Boris Berian
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Boris Berian (born December 19, 1992) is an American middle distance runner. He was the 2016 National Champion and represented the United States at the
2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 16th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held between March 17 and 20, 2016 in Portland, Oregon, United States. The event did not feature Russia. Following a WADA investigation into widespread and institutional doping practices ...
in the
800 meters The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...
where he won the gold medal. He set his indoor best winning the world championships at 1:45.87, boldly front running a sub-50 first 400. Outdoors he set his personal best 1:43.34 at the 2015
Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...
meet. In his collegiate career, Berian ran for
Adams State University Adams State University is a public university in Alamosa, Colorado. The university's Adams State Grizzlies athletic teams compete in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. History Adams State was founded in 1921 as a teacher's college. Billy ...
, where he was coached by Damon Martin. Barely a year before the Herculis meet, Berian was working in a Colorado Springs
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as a college dropout, still trying to train after working the morning shift.


Running career


High school

Berian, a Colorado Springs native, attended
Widefield High School Widefield High School is a high school in Security-Widefield, Colorado, United States. It opened its doors in 1958 and is the older of the two high schools in Widefield School District 3. Widefield's mascot is the Gladiator and its colors are nav ...
, where he graduated in 2011. During high school, he ran all the sprinting events, and also occasionally ran the 800 meters. Berian was the Colorado state champion two years a row at
400 meters The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is on ...
and recorded high school personal bests of 46.9 for 400 meters and 1:52 for 800 meters.


Collegiate

While running at Adams State, he won both the 2012
NCAA Men's Division II Indoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Men's Division II Indoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate indoor track and field competition organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to determine the Division II national champions of seventeen di ...
and
NCAA Men's Division II Outdoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Division II Men's Outdoor Track and Field Championship (known as the NCAA College Division Outdoor Track and Field Championship between 1963 and 1972) is an annual collegiate outdoor track and field competition for men organised by the Na ...
at 800 meters. His wins helped the team win the outdoor championship and was runner up indoors. Adams State coach Joe Vigil recommended Berian to the Big Bear Track Club, a small track club formed by Carlos Handler around another aspiring unheralded former collegiate athlete, his wife,
Brenda Martinez Brenda Martinez (born September 8, 1987) is an American middle-distance runner and Olympian. Born in Upland, California, she won a silver medal in the 800 meters at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow and finished first in the ...
. In that year of training he improved to become the #5 American 800 meter runner of all time.


Professional

Berian experienced a breakout year in 2016. After winning the US Indoor Championship over 800m, he went on to win the World Indoor Championship over the same distance. During the outdoor season, Berian won the 800m at the
Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the University o ...
before finishing runner-up to
Clayton Murphy Clayton Murphy (born February 26, 1995) is an American middle-distance runner. He won the bronze medal in the 800-meter run at the 2016 Olympic Games. He was the gold medalist in the 800-meter run at the 2015 Pan American Games. He ran collegiat ...
at the US Olympic Trials. He then reached the final of the 800m at the Rio Olympic Games where he finished in last place.


Endorsement controversy

In early 2016, Berian received an offer sheet from New Balance with terms he found agreeable. Berian's contract with Nike had expired on 12/31/15 but Nike retained the right to match a competitor's term sheet for 180 days. Nike indicated that they would match the New Balance offer and then sued him for breach of contract when he wouldn't sign with Nike. Berian argued that Nike failed to match the New Balance offer; both Nike and New Balance offered him $125,000 per year for three years, but the Nike offer included large reductions if Berian failed to meet expectations, while the New Balance offer contained no such reductions. Nike claimed they were prepared to fully match the New Balance contract but Berian's agent, Merhawi Keflezighi, did not communicate its terms to them adequately. In early June 2016,
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district judge Marco Hernandez approved Nike's request to temporarily prohibit Berian from competing in New Balance gear. Nike's claims that reductions were an industry standard were contradicted by several of its rivals, including Oiselle,
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and New Balance. Hernandez was expected to make his next ruling on the matter after a hearing on June 21, but decided to delay it for a week; he did not extend the injunction against Berian competing in New Balance gear, which expired, and his comments in court indicated he felt that Nike had failed to match the New Balance offer. Nike, which had received negative publicity as a result of the controversy, dropped the lawsuit at that point.


References


External links

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feature on Boris Berian {{DEFAULTSORT:Berian, Boris Living people 1992 births American male middle-distance runners Sportspeople from Colorado Springs, Colorado Sportspeople from San Bernardino County, California Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States People from Big Bear Lake, California USA Indoor Track and Field Championships winners World Athletics Indoor Championships winners American Masters Athlete that competed in Olympics