From Tigst Assefa’s astonishing 2:11:53 marathon world record to Sha’Carri Richardson storming back onto the top spot of the world stage to Faith Kipyegon setting three world records and winning two more world titles to solidify herself as the greatest middle-distance runner of all time, runners turned in impressive feats on the road, trails, and track in 2023.

Age-group, American, and world records were set this year in everything from the 400 meters to 48 hours. North Carolina State won its third straight NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship in a massive upset. Richardson rose from the ashes to win two world championship titles and position herself as the sprinter to beat going into next summer’s Paris Olympic Games. And trail runner Courtney Dauwalter defied what we believed to be possible by winning an unprecedented triple crown of 100-mile races in the span of nine weeks last summer.

It’s hard to narrow the list of outstanding feats down to 10, but we did our best. We paired it down to 11. Here’s our list of the most inspiring women and non-binary athletes who moved us with their extraordinary performances in all disciplines of the sport.

1. Faith Kipyegon Proves She’s the GOAT

Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon entered the 2023 season as the back-to-back defending Olympic and World Championship 1500-meter winner. She not only lived up to the pressure as the world’s middle-distance running queen, she soared above it.

On June 2, Kipyegon set a new world record in the 1500, running 3:49:11 to become the first woman to break the elusive 3:50 barrier. Just a week later in Paris she set another world record, this time in the 5,000 meters. In only her third 5,000 ever and first since 2015, Kipyegon ran a blistering 14:05:20 in a dramatic duel against previous record holder Letesenbet Gidey, who had set the world record of 14:06:62 in 2020.

A month later in Monaco, Kipyegon clinched her world record hat trick with 4:07:64 in the mile—breaking Sifan Hassan’s mark from 2019 by nearly five seconds. Kipyegon, 29, backed up that trio of performances with gold medals in the 1500 and 5,000 at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August to indisputably place herself in the category of one of the best distance runners of all time.

2. Courtney Dauwalter Earns Unprecedented Hat Trick

Courtney Dauwalter stunned the ultrarunning world by winning the three biggest 100-mile races in the sport this past summer: the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, and Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB). Arguably the best trail and ultrarunner in the world, this 38-year-old Leadville, Colorado, resident is an intuitive self-coached runner who is known for bringing lighthearted fun and joy onto the trails with her love of candy, beer, pastries, jokes and basketball-style running shorts.

Dauwalter, named as one of Outside’s 2023 Outsiders of the Year, smashed the women’s Western States course record in June with a time of 15:29:33, shaving nearly 80 minutes off Ellie Greenwood’s historic record from 2012. Three weeks later, Dauwalter broke her own record by 20 minutes at Hardrock 100 in Silverton, Colorado. And by winning the UTMB in early September, Dauwalter sealed the most prestigious—and unprecedented—triple crown of ultrarunning all within a nine-week span.

REALTED: Who Is Courtney Dauwalter’s New Ultramarathon Partner? It’s Her Mom.

3. Tigst Assefa Shatters the Marathon World Record

A 2016 Olympian in the 800 meters, Tigst Assefa is now the fastest female marathoner ever. Assefa, 29, only started running marathons two years ago. On September 24, the Ethiopian defended her Berlin Marathon title in dramatic fashion, breaking the tape in an astonishing 2:11:53. That’s 5:02 per mile pace. She took over two minutes off of the previous record of 2:14:04, which had been set by Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei at the 2019 Chicago Marathon.

4. NC State NCAA Cross Country Threepeat

Things were not looking promising for the North Carolina State women’s cross country team heading into the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on November 18. Several days before the race, the Wolfpack’s most consistent star Kelsey Chmiel, who took third at the race in 2022, announced she would be unable to compete. Chmiel’s absence was an especially heavy blow as two of her top teammates Amaris Tynnismaa and Samantha Bush, who took ninth and 15th at 2022 NCAAs respectively, had struggled with injuries and their leader and 2022 individual champion Katelyn Tuohy came down sick the week of the race.

But dynasties find a way to make the magic happen. Tuohy, 21, dug deep into her reserves to battle for every last place to the line. She finished fifth to both physically and metaphorically lead the team. That tenacity trickled down through the Wolfpack as freshmen Leah Stephens and Grace Hartman fended off the field gunning for them over the final kilometer to finish 43rd and 63rd, respectively, each by tenths of seconds. Every last tenth of a second counted—NC State secured their third consecutive title by one point over Northern Arizona University.

The Wolfpack’s success cannot be mentioned without talking about coach Laurie Henes, who has built a positive team culture built on trust and leadership. Henes has been practicing gratitude-sharing herself and with her team, and she prioritizes team cohesion and long-term health. The culture of longevity and success Henes has created puts the Wolfpack in the elusive club of being one of only three teams to win three back-to-back cross country titles.

5. Sha’Carri Richardson Soars at World Championships

This year proved to be a redemption tour for Sha’Carri Richardson. After missing the Tokyo Olympics due to a suspension for testing positive for marijuana followed by a lackluster 2022 season, the 23-year-old sprinter from Dallas, Texas, staged a stunning comeback by winning the 100-meters at the USATF Championship in Eugene, Oregon, in early July with a time of 10.82. That came days after she ran a personal best of 10.71 in the first round.

