Shelby Houlihan

Sports Career of Shelby Houlihan | Shelby Houlihan Biography

Shelby Houlihan has been one of the most dominant American middle-distance runners in the recent history. She returned to competitive athletics in 2025 after serving a four-year doping ban for nandrolone.

Houlihan was a standout runner in high school, finishing third at the Nike United States Youth Championships in 2009 and fourth at the USA Junior Championships in 2010 in the 800-meter. She graduated from East High School in 2011 and attended Arizona State University afterward.

Houlihan continued to improve over the next three years, with her breakout occurring in 2014 when she finished third at the NCAA Indoor Championships in the mile to cap her indoor season. She then went on to win the NCAA Division I Championships during the outdoor season in the 1,500-meter run.

She continued to ride this momentum to a seventh-place finish at the USA Championships in the 800-meter with a time of 2:01.12 and then a victory at the NACAC U23 Championships in Kamloops, Canada, in the same event.

In 2015, she returned to the NCAA and finished second in the mile at the indoor championships and then finished second in the 1,500-meter at the outdoor championships.

After her college career, Houlihan turned her focus to the Olympics, moving up to the 5,000-meter. She finished second in the event at the 2016 USA Olympic Trials, running 15:06.14 and capturing a birth on the American Olympic Squad. She made it to the 5,000-meter final at the Olympics, finishing 11^th with a time of 15:08.89.

In 2017, she won the USA Indoor Championships in the mile and 2-mile events and won the 5,000-meter to capture her first outdoor championship and a berth to the World Championships in London, where she finished 13^th.

Houlihan continued to establish herself as one of the country’s top runners the next year, winning her first Diamond League meeting in Eugene, Oregon, and then her second in Lausanne, both in the 1,500-meter.

She would once again establish herself as the indoor champion in the 2-mile in 2019. She then went on to win the 1,500 and 5,000-meter events at the national championships during the outdoor season and rode this momentum to her highest World Championship finish in Doha, finishing fourth in the 1,500-meter with a time of 3:54.99. This time would be a new American and North American record. 

Like many athletes, she would have to deal with an abbreviated 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shelby Houlihan Ban | Doping Ban

On June 11, 2021, Houlihan tested positive for nandrolone. Nandrolone is an anabolic steroid that can promote increased muscle size and strength. Studies in rats suggest that it might increase the bulk of the heart muscles when taken in high amounts. She blamed a pork burrito for the positive drug test, posting on her Instagram:

“When I got [the email notifying of the ban] I had to read it over about ten times and google what it was that I had just tested positive for. I had never even heard of nandrolone. I have since learned that it has long been understood by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) that eating pork can lead to a false positive for nandrolone, since certain types of pigs produce it naturally in high amounts. Pig organ meat (offal) has the highest levels of nandrolone.”

After the appeal, the anti-doping officials didn’t find compelling evidence that this was the case, saying that the chances of it happening were “very close to zero.” She received a four-year ban retroactive to January 14^th. Some of the points that the officials brought up were:

• She ordered a beef burrito and would have had to be given a pork burrito by mistake
• The pork would have needed to be an uncastrated boar, which is difficult to slip through the checkpoints because they’re easily detected due to their large testicles
• The boar likely would have had to be cryptorchid, meaning its testicles were undescended, and also had abnormally high male sex hormones
• The concentration of nandrolone in Houlihan’s blood was 2–3 times higher than the the highest values in scientific literature after eating uncastrated boar meat.

In a story published by NPR following the ban, Keeve Nachman, PhD, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, noted that nandrolone isn’t approved for use in any animal food. It’s illegal to use steroids in pig production in the United States, and they’re only used in cattle and sheep production.

Return from Ban

Houlihan returned to the track in 2025, winning her first run at the Razorback Invitational in Arkansas in the 3,000-meter. On August 3rd, she won the 5,000 meters at the USA Championships with a time of 15:13.61. She finished her season by finishing fourth at the World Championships in the 5,000-meter with a time of 14:57.42

Shelby Houlihan Personal Life and Other Facts | Shelby Houlihan

Shelby Houlihan is from Sioux City, Iowa. She has several other family members involved in running. Her half sister, Shayla Houlihan, is a track and cross-country coach. Her mother and uncle were also competitive runners.

She started competing with Jerry Schumacher in 2015 with Nike and the Bowerman Track Club.

FAQs | Shelby Houlihan

What is Shelby Houlihan doing now?

Shelby Houlihan returned to competitive running in 2025. She finished fourth at the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025 in the 5,000-meter.

Why was Shelby Houlihan banned? | What Did Shelby Houlihan Test Positive For?

Shelby Houlihan was banned for testing positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone.