NYRR Media Center

Futsum Zienasellassie won his marathon debut last December at the USATF Marathon Championships, taking home his second national title in 2:11:01. He followed that up this year with a third-place finish at the USATF Half Marathon Championships and a new personal best of 2:09:40 in his second career marathon in Rotterdam.

Zeinasellassie was born in Eritrea and spent time at a refugee camp there before moving to Indianapolis with his family at the age of 14. He took up running in the U.S. and immediately became a standout student-athlete and one of the most sought-after recruits in the country. He went on to run for Northern Arizona University, where he won four consecutive All-American honors in cross country. His first national title came in 2019, when he won the USATF 10 Mile Championships.

Zeinasellassie has three brothers and four sisters, and his father is a priest in the Eritrean Orthodox Church. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2016 and currently lives with his wife, Samrawit, and their son, Eisey, in Flagstaff, Ariz.