“I’m not back. I’m better,” Richardson told NBC in a post-race interview. Richardson also ran the sixth-fastest 200-meter time in U.S. history (21.94) while taking second at the USATF Championships.

Richardson then went on to win the 100-meters, anchor the U.S. gold-medal 4×100-meter relay, and earn the bronze medal in the 200-meters at the World Athletics Championships. Her extraordinary performances at the world championships earned her the USATF 2023 Jackie Joyner-Kersee Athlete of the Year Award.

6. Parker Valby Dominates Collegiate Distance Running

Since her runner-up finish to Tuoy at the 2022 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championship, Parker Valby has had one goal in mind: Climbing to the top spot. She succeeded in dramatic fashion this year in Charlottesville, Virginia. Valby seized control of the race early. By the halfway mark, her lead had grown to 19 seconds. She ran the rest of the 6K race solo to break the tape in 18:55:22.

A 21-year-old junior at the University of Florida, Valby secured both her and her school’s first win at the fabled race. Her success comes on the coattails of a coaching change with Will Palmer, which proved particularly impactful for the injury-prone athlete who famously only runs about 30 miles a week supplemented by rigorous cross-training on an Arc Trainer.

Just two weeks later, Valby obliterated the NCAA indoor 5,000-meter record in 14:56:11 at the Boston University Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener. By smashing Emily Infield’s indoor record of 15:12:22 set in 2015 by Emily Sisson and also Tuohy’s outdoor record of 15:03:12 set in 2023, the defending outdoor 5K champion cemented her distance dominance this year.

7. Nikki Hiltz Emerges as the Best in the U.S.

A six-time Division I All-American in college who represented the U.S. at the World Athletics Championships in 2019, middle-distance phenom Nikki Hiltz, who identifies as transgender and non-binary, skyrocketed to the very top of American 1500-meter and mile royalty this year. The 29-year-old won the 1500-meter indoor national title (4:17.10) at the USATF Indoor Championships in February, then followed that up by winning the USATF Outdoor Championships 1500-meter title (4:03.10) to earn a berth on another U.S. national team. Less than a month later, they broke the American record in the mile with a stunning time of 4:16:35 at the Monaco Diamond League meet. They dedicated their national championship title to the trans community, and continue to advocate for trans athletes’ inclusion in sport.

8. Sue McDonald Redefines What’s Possible

If you follow master’s track and field, it’s hard to miss Sue McDonald’s astonishing accomplishments this year, including nine world records in the 60 to 64 women’s age group: the indoor 800 and 1,500 meters, along with the outdoor 400, 800, 1500 meters, 300-meter hurdles, 3,000-meter steeplechase, and the seven-event heptathlon. And at age 60, she’s still getting faster. McDonald credits her consistent strength and mental game as a key to her high performance. She also visualizes how the competition might go before the race so that she’s less nervous at the start line.

RELATED: The Fastest 60-Year-Old Woman on Earth Is Only Getting Faster

9. Anna Hall Earns Earns Bittersweet Silver Medal

Fresh off a bronze medal at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, 22-year-old multidiscipline star Anna Hall stormed into 2023 and never looked back. In February, she broke the American record in the pentathlon—a five-event competition that includes high jump, long jump, 60-meter hurdles, shot put and 800 meters—at the USATF Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico, racking up 5,004 points, the fourth-best score in history.

Then she won the seven-even heptathlon (100 meters, high jump, shot put, 200 meters, long jump, javelin, 800 meters) at the prestigious Hypo meeting in Götzis, Austria, with ​​6,988 points, the fifth-highest total in history. At the 2023 World Athletics Championships, she finished second in the heptathlon, just 20 points shy of winner Katarina Johnson-Thompson of England. Her silver medal placed her in rarified air as just the second American woman, after Jackie Joyner-Kersee, to win two world championship heptathlon medals. And falling just short of gold leaves her wanting even more going into an Olympic year.

10. Alicia Monson Sets Slew of American Records

Alicia Monson, 25, went on a record-breaking tear in 2023. The 2020 U.S. Olympian trains with the On Athletics Club under coach Dathan Ritzenhein in Boulder, Colorado and has steadily been chipping away to become one of the best distance runners in American history. In February at the Millrose Games, Monson set an American indoor 3,000-meter record of 8:25:05, shaving 0.65 seconds off Karissa Schweizer’s mark from 2020. In March, she shattered the American outdoor record in the 10,000-meters by 9.35 seconds in San Juan Capistrano, California, with a 30:03:82 effort.

Monson then set a new American record in the 5,000-meters (14:19:45) while placing fifth at the London Diamond League meet in July, and placed fifth in the 10,000-meters at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August in a break-out performance on the world stage.

11. Camille Herron Breaks 48-Hour World Record

In March, Camille Herron broke the world record for 48 hours of running by covering 270.5 miles on a track in Australia. In doing so, she also became the first ​​she became the first female athlete to surpass a men’s American record in running. About three months later, she broke the all-gender course record of the Texas Trail Festival Marathon in Spicewood, Texas, winning in 3:49:47 with a 40-minute margin ahead of the winner of the men’s race. She also broke the women’s record at the Spartathlon ultra-distance race (153 miles) in Greece in October, with a time of 22:35:30. Herron, 42, also recently opened up about perimenopause and hopes to make this experience less isolating.

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