Shannon Rowbury

Shannon Solares-Rowbury (born September 19, 1984) is an American middle-distance runner from San Francisco, California.

In 2002, Rowbury graduated from Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory High School in San Francisco.

Rowbury attended Duke University and studied English and Theater and competed on the cross country and track and field teams for the school.

After competing collegiately for Duke University, she turned professional in 2007.

In 2007, Rowbury graduated from Duke magna cum laude in English and Theater Studies with a certificate in Film/Video/Digital Studies.

In April 2007, Rowbury was diagnosed with a femoral neck stress fracture (hip joint), which abruptly put an end to her collegiate career at Duke University.

Rowbury signed with Nike in June 2007.

Her first six months of training under John Cook involved rehabilitation from her stress fracture.

In November 2007, Rowbury competed at the Seagate Elite 5K Road Race in San Jose, California to assess her current fitness level coming back from her injury.

She managed a second-place finish, with a time of 15:54.

In addition, her effort would have placed her 9th in the world rankings based on the 2007 IAAF world performance list.

This performance gave her the Olympic A standard that she needed heading into the USATF Olympic Trials.

Rowbury has represented the United States at the 2008, 2012, and 2016 Summer Olympics.

She completed her master's degree at Duke in May 2008, with an emphasis on Film and Women's Studies.

In January 2008, Rowbury enjoyed her first extended stint at altitude in central Mexico where she trained for six weeks with her coach and teammates.

She returned to the United States in February to compete in the USA Indoor Track and Field Championships, her first track race since her injury 11 months earlier.

Rowbury went on to win the 3000 m in a personal best time of 8:55.19.

In April 2008, Rowbury opened up her outdoor track campaign at the Duke Invitational, winning the 800 m by 12 seconds with a two-second personal best time of 2:02.76.

Her next race was in early May at the Payton Jordon Invitational at Stanford University where she hoped to achieve the Olympic A standard at 1500 m (4:07.00).

Although Rowbury came up short of her goal while racing at Stanford, she did manage a five-second personal best at this distance with a time of 4:07.59.

Still seeking the Olympic A standard, Rowbury raced at the Adidas Track Classic in Carson, California on May 18, 2008.

In the 1500 m, she won with a time of 4:01.61, improving another six seconds over her previous personal best.

This performance placed Rowbury her 5th all-time at 1500 m for United States females.

On July 6, 2008 at the USATF Olympic Trials in Eugene, Oregon, Rowbury placed first in the 1500 m final with a time of 4:05.48, followed by Erin Donohue and Christin Wurth-Thomas.

The three qualified to compete at the 2008 Beijing Olympics based on their performance at the trials.

Rowbury had the fourth-fastest time in the first-round heats of the women's 1500 m run in Beijing, qualifying for the finals.

She was the only American athlete to advance to the finals, where she placed seventh with a time of 4:03.58.

Her seventh-place finish was (as of then) the best finish ever by an American woman in the 1500 meters at the modern Olympics.

Rowbury retained her 1500 m title at the 2009 US Championships, beating Christin Wurth-Thomas and qualifying for the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.

She also represented the United States at the World Championships in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017, winning the bronze medal in the 1500 meters in 2009.

In 2015, Rowbury helped set the world record with the U.S. team for the distance medley relay event, and set a then-American record for 1500 meters on July 17, 2015, breaking Mary Slaney's 32 year-old mark with a time of 3:56.29.

Rowbury was born in San Francisco, California.

She grew up in the Parkside section of the Sunset District neighborhood in San Francisco.

Rowbury married Mexican-American runner Pablo Solares on April 11, 2015.

She gave birth to their daughter on June 30, 2018.

Rowbury set a school record for the mile in the indoor track season as a freshman at Duke.

In her sophomore year she earned indoor All-American status, finishing in 8th place at the NCAA championships in the mile.

In her junior year season she anchored Duke's first victorious distance medley relay team.

As a senior, she helped Duke place third at the NCAA cross country championships.

She redshirted her indoor and outdoor seasons of her senior year, but set Duke school records in the 800m, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and steeplechase, the latter at 9.59.4.;