling at 100 miles.

Notable Wins

• — 4th Western States 100 2019
• — Gorge Waterfalls 50k
• — US Mountain Running team qualifier 2016

Race History