Brendan Martin

Brendan Martin is an American distance runner who specializes in the marathon. He ran collegiately for Columbia University before becoming a marathoner. Martin competed U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon in 2016, 2020, and 2024.

Early life Martin grew up in Smithtown, New York and attended Smithtown West High School. He played lacrosse until his sophomore year of high school, and then decided to focus on running. He led his cross country team to three consecutive Suffolk County Championships. After graduating in 2007, Martin attended Columbia University where he ran cross country and track, registering a career-best time of 14:09 for 5,000 meters.

Career 2012 to 2016 After college, Martin quickly made a jump to the marathon distance, placing 13th overall at the 2012 Boston Marathon. He followed that up with a 2:18:28 performance at the 2013 Fukuoka Marathon in Japan.

In 2014, he lowered his marathon best to 2:16:28 at the California International Marathon, which qualified him for the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon.

At the 2016 Olympic Trials Marathon in Los Angeles, Martin endured sunny, hot conditions to place 20th in a time of 2:20:41.

At the 2020 Olympic Trials, Martin finished in 135th place out of 235 men on a hilly course. Later that year, he notched his second-best marathon time of 2:15:34 at the Marathon Project event in Arizona. In December, he recorded his third sub 2:16 marathon, with a 2:15:59 performance at the 2024 Valencia Marathon